Secret

She's gone. We said goodbye to Secret yesterday. Her kidneys finally gave up. Thankfully, everything moved quite fast for her. She was a big part of our lives for a long time. We will miss her very much.

Not bad for a big girl from San Pedro. Thirteen years. Much of that walking about four-and-a-half miles almost every day. About the only times that we didn't walk was either during or after a rain when our road was too muddy and slick to walk.

That's a lot of miles. Say we walked about 300 days a year, over ten years, that works out to about 13,500 miles under her pads.

Other than wanting to chase squirrels, walking was her favorite daily activity. The other was going for rides. She never missed an opportunity to go for a ride.

Secret - ~2005 - 2017

Here are Secret and Cindy on guard. Actually, with the leashes on, I suspect they're getting ready to go for a walk.

Cindy and Secret On Guard

This one is back in the days when we had the round plastic pool, Secret, and Cindy again.

Cindy and Secret Resting

This one is with Dianna teaching Secret how to walk on a lead. She was a quick learner.

Dianna and Secret

Secret, just looking cool.

Ooh, What A Pretty Girl

Secret, getting inspected at the traffic stop for contraband treats.

Traffic Police Checkpoint

Somebody really likes to play in the rain and mud.

Secret After A Romp In the Rain

Another episode of playing in the mud. In the background, you can see the 24-ft, diesel truck we had as our storage unit for a while. That was why we finished off the downstairs area below the Mennonite house. We could live in the Mennonite house, but just not big enough for that and storing stuff.

Secret After Playing In the Rain

Sitting up and begging was a hard trick for Secret to learn, but as you can see, once she learned it, she used it to good advantage, and at every opportunity.

Secret Looking For A Treat

Nap time, on the other hand, was something that came naturally to her. This too was done at every opportunity.

Secret Pooped Out

This shot may look like a nap, but it isn't. This is Secret, zonked out from a visit to Dr. Sheila to have porcupine quills removed from her muzzle. A painful experience, that was worth trying a second time shortly after this episode. Thankfully, she did learn her lesson after that.

Secret Totally Zonked

Secret, ready to go for whatever the activity might be.

The Girls

Back when winters here necessitated wearing long pants (and frequently toques (knit hats), gloves, and jackets.

Walking With the Girls

Saturday Nite Came On Thursday Morning

Saturday night used to be bath night, unless it came on a Thursday morning, like it did today for Cindy and Secret.

Thursday Morning Bath-time - Cindy and Dianna

Thursday Morning Bath-time - Secret and Dave

Believe it or not, this is only the second bath for both girls. They are so well behaved during the process - much different than I remember bath-time for Chips, a huge part Husky/English Sheepdog that I had when I was nine years old and we lived on a small ranch in Colorado. Bathing him was like a one-horse rodeo and was seldom done.

Cindy and Secret approach it like a couple of pros, a little trepidation initially, but then its "Hey, this is pretty cool, refreshing and I smell good to boot".

Sometime this afternoon we'll give them their Frontline and Ivermectin.  Cleanliness and protection.

Now I'm going to go take a shower cause we're going with Doug and Twyla to Hailey's for a late lunch today. Burgers and beer. Mmmmm, I can't wait.

Had A Nice Pool Party

Doug sent me a few shots. Instead of creating another post, I simply added to this one. Hopefully, no one will get confused - dave, the Editor. Yesterday morning at about a quarter to eleven, I posted this on Twitter:

Oh, sure. Today we're supposed to have friends over and BBQ some steaks. What's it doing now? Dark skies, thunder, lightning, no rain yet...

Well, as it turned out, after the thunder clouds blew over, it turned into a glorious day. Our pool party and barbecue was saved and was a success.

Earlier in the day I had tried to get a shot of some parrots at the very top of a tree adjacent to our place. Of course, by the time I grabbed my camera and gotten the right lense on it - they flew.

Shortly after the party got in gear, there was a bunch of parrots who came by again. And again, I didn't even have my camera with me. Luckily, Doug did. He shot the photo below of a couple of our local green parrots. What a bunch of chatterboxes they all are - all day long too.

Chatterboxes - by Doug

Here's the group we had over. Doug and Twyla - our neighbors from up the street, Dan and Beverly - our neighbors from across the street, and us.

Having Enough Fun...

We got together a little after one in the afternoon, for swimming and beer (or in Doug's case, some Teachers Scotch).

Speaking of Doug's Scotch - Here it is.

Doug's Glass of Teacher's Blended

If you're wondering about the exquisite glass holding the liquor, it's Doug's find from the Boundary Store in Orange Walk - our Value Village or Goodwill. Looking Good!

Bev, Dan & Dianna Enjoy the Shade

The pool cooperated by having crystal clear water. In photos as well as real life, the blue water in the pool is so brilliant, it almost hurts your eyes.

