Our laptop is not working.
When I turned it on this morning, I could see the operating system under some flickering jail-type bars in a rectangle in the middle of the screen. We knew the thing wasn't going to "fix itself", so I immediately took it in to the shop.
It's hard not having it here to do things on. I had been doing a lot of work on the laptop, going through all the "sent" messages in Outlook Express and when I started, the "sent" had over 800 messages in it, so it's obvious I never paid much attention to keeping that folder cleaned out. I am now down to 560 messages and these last ones will take longer because I want to make sure I have saved what we want saved. I've been mainly working on saving all the messages Guillermo and I sent each other while he was in South America. It gets confusing sometimes to go back and forth between my Word document and the emails, to see if this message is already saved or not, but I'm making headway. Guillermo keeps wanting me to be done so that we can sit and read all those emails together and I look forward to doing that, also. That's going to be a LOT of printing!!!!! But, nothing's going to be happening these next few days. I sure hope the shop calls tomorrow. In the meantime, Guillermo and I are sharing the computer that he always uses in his office (or if Rebeca is reading this - in Rebeca's room).
Monday, July 28, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Mainly pictures
I've been meaning to post this picture, but just never got around to doing it until today. Anway, Guillermo got his new glasses about 2 weeks ago, and I think he looks quite handsome with them.
First the cantaloupe
And then the watermelon
And check out these two beauties in Guillermo's garden.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Our own mini-Pantanal
It probably wasn't even 15 minutes after I posted the previous entry that it started raining really hard around here. Watching the radar, we could see that the rain bands from Hurricane Dolly were starting to become more numerous and quite intense. For a while there, it WAS a little scary because there was so much talk on TV about tornadoes in the area. But the rain bands stayed manageable for us, as far as the amount of rain we received and when we walked out into the field later that day, we saw 2 1/2 inches recorded in the rain gauge. We could have used a little more rain, but we'll take whatever we can get.
The neat thing, though, is that when we went out to check the rain gauge, we also went to the end of our field to see how the creek looked. As we were standing by the fence, watching the water flow, I noticed a snake swimming towards the grass by the flowing water. I excitedly pointed it out to Guillermo, but he didn't get to see it because by then it was already in the grass. We went to another vantage spot to try to see it better if it came back out of the grass. We were happy to see the snake re-emerge and slither lazily around in the water's edge. Then all of a sudden, we saw a small fish trying to swim by the edge of the water, and as it floundered around half in-half out of the water, to our surprise, we witnessed the snake lunge at the fish and capture it!! We watched in amazement as the snake held its head up with the fish in its mouth and then watched the snake slither back into the grass. We couldn't see the snake's head very well at that point, but we figured it was enjoying its fish dinner but then the next thing we knew, we saw the fish spring back into the water with the snake in full pursuit. The fish did manage to get away (although it was close) and the snake just kind of hung around that spot hoping to get another chance. We decided to go back to the house for our camera and binoculars, but by the time we got back, the snake was gone.
We then fixed dinner, talked with Rebeca on the phone for a while and found out that she and Jason had spent the previous evening in the animal emergency room because little Diablillo (a.k.a Energumeno) had messed with a toad and was showing the signs of that. Afterwards we decided to walk back out to the creek to see what was going on. (We were also trying to get in our 7,000 steps for the day, but neither of us managed to get past 5,000.) Anyway, when we got to our back fence, we noticed the snake was back!! And there was another snake with it!! Then, about 3 minutes later, a 3rd snake swims up!! The first two snakes kind of stayed hidden by the grass, but that 3rd snake just kept swimming along the water's edge back and forth, and one time we saw it snap at something, but weren't sure what it was. Then it just got too dark to see well, so we went back inside, glad we were able to witness such neat things. We are pretty sure all three snakes were water mocassins and they were about 3 feet long.
It seems like after it rains, and the creek runs a little, that a lot goes on back there. I might call it a "mini-Pantanal", but it is nowhere NEAR how the Pantanal is. It just reminds us of the place. In the Pantanal, you can't go 10 feet without saying, "Look!", or "Wow!", or "What is that?!?", or "Did you see that?!?" or "Whoa!!" and similar phrases about what you are seeing. If it were within our means, we'd go back to the Pantanal tomorrow.
By the way, Energumeno is just fine.
The neat thing, though, is that when we went out to check the rain gauge, we also went to the end of our field to see how the creek looked. As we were standing by the fence, watching the water flow, I noticed a snake swimming towards the grass by the flowing water. I excitedly pointed it out to Guillermo, but he didn't get to see it because by then it was already in the grass. We went to another vantage spot to try to see it better if it came back out of the grass. We were happy to see the snake re-emerge and slither lazily around in the water's edge. Then all of a sudden, we saw a small fish trying to swim by the edge of the water, and as it floundered around half in-half out of the water, to our surprise, we witnessed the snake lunge at the fish and capture it!! We watched in amazement as the snake held its head up with the fish in its mouth and then watched the snake slither back into the grass. We couldn't see the snake's head very well at that point, but we figured it was enjoying its fish dinner but then the next thing we knew, we saw the fish spring back into the water with the snake in full pursuit. The fish did manage to get away (although it was close) and the snake just kind of hung around that spot hoping to get another chance. We decided to go back to the house for our camera and binoculars, but by the time we got back, the snake was gone.
