Some Critters Around The Joint

Our neighbor, Regina, has been active photographing some of the local denizens who hang around here.She was kind enough to let me post them. I thought you might find them interesting.

First up, one of the many frigate birds who keep watch over our coastline, day in and day out.

One of the Many Frigate Birds

 Next, one of our many vultures. They are very beautiful and graceful on the wing and ugly as all get out when they're walking around on the ground. They do provide a valuable service however. There's one who seems to delight in swooping low over our place, which drives Cindy just crazy each time.

One of Our Scavengers - A Vulture

This poor little gibnut was pooped out and somewhat bloody by the time Regina took its picture. It had gotten trapped inside their fence and bloodied its face and was thoroughly exhausted. They had a gate open for it to escape but it kept trying to go through the fence. Finally, just after the picture was taken, it managed to find the gate and made good its escape.

A Pooped Gibnut

One of our big boys who hang out on our canal dock, usually in the afternoons in the sun and warmest part of the day.

One of the Iguanas Hanging By the Canal

 Here's another view of the same guy. He's about four-feet long too and is just sure that he owns everything in sight.

Another Shot of This Feller

Thanks for sharing, Regina. I appreciate it.

Don't Fence Me In

This just might be the mournful song Cindy will be singing before too long as the last of our metal fence parts go up alongside the canal.

Cindy Thinks She's Pretty Smart

She's still not exactly sure what's going on with the fence parts. Up till now, she's been the ring leader on the sporadic escapes from the yard. Well, that's all about to change.

Fence Bits At the Ready.

Note Isaiel's Welding Machine 

Isaiel Welding the First One

Above, you can see several of the fence bits ready to be put up. In fact, the first one had already been tac-welded in place. Below, the guys are hard at work fitting the various bits for welding.

Ramilio Cutting Steel

Isaiel Welding the Pieces in Place

The way they're mounted to the concrete wall is like this. Holes are bored, and steel rods stuck in place. These are trimmed as the large piece is fitted to ensure a consistent and level fit. Once Isaiel decides the fit is correct, he tac-welds it all together, and then does a final welding to ensure everything stays in place.

Pegs in Ready for Fence Bits

After the first two pieces were fully welded in place, it was time to knock off. Monday is when they'll finish up. Isaiel's band has either a three-day gig or three gigs this weekend, beginning on Friday. It's ok. We're not in a huge rush for them. I did ask Isaiel to place the remaining pieces up against the wall positioned to block the low places, so we can get the dogs used to being penned in (I think Cindy thinks it's just a temporary measure).

This morning when I went into town to get some packages from the post office, I saw our neighborhood vultures waiting their turns for a meal.

Yummers! Man Does That Look Tasty!

Bedlam at the Boundary

The other day, Doug and Twyla said they had been in Orange Walk and had heard a new shipment was coming in to the Boundary Store. They asked if we wanted to go along and, oh, by the way, how about if we stop at the Hoy Eye Center in OW, as well?

Well, we certainly couldn't pass that up. We had been wanting to go to Hoy for some time now. In fact, separately, Doug and I had each driven around the Orange Walk Regional Hospital a couple of times, as we had been told that's where the Hoy Eye Center was located. Neither of us had found it.

Doug and Twyla and finally found it on their last trip. It's located in a medical building near the hospital, but in true Belizean fashion, there's no signs outside anywhere saying "Hoy Eye Center", or anything even close. It's still a mystery to me how they found the place.

Anyway, we tagged along with them this past Saturday, leaving Corozal about 8:00 AM, We got into Orange Walk about a quarter to nine, and drove over to the Boundary Store. There was already a pretty good-sized crowd on hand, but we figured it wasn't too large, as the store hadn't opened as yet.

We decided to take a run back to the hospital to visit the Hoy Eye Center and see what selection of eyeglass frames they had, whether Transitions lenses were available, bi-focals vs tri-focals, costs, and eye exams.

We found out they had a nice selection of frames. I think we all found something we liked. Hoy does offer Transitions lenses, and trifocals are available as well but only in progressive focus lenses. Eye exams are done Tuesdays and Thursdays by appointment only, and if you need a glaucoma test, it's done only at the Hoy central clinic in Belize City. All exams are done by an Opthamologist as well.

They have an essentially "Independence Day" sale in progress, lasting through October, where the exam is free if you buy frames from them. Pretty good deal. Prices for frames and lenses, including Transitions seem to be about half of what they'd be available for in the States, with prices on frames running from around $150 BZD to $500 BZD.

Well, after getting all that good information, we headed back over to the Boundary, assuming the crowd would have dispersed since it was about 9:30 AM by this time.

Crowded Parking At the Boundary

Hah! Were we wrong. You can see in the picture above, up at the end of the road, there's a cross street. We had to park to the right up that road. That was as close as we could get to the Boundary.

What a madhouse. But still, it's something you have to experience once anyway. The place was jam-packed with more people on the way.

Shoppers, Shoppers, Shoppers

We waded our way into the store. All of us hoping to find treasures... and books. Unfortunately, books had all been removed for the time being. But, you can't find that out till you are totally committed as the books are in a far corner of the store, and there's no way to tell without making your way through the whole place.

Lot's of new stuff to look at and buy. Dianna got in trouble looking at some stuff, but it was so crowded, she couldn't tell that the basket she was looking at was what some other lady had already picked out. Ooops.

Since the new shipment is really the first for some Christmas-related stuff, we were pretty sure a lot of folks were doing their Christmas shopping a little early. Get it while you can, otherwise, it'll be gone.

Dianna, Making Her Way Downstairs Into the Fray

We bought a few things. I bought two brandy snifters, since we didn't have any. That came to my mind from the previous night, when I had been watching Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, with Grace Kelly and Jimmie Stewart. In it, a detective friend of Jimmie Stewart's character, came over and they each had a snifter of brandy. I though it looked good at the time. We have a bottle of Traveller's Brandy, that I've never tried, so I got a wine glass and had a wee dram (if you can have a wee dram with brandy). Hence, acquiring the snifters. Dianna got a metal flower vase sort of thing, and a nice toy for our Godson Joshua's first birthday.

Doug and Twyla scored big with a framed mirror, wooden curtain rod, a fancy book bag, and some other treasures. You can see them below, trying to get to the checkout counter.

Doug and Twyla in the Crowd

Dianna and I got done quite a bit before Doug and Twyla, so we were waiting out front. People watching is always such a trip.

There were a couple of young Mennonite guys with a pickup loaded with watermelon to sell to the crowd. They were parked just across the street from the Boundary. What was really interesting about these two guys was that they had a large, bare loudspeaker wired into their pickup's stereo. The speaker was mounted using the speaker magnet on the roof of the pickup and was blasting Bob Marley! Just not the sort of music you would expect Mennonites to be listening to. We were joking that they were Rastafarian Mennonites from the Jamaican sect. They eventually moved their pickup across the street, still blasting reggae to where we were and Dianna bought a nice, small melon from them for $2.00 BZD.

Rastafarian Mennonites

On the way back to Corozal, Doug stopped so I could snap a shot of more vultures we had seen on the way there earlier that day. These guys weren't near as shy as the Corozal clan.

More Road Crew Work

Most Mornings, There's Lots to See

Most mornings, of course while conducting "walkies" with the girls, there's always a lot going on. I managed to stop and shoot several bits along the way. This is a compilation over two or three days of what we see most of the time while walking.

On the way into town, along the Northern Highway, which becomes Seventh Street while in town, there's a new piece of artwork being installed. I'm not exactly sure, but I think it's an ear of corn in a sugar pot. Anyway, an interesting piece to see being assembled. I suppose I could have asked the artist as he was assembling the installation, but that would have been too easy.

New Artwork in Town

Next along our usual route, we follow the waterfront into town. We marvel each morning at the view we are privileged to be able to see. We usually see at least a couple boats in various stages of being worked on.

The Corozal Boatyard

With the boats on the hard above, I just liked the way everything came together, the colors, lighting, etc. The boat on the left,  I had tried to get a shot of it under sail, but by the time Twyla and I got back to the waterfront from the market, they had lost wind and so motored in to the pier. That's the way it goes sometimes.

At least a couple of mornings each week, we come by just as the local fishermen are offloading their catch. This was one of those mornings. The long pole is used with the scale to weigh bags of fish. I couldn't catch them using the scale on this particular morning, and we couldn't wait forever. The girls do get a bit impatient if they sense that we're taking too long on non-pack business.

Unloading the Catch

More Unloading the Catch

After winding our way past the fishermen, and through the town square, where we always say hello to the ladies, who clean the park benches and walks each weekday morning, we come to the market. It's undergoing some major improvements, with the addition of this central stall structure going length-wise through the middle of the market. It'll be quite an improvement when it's done.

Here, workers are just finishing a new sidewalk on one side of the stalls. This should mark quite an improvement for the Corozal Market. We've always remarked at the markets at Orange Walk and San Ignacio as being very nice. This is definitely a step in the right direction.

New Sidewalk at the Market

On the way back from town, it was hard to miss them, but we managed to spot a group of vultures, fulfilling their mandate for roadside cleanup. They are so beautiful when in the air, hardly moving a muscle as they glide along the edge of the bay all day long. They're ugly as can be on ground.

For as big as they are, they're amazingly timid. It's very hard to get close enough to them for a decent photo.

The Road Crew At Work

Then, just when we were done shooting them, and turned onto Almond Drive from the highway, we noticed a bunch more of their compatriots, patiently awaiting their turn at the feast.

Waiting to Be Seated At the Roadside Diner

There had to have ben about thirteen or fourteen in the tree, with more in the trees across the highway, all waiting their turn to eat.

As Doug said - more or less, "Anytime you see a few vultures circling overhead, that's probably just a few of the whole number of vultures interested in the find."

And there you have it. We get home, usually drenched in sweat, just in time to have our own breakfast, and then get the day's activities started.