Doug &; Twyla In The Wet

Twila Trying Her Waterwings - by Doug

Here's everyone except Doug - he's taking the photo.

Pool-Time Group Shot - By Doug

Here's Dan, sporting his first Cuban. Smelled pretty good too. Too dangerous for me to try. I'd be back buying a carton of cigarettes right after, if I had one of those.

Dan and His Stogie

Of course Cindy and Secret were part of the festivities as well. Mostly, they kept watch over us from the periphery, staying out of the way, unless they thought there was a chance of scarfing a morsel or two.

Secret in a Great Pose

Here's Cindy and Secret, hoping that something comes their way. Their hovering is quite discreet.

Cindy and Secret At Ease

Quite a nice shot by Doug of Cindy. That girl's always on duty protecting us from evil-doers and birds.

Cindy On Duty - Photo By Doug

We had steaks from Franks Meat Products, that I had purchased the day before. We marinated them for a little better than 24-hours. I had Frank's cut them about 1½" thick. I slow-cooked them on the barbie.

Our Cinty's Special BBQ Warming Up

Dianna did homemade baked beans and a German-style potato salad. Doug and Twyla brought some home-made brownies for desert. Dan and Bev brought a whole slew of stuff - garlic bread (also roasted on the BBQ), creamy peppery dip and chips, and a fruit salad. In short, there was more food than anyone could eat.

The BBQ is still new enough that I don't quite have the timing down on it after lighting the charcoal... That is, I pretty much burned through all the charcoal and had to have Doug pour more charcoal onto the thing - after I carefully moved the grate with the steaks out of the way.

Dave & Dan At Work - Photo by Doug

Anyway, we finally got them cooking and things turned out wonderful. I think we were all so stuffed. Of course, that meant a ton of left-overs to deal with.

Here's Twyla and Dianna having a good time in the pool.

Yak, Yak, Yak

Just a long shot up the length of the pool, showing the guesthouse and the main house.

Pooltime

After the meal, we all hung out on the front porch to let the food digest and to avoid most of the mosquitoes and doctor flies. We all ate enough to pop.

Dave Lining Up A Shot - by Doug

Tempting Secret With Brownie Bits

In short, we had a great time. Perfect weather, perfect water, perfect BBQ, and perfect ice-cold Belikin.

Hard to believe we're in the middle of hurricane season! It just don't git no better'n This!

If It's Worth Doing Once

It's gotta be worth doing twice. I'm sure that's Secret's mantra.

About the time I was beginning to go through the routine I mentioned yesterday to get myself and the girls ready for a walk, I looked out the window and guess what?

Secret had some quills sticking out of her mouth. Apparently, it felt so good and gave her so much satisfaction, that she just had to do it all over again. This time she only had about 10 or 12 of the little things stuck to her lips, gums, tongue, and the roof of her mouth.

Cindy, on the other hand, being of a somewhat more dainty persuasion, managed to get by with no quills. I suspect she may be a bit of a faster learner too.

Well, instead of a panic call to Dr. Sheila, today, I went down to my workshop, fetched my needle-nose pliers, and we proceeded with the operation.

Dianna held on to her and tried to keep Secret's mouth open as i leaned in with the pliers and began jerking the quills out one by one.

It had to hurt. Especially since yesterday, they not only got a ride to Dr. Sheila's, but they got a nice, speedy painkiller injected as well. Not today. It was old-fashioned "meat-ball" surgery as they used to say on M*A*S*H. No painkiller, no sedative, just the cold steel in the mouth, ripping the quills out. Maybe now she'll learn to leave them alone.

Somehow, I doubt it. Too much hound in the genes.

After all that, we still managed to leave on time to head up to Doug and Twyla's to begin our morning walkies. It was a good walk.

Another One Bites the.............Porcupine!

Porcupines - Who would'a thought?

Getting ready to go for the morning walkies with the girls entails ritual. First, at this time of year, I dose up with bug juice. Secret usually either smells it or hears the spray applicator and starts "talking" to me to hurry up and hit the road. Then I gather their packs and my fanny pack (ok - "bum bag" for those of the British persuasion), put my camera in it and my cellphone. Grabbing my shades, keys and hat and I'm ready to go. Then I head out the door and... No Secret. Something's wrong.

Cindy's always slow - she isn't much of a morning person. But she's not coming out either. Finally, Cindy comes out from under a chair, with some new decorations in her nose. Three or four ivory-colored quills. Uh-oh. I know what happened.

Still no Secret. A quick call to Twyla to tell her we won't be going for walkies this morning and why. Then looking for Secret. Where is she? I start at the front gate, looking in and under everything, in their usual hidey-holes - nothing. Finally, I get back by the pool. Ah, there she is, in the guest house, and with a whole mouthful of quills! Oh Lordy, that must hurt a bunch.