We then fixed dinner, talked with Rebeca on the phone for a while and found out that she and Jason had spent the previous evening in the animal emergency room because little Diablillo (a.k.a Energumeno) had messed with a toad and was showing the signs of that. Afterwards we decided to walk back out to the creek to see what was going on. (We were also trying to get in our 7,000 steps for the day, but neither of us managed to get past 5,000.) Anyway, when we got to our back fence, we noticed the snake was back!! And there was another snake with it!! Then, about 3 minutes later, a 3rd snake swims up!! The first two snakes kind of stayed hidden by the grass, but that 3rd snake just kept swimming along the water's edge back and forth, and one time we saw it snap at something, but weren't sure what it was. Then it just got too dark to see well, so we went back inside, glad we were able to witness such neat things. We are pretty sure all three snakes were water mocassins and they were about 3 feet long.
It seems like after it rains, and the creek runs a little, that a lot goes on back there. I might call it a "mini-Pantanal", but it is nowhere NEAR how the Pantanal is. It just reminds us of the place. In the Pantanal, you can't go 10 feet without saying, "Look!", or "Wow!", or "What is that?!?", or "Did you see that?!?" or "Whoa!!" and similar phrases about what you are seeing. If it were within our means, we'd go back to the Pantanal tomorrow.
By the way, Energumeno is just fine.
On to other things
After addressing with Fernando the issues about his card, (which by the way is in his possession, so somehow or another someone either created a card and put his number on it or just entered his number wherever they went, and they used it mainly at gas stations), Fernando sent an email updating us on what he's up to.
He said that things have been pretty good there over the last couple of days but that came after a horrendous bus ride from Bobo-Dioulasso to Sevaré on Saturday/Sunday. He said it ended up taking 18 hours overnight, which he thought we might not find so remarkable after the longer ride in Argentina. But he and Eva were already tired to begin with and he described the bus as, "a (barely) rolling chunk of scrap metal that had to be push started, it was pouring rain all night so we were getting leaked on constantly, it was crammed with people and it reeked". He also said that they passed through one sketchy police checkpoint or road blockade at night after another that required bribes and such, and that it all took place in French so they didn't really understand it all. They were extremely happy to get off that bus in Sevaré, get into a nice comfortable hotel and get some much needed rest. They have been to the market in Djenne, and are headed next to the Dogon country.
Today we have gotten some very beneficial rains from Hurricane Dolly. Nothing too severe, just steady light rain, which everything in our yard is appreciating immensely. Guillermo wishes we would get the kind of rains that would "scare me just a little bit" and I know what he means and I guess I would like that, too, because everything has been so very dry and we definitely need "that" kind of rain.
He said that things have been pretty good there over the last couple of days but that came after a horrendous bus ride from Bobo-Dioulasso to Sevaré on Saturday/Sunday. He said it ended up taking 18 hours overnight, which he thought we might not find so remarkable after the longer ride in Argentina. But he and Eva were already tired to begin with and he described the bus as, "a (barely) rolling chunk of scrap metal that had to be push started, it was pouring rain all night so we were getting leaked on constantly, it was crammed with people and it reeked". He also said that they passed through one sketchy police checkpoint or road blockade at night after another that required bribes and such, and that it all took place in French so they didn't really understand it all. They were extremely happy to get off that bus in Sevaré, get into a nice comfortable hotel and get some much needed rest. They have been to the market in Djenne, and are headed next to the Dogon country.
Today we have gotten some very beneficial rains from Hurricane Dolly. Nothing too severe, just steady light rain, which everything in our yard is appreciating immensely. Guillermo wishes we would get the kind of rains that would "scare me just a little bit" and I know what he means and I guess I would like that, too, because everything has been so very dry and we definitely need "that" kind of rain.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Grrrrr!!! And fun at Medina Lake
What's been going on lately? Well, quite a bit. Saturday night we received a phone call from the "security" section of our credit union, wanting to verify some charges to Fernando's card. The first thing we thought of was, here we go again, just like when Guillermo and Fernando were in South America - the credit union is freaking out about charges that don't seem "normal". The person calling (further known as The Fool) would not talk to us or give us any information, saying the only person he could discuss the issue with was the card holder. Guillermo told The Fool that would not be possible as the "card holder" is in places so remote in Africa that it'll be DAYS before they'd be able to talk to him. So, with no information from The Fool, we just figured the charges were taking place in Africa and of course that was fine with us. Telling The Fool that the cardholder is currently in Africa should have tipped off The Fool that things weren't right, but it didn't Hearing that the card holder is in AFRICA, and seeing on his paperwork right there in front of him that the charges were taking place all over TEXAS, his next move should have been to capture the card. But no, our word is worthless, and in trying to protect Fernando's privacy and security, The Fool actually protected the person using Fernando's number. I say that because charges kept racking up all Saturday night, Sunday and into Monday morning when it finally stopped because we were able to get in to our Credit Union. The credit union informed us where the charges were taking place and we had the card captured at that point. If The Fool had just let us know on that Saturday night, at the very least, WHERE the charges were happening, then we could have taken action and those thieves would have been able to do a lot less. But he wouldn't tell us anything.
