Whistling Ducks Farm BLOG START

Hello my dear friends and family,


I just found out that there is an easy way to keep everyone informed on what is happening here in our little paradise: I will write a blog! (Wikipedia encyclopedia english: "A weblog (usually shortened to blog, but occasionally spelled web log) is a web-based publication consisting primarily of periodic articles (normally in reverse chronological order". Wikipedia Enzyklopädie Deutsch: "Ein Weblog, meist Blog genannt, ist eine Webseite, die periodisch neue Einträge enthält. Neue Einträge stehen an oberster Stelle, ältere folgen in umgekehrt chronologischer Reihenfolge."

The question was, do I write it in English or German or both? I thought about it a long time and then decided to do it in English, as all (or most of) my German friends know English, but none of my English speaking friends know German. I will keep it easy, though, and I will, if necessary, translate into German.

So, let's start this little diary with today's events (I will later add pictures, too, as soon as I figured out how to do this ...)

David started at 8am and will beginn digging the new trench ("Graben") for the duck pond in a little while. The old plastic pond we had there is leaking and all the ducks and geese are upset, because there is nothing for them to swim in. Then he is going to pick some weeds in the big field, where he planted squash, watermelon, cantaloupes, corn (for chicken food!), broccoli and onions. Our little vegetable boxes next to the house carry tomato seeds, cucumbers, spring onions and flowers!

Robbie and I are invited for lunch today. Sharane, our neighbour, wants to introduce us to an elderly lady named Marian (??), who does a lot of herbal remedies and horoscopes. We will go to Sannys Restaurant and Grill in San Ignacio and I really look forward to it. Haven't been there in AGES! Haven't been anywhere in ages, actually, farm life is just too beautiful (and I mean it!), and to drive to town on these roads is really no fun at the moment. Very muddy, due to finally masses of rain. Who would have thought I enjoy the rain so much ... but it is so much easier, not to have to water the flowers and veggies etc.

But it is still very warm, around 80F/27C.

Hey, yesterday I learned how to make Flour Tortillas! Our dear help and neighbour, Annette, showed us how to do it! One pound of flour, a little bit of lard ("Schweinefett"), a pinch of salt, a little bit of baking powder ("Backpulver") and some water. Then you knead ("kneten") it, make little balls, let them sit for 5 minutes, and then flatten them out and put them on a special tortilla bake thingy called "Comal" . You put some lard on it and the tortillas are done in a minute, fresh and tasty! The tricky thing about it is to get the dough onto the comal, without messing it all up. But I am learning!

Ok, I have to go back to do some work, three jobs waiting!