So, she gets up and follows me to the house, stopping to try and dislodge quills every few feet. All to no avail, of course. It's painful just to look at her.

If I'd been thinking more clearly, I would have taken a photo of each of them, but I was more concerned with their safety than the blog... Imagine that!

Next, I make a call to Dr. Sheila, the vet, an hour before her normal office hours. Yes, it's ok to bring the girls in right now.

For once, there's no argument from the girls about getting in the Isuzu. They both bundle in and off we go. As soon as she can, Cindy comes up front, claiming shotgun as her seat. She's not in that much pain. In fact, she barks at a couple of neighborhood dogs over by Sheila's.

At Sheila's, she immediately gives the girls a combo pain killer/tranquillizer, and proceeds to pull quills from Secret. Turns out, she only has 30-40 quills, although it looked much worse. Cindy only had the three or four.

The trick is to use needle-nose pliers, jerk sharply, have a container to put them in, and when you're done, feel around with your fingers under their lips and tongue to make sure you got them all. Then wrap up the removed quills securely and toss into the trash. You don't want to leave any laying around as they can re-attach themselves to the dogs or you.

After that, Sheila gave them each an antidote to the tranquillizer. But it had hit both of them like a ton of bricks. Here's Secret and Cindy, after getting home from Dr. Sheila's. They are both totally zonked out. I left them in the rig, so they can sleep it off.

Secret In the Back Seat - Out of It

Cindy In the Front Seat - Also Out of It

And, here they are so you can see their faces - none the worse for wear.

Secret In La-La Land

Cindy's There Too

Hopefully, they will have learned from this experience to leave those critters alone. Sometimes, however, dogs do become repeat offenders with porcupines. Sheila says the thinking is that they get so much pain from the quills that the next time they see a porcupine they want to exact revenge. Sometimes, there's so much revenge that they end up with a few thousand quills in them, necessitating being completely knocked out and at least a half-hour to remove the quills.

Usually, their very quick learners... We'll see.

The Big Dig

Surprise, surprise. We were not expecting this today. In fact, we were expecting a fairly quiet day. I was planning to go into town to the "Mattress Bank" for some cash.

There were a few items I had to buy at the store in preparation for the stores being closed tomorrow for National Day (celebrating the Battle of St. George's Caye. It used to be called St. George's Caye Day). It was when the Royal Navy defeated the Spanish for the final time in these waters.

In short it was going to be quiet. That is, till John Harris, our contractor, called last night and told us he and his crew would be here about 7:30 AM. Ok, fine. We can deal with it.

Jump forward about 11 or so hours. I had just finished walking the doggies, and had given them breakfast, when "Beep, Beep", John's at the gate - barely 7:00 AM. And another pickup with the crew right behind him.

So, I opened the gate and proceeded to coral the girls so I could put them on the chain for their and everyone's well-being for the day.

They got to spend the day, lounging in the front breeze-way, as you can see below.

Cindy and Secret Supervising

As soon as the crew got their tools out of the pickups, they went right to work, measuring, pounding stakes, and laying out string lines to guide them for the digging of the hole for the pool.

Laying Out String Guidelines

John Supervising the Layout

As soon as they got that done, they started prizing up some marl to loosen it, using a garden fork. Dianna and I took the opportunity to have a formal "ground-breaking".

Ground Breaking - All Done Very Proper

Ground Breaking - Turning Over a Spade-full Each

Our work for the day being done by that point, we got out of the way as John brought in a large back-hoe to actually dig the hole. This one came from A-1 Gravel.

Back-Hoe Arriving

The expert driver, once he positioned his tractor, began making a large hole in the ground, saving the guys at least a day of very hard work, in blazing sunlight too.

Starting The Hole

Up on his jacks and away he went. Digging fast - but able to stay inside the lines.

Dig, Dig, Dig

Pretty soon we had us a serious hole in the ground. It grew larger with every bite of earth his machine took.

And More Digging

Of course, being El Hefe, or the supervisor, John had to set up his office. Where'd he pick? Under the palapa and in the shade. His momma didn't raise no fool.

John In His Office

Here's the result. A big hole - slightly larger than 12' x 24'x2.5'.

Yup. It's A Bigun'

Yup. It's A Bigun' - Here's the Other Part

After digging the hole, we couldn't just leave the dirt right there. It had to be moved out of their way. So, for now, it's over in Elsie's yard (Sorry Elsie, no time to ask permission. I can just beg forgiveness, as the saying goes).

Making a really big pile

From Another Angle

Of course, with some luck, that pile will disappear as well, once we start on the guest house foundation.

And thus, ends day one of the pool construction, We'll be up and at them early tomorrow - even if it is a holiday. You know those construction types - as long as the sun shines, make hay!

Dianna and I plan to spend a good part of the day under the palapa ourselves - playing sidewalk superintendent.

Cheers