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28 September, 2010

Trying to Whup Cabin Fever

Well, the doggies have told us they're tired of confinement. I had just come back from getting a loaf of 'Dirty Olive' bread from 'Breadman' Charles' place a little after 6:30 AM, so we could have it for breakfast. Toasted with a little Happy Cow cheese spread on a slice, yummers!

Anyway, as I got out of the car, Secret and Deohgee were busily attacking Cindy. I mean, really attacking her. She's lucky to be alive right now. The attack started just as I turned into our driveway. I handed Dianna the loaf as she came down the stairs from the house. Then I waded into the middle of the melee. Of course, there's always danger in doing that of receiving a bite, but the alternative would have been a dead dog, so you do what you have to do.

After I got Cindy away from them I had both Secret and Deohgee by the collars and got them leashed up. Then, they started going after each other. I put the bite (Cesar's way) on them both, wrestled them to the ground and increased pressure, waiting till they both relaxed and gave in. At this stage, I was going to chain them up together, but realized that would have be somewhat counter-productive. So, I sternly told them they were bad dogs and let them loose.

By this time everyone has calmed down and the fight was over. I was breathing like a mad bull and was pumped full of adrenalin, so it took me a while to relax after that. We humans don't seem to be able to relax nearly as fast as do dogs.

But, what better way to relax than to have a hot cup of Belizean coffee (I think Gallon Jug coffee with a spoonful of cinnamon in the grounds is way fine) and the aforementioned slice of bread.

After breakfast and getting ourselves calmed down, it was time to shower and see what we were going to do for the day.

Today was supposed to be the day we got our new eyeglasses. I checked with Doug and Twyla to see if they wanted to go. No. Twyla was out and Doug was playing house guard, so we took off by ourselves to the hospital and the Methodist Eye Clinic.

We walked into the clinic, which had about three people sitting there and no one staffing the desk. Not a good sign. We waited about 15-20 minutes (see, we've adjusted well) we decided to call the number Elia had given us. She had been at the desk when we ordered the glasses. Whoever answered, said yes, we could get our glasses today. So, we waited some more.

Other folks came in, waited a while and left. One girl asked us if we had talked to anyone working there. 'Uh, not yet,' was our response. So, this time Dianna called the number again and talked to the same girl. She had more information. Elia was sick today, and besides our glasses weren't ready. The recent bad weather (Karl with a K and Matthew) had hampered eyeglass production, so they wouldn't be ready till next Tuesday. Well, that was nice and relaxing. Good thing we still had a couple of other items on our shopping list.

We left from clinic to go to Cinty's so Dianna could buy about 20 yards of fabric and about 30 yards of ribbon for trim for curtains in the guesthouse. We took all that to Alex the tailor, who added everything up and and had a good laugh as he said that we were way short on the ribbon, and it was too narrow for what Dianna wanted to do. So back to Cinty's. I remembered I had my camera just in time to snap Dianna shopping in Corozal's premier fabric store.

Here, she's looking for some 3/8ths- to 1/2-inch wide blue ribbon. Note the well organized and spacious shelves.
Shopping for Ribbon At Cinty's
Actually, to us, the place (and there's three locations (Cinty's 1 - the original, run by Phillip Batty, Jr. - Junior to everyone, Cinty's 2, the middle one on the corner, run by one of his sisters, and Cinty's 3, around the corner and a couple doors up the block, run by Junior's younger brother) looks totally disorganized, with years of stuff piled haphazardly on top of other stuff. All three stores use the same stocking system.
I Think That's It Up There
A while back I was at Cinty's 1, Junior was very vexed, as they say. It seems the girls who work there (all relations of his) had started to clean and reorganize the store. He couldn't find anything and had just told them to knock off the reorganization.

If you come to Corozal for a visit, you owe it to yourself to go shopping at Cinty's 1, 2, and 3. Don't miss any of them. It's like no other place you've ever shopped at. Guaranteed!

Anyway, Dianna got her fabric and the 70 yards of blue ribbon and we got it delivered to Alex.
I Only Need 70 Yards
Alex, who I've written about before, is a slight built Hindu, who's shop is barely a cupboard. He has two ancient (but powerful) sewing machines and he has an assistant. He can sew virtually anything and is very good and very affordable. All the shorts I have now are made by him as all my store-bought ones wore out long ago. All my shirts (other than tshirts) are also made by him, some with another shirt to use as a pattern, some made from scratch with no pattern. Everything fits great.

It's now evening. Rain is coming down again. I may have to take Cindy (not to be confused with Cinty's) to Dr. Sheila. She's limping pretty good. The rain is due to Tropical Depression 16, soon I'm sure, to be named Tropical Storm Nicole, heading for Cuba and south Florida. I hope it lets up this evening sometime. I just have to take the dogs for walkies. I'd rather not walk through a few inches of mud at the start to do it.

3 comments:

gailjnettles said...

david, i have been trying to connect with you. you did a tree for laura loretta freitas and we have been trying to find her ancestors along time. she was my husbands mother. hope you are enjoying belize. my son have been there many times and loved it. we are stuck in sometimes rainy washington state. gailnettles@comcast.net

Dave Rider said...

Hi Gail,

I don't know what to say about the trees. I had a trial membership at Ancestry.com, but killed it off. I really just lost interest.
Good luck with your search.

Cheers,
Dave

Dave Rider said...

Just a follow-up on the dogs. Yesterday morning, I took Cindy to Dr. Sheila's. She checked Cindy out, no punctures, no broken bones, etc.

We agreed it's just one of those things with dogs, that can happen at any time, and it did.

By yesterday afternoon, everything was back to normal. Even Cindy's limping in the morning was gone. She was back leading the charge for every bicycle or big truck that came by.

Cindy's on tap for walkies this morning, so all's well that ends well.

Cheers,
Dave