We fail to understand how divulging to us "where" the charges were taking place would have compromised Fernando's privacy and security. That had already been breached BIG time.
Needless to say, we are very upset. We are upset that someone thinks they actually have a right to use our money for free and we are also upset with the Credit Union and it's security entity called Falcon. We are going to make sure that both places know, by writing a letter so it's documented, and by talking to the powers that be, that their policies need to be modified to prevent an issue like this from re-occurring. It is actually not only in our best interest, but it is in the credit union's best interest, too.
While all of this was happening on Saturday, (and these people have it figured out to do this kind of stuff starting on a Saturday evening, because then they have that evening, all day Sunday and possibly even Monday morning before they'll be found out), Guillermo and I were at a happy event at Medina Lake. A friend of ours, John F. was celebrating his birthday with family and friends at a wonderful home right on the water's edge. We had a great time, enjoyed spending time with friends and marveled at how beautiful the lake was. With the hills silhouetted by the setting sun, we were just happy to be there enjoying the good company, the delicious food and the amazing scenery. I have included a picture that Angie, John's wife, took of us along the water's edge.
We fail to understand how divulging to us "where" the charges were taking place would have compromised Fernando's privacy and security. That had already been breached BIG time.
Needless to say, we are very upset. We are upset that someone thinks they actually have a right to use our money for free and we are also upset with the Credit Union and it's security entity called Falcon. We are going to make sure that both places know, by writing a letter so it's documented, and by talking to the powers that be, that their policies need to be modified to prevent an issue like this from re-occurring. It is actually not only in our best interest, but it is in the credit union's best interest, too.
While all of this was happening on Saturday, (and these people have it figured out to do this kind of stuff starting on a Saturday evening, because then they have that evening, all day Sunday and possibly even Monday morning before they'll be found out), Guillermo and I were at a happy event at Medina Lake. A friend of ours, John F. was celebrating his birthday with family and friends at a wonderful home right on the water's edge. We had a great time, enjoyed spending time with friends and marveled at how beautiful the lake was. With the hills silhouetted by the setting sun, we were just happy to be there enjoying the good company, the delicious food and the amazing scenery. I have included a picture that Angie, John's wife, took of us along the water's edge.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
No jury duty
Guillermo did NOT have to serve on a jury after all. They did not pick him to serve, so he came home at 7:45 Tuesday evening, so very grateful that he didn't have to go back the next day. We were both happy that was over!!
Wednesday afternoon, I picked up mom after her cataract surgery and took her home. She came through that surgery just great and was ready to go home almost as soon as she came out of surgery. I decided to spend the night with her, just in case she needed help with anything, and to take her to her follow-up doctor appointment the next morning.
So, today, we went to her doctor, where they took the bandages off of her eye. She still sees a little blurry out of that eye, so I guess it will take a little while to see how the surgery helped. After the doctor appointment, we went to Starbucks where she had a coffee and I had a Chai and we shared some pastries.
Fernando wrote to us today and he and Eva were in Burkina Faso. He said speaking and understanding the French has been a bit rough but they've been doing ok with it. When he wrote, they were waiting for their visa's to be processed for Mali, which is where they are headed next. Hopefully we will hear from them from Sevare, Mali.
Wednesday afternoon, I picked up mom after her cataract surgery and took her home. She came through that surgery just great and was ready to go home almost as soon as she came out of surgery. I decided to spend the night with her, just in case she needed help with anything, and to take her to her follow-up doctor appointment the next morning.
So, today, we went to her doctor, where they took the bandages off of her eye. She still sees a little blurry out of that eye, so I guess it will take a little while to see how the surgery helped. After the doctor appointment, we went to Starbucks where she had a coffee and I had a Chai and we shared some pastries.
Fernando wrote to us today and he and Eva were in Burkina Faso. He said speaking and understanding the French has been a bit rough but they've been doing ok with it. When he wrote, they were waiting for their visa's to be processed for Mali, which is where they are headed next. Hopefully we will hear from them from Sevare, Mali.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Not the greatest of days
Well, neither of us got much sleep last night. We had to set the alarm for 6:15 this morning, something we haven't done in ages, so I think that was messing with our minds. The reason for such an early alarm is that Guillermo has jury duty today, which is why it isn't the greatest of days. He had to report there by 8am. He called me later, at 12:30, saying that he just had lunch, had been placed on a panel of 62 people and he was number 32. At 1:30, they were going to start interviewing the 62 people for a spot on a jury. At 5:30 he called me and said that they eliminated 40 of the 62, and he wasn't one of those eliminated. And I thought he was calling to say he was on his way home!!!
He sounded weary, and disgusