Thunderstorms

Rainy season has kicked in, fully. We have rain every day and the nights are nice and cool. I can still go into the pool, but I have to let water out every now and then so it doesn't get too full. Robbie is amazed by the light these weather conditions offer and here is one of her pictures (banana).

Goodbye, Spirit, and Thank You!

Two weeks ago on Friday we had to say goodbye to our beautiful big dog, Spirit, and of course the whole household is still very sad; the other dogs walk around on tiptoes it seems, and it is rather quiet. Spirit got sicker and sicker, lost even more weight and we had to forcefeed her vitamins and what ever she could keep in her tummy, which wasn't very much any more. We made a sling to carry her outside, so she could do her business, because her legs wouldn't carry her anymore. The blood tests suggested tumors and she was having a really hard time on her last day so we decided to call the vet. She tried so hard to be a pleasing and friendly dog, up to the very end, and we have only the most wonderful memories... Of course, life goes on and we have to look for another dog to protect the property, as the boys, although they have good potential (doberman/shepherd mix and ridgeback/pitbull/anything mix) may or may not do their job properly and bring toys instead... We went to look at some puppies last week, the father is a Norwegian Elk Hound mix and the mother a Ridgeback mix, but we have to see them again when they are a bit older, currently they are only 3 weeks old and hardly have their eyes open. We will keep you up to date on what is happening on the Whistling Ducks Farm (which has only two more ducks after we gave most away to the Monastery Retreat Center).

More Cool Pool pictures!

It is POOL time!

Finally, the newest addition to the farm, a POOL. For me as a water lover, the perfect place to relax and hang out, I can even swim in circles! And there is room for many people in there (15ft or 6m in diameter and 42 inches or a bit over 1 m deep) to have fun! I sure enjoy my afternoon dip!! We put it into an area behind the house which is usually a bit neglected and decorated it nicely (with stuff from the landscaping place, for example). We already had a couple of football girls in their with their kids, Tobbie and Eva came to cool off in it and today Emilia, our neighbour, enjoyed some time in it. It's really great!

Down Under Delicious!

Yesterday the package from my dear Australian cousins arrived. Thanks Liz and Frank!!! I started with a wagon wheel , yummy cookies with a marshmallow/jam center, covered with chocolate, then I had a cheese sandwich with vegemite!! And then a piece of toast with lemon butter, which is a kind of jam. And then another wagon wheel ... oh oh oh how wonderful!! Robbie did like the lemon butter :-)

An Evening with the Girls

Last Thursday we went to the Cafe Cayo in San Ignacio to watch the TV show BIOGRAPHY which our friend Macarena is hosting. It is shown on Channel 3 which we don't get in Santa Familia, so we met with her and a couple of friends in town. First we had yummy Italian food (bruchetta, Pasta Pollo for me and Spaghetti Carbonara for Robbie, salads and garlic bread), with my favorite drink: coconut rum with sprite, and a chat with Macarena, Helen (both their daughters were there, too), a lady named Winsum ? and her friend, from Cristo Rey, and some other people. Then the show started and it was really interesting, Macarena had interviewed a natural healer, who lives in the area around Bullet Tree, and he told us stories about how he courted his wife of 45 years (had to ask the daddy of the girl for permission every time he wanted to come to her house), how he found out about herbs and natural healing and a lot more. A very entertaining hour! Robbie got to hold the baby of the owner of the cafe, actually only one half, because she has twins :-) and I think she looks cute with it! I am always a little hesitant, afraid to drop them or so ... smile ... and then I never know what to do when they gurgle and drool or maybe cry! It was a really nice evening, especially because we don't go out so much. For that night we had asked David to stay at the house and watch it, and he spent his time with popcorn, cookies, sprite, watching wrestling on TV and we brought him a huge piece of chocolate cake from the Cafe.

The Bamboo Place

Close to Clarissa Falls is the Bamboo Place where we looked at some of their furniture after we had been to the landscaping place. Although the things they carry are beautiful and extremely well manufactured, we didn't buy anything - not only because the truck was full with plants, but also because the budget had reached its limit for the day. Maybe some other time! We did take some of their discarded pieces home to try to use them for something.

Pool Landscaping

A couple of weeks ago we went to a place on the Western Highway, close to the village of Succotz (where the ferry to Xunantunich leaves), which sells plants, pots and stones and other stuff for landscaping (Landschaftsgärtnerei). They had really nice clay and terracotta pots, pretty palm trees and flowers and we loaded the truck with one big terracotta pot, two blue vase-type pots and several plants and bushes, and also some stepping stones for the pool area!

Beautiful Toucan at Clarissa Falls Resort

On our day out (I will write about the landscaping shop we went to later) we stopped at the Clarisaa Falls Resort, where we had a little snack and cool milk shakes. One regular visitor there is a tame toucan that comes to get his little treats (fresh papaya, for example) and loves to show off. He even posed for us so we could take some pictures of him!

Lab Dog trying to be a Lap Dog

Spirit is not doing so good, she is very slow, not eating very much, but drinking quite a lot. We went to Spanish Lookout again to get some more extra vitamins and the milk thistle, so tonight I will cook a yummy dish for her again. This picture was taken just a few weeks ago, when she tried to climb in Robbie's lap!

Spirit is not feeling well...

Spirit is actually very sick, she suddenly lost a lot of weight and we had her blood checked: it turned out that she has only 20% liver function and her enzyme values are way too high! As there is no real medicine (and her body couldn't process it properly anyhow), I can just cook her diet food every day, she gets chicken, chicken livers, oats ("Haferflocken"), cooked pumpkin ("Kürbis"), cottage cheese or yoghurt, eggs and a bunch of vitamins plus Omega 3 fatty acids, and soon milk thistle ("Mariendistel"), an herb which is supposed to strengthen her liver... We are rather worried as she is weak and thin at the moment ...

This is an older picture from just a few weeks ago, when she felt a lot better! Most probably she got poisoned by chewing on a toad ("Kröte"). Those toads can be very poisonous. Robbie is now catching the toads at night and she carries them away, we don't kill them because they are also useful eating bugs all night. But we don't want any of them near our dogs anymore, if possible!

It's a Dog Life! (So ein Hundeleben!)

Highlander is so lazy, but I understand him, it's really hot right now and any movement makes us all sweat ... It has started raining and YES, hurricane season started June 1, but the rain doesn't cool anything down really.

Now! The Favorite! But not ripe yet ... Mangoes ... mmmhhhhh

Just a few weeks more and I can pick the mangoes off one of our mango trees!! Can hardly wait!! And then I will make some yummy jam and cakes ... or just eat them as usual, sinking my teeth into this wonderful fruit while hanging over the kitchen sink :-) It sure dribbles a lot!

And one more Fruit: Green Plums

Robbie and I don't like them so much, but the people here are crazy about them, so we sold a bucket of green (sour) plums to David's dad, who went to sell them at the market for a little profit. They are sold in small plastic bags with about twenty plums and they are refreshing - I tried them, but I don't care for them a lot, way too sour for me ...

It's Cashew Time once more

This time we just ate some of the fruit, but didn't process the nuts. There weren't too many, because the birds got quite a few and some Chinese people wanted some, so we gave them a bag full. The fruit part above the nut (that grows AFTER the nut) is very refreshing and leaves a slightly numb feeling ("taubes Gefühl") on the lips. They are nevertheless very tasty!

Duck Daddy Goose

Only three more ducks left!

All jobs are done for the moment, although there are a few lined up, but not confirmed, so I have a little bit time for blogging again, finally!! Our duckies are almost all gone now, only 3 females left which will be "processed" soon: one will go to our neighbour Emilia, one to Martina (for the work) and the third one we may keep for ourselves, for a nice duck dinner! All the others, including the lonely gander (männliche Gans) and ALL the baby ducks and two mama ducks have been transported to the Santa Familia Monastery in Santa Elena, which is now a retreat center and has a beautiful lagoon for them to swim in. Our pond was just getting too small for all these baby ducks, so we gave them away for free. The gander had to go with them because they regarded them as their daddy for some strange reason and always came running towards him, who protected them from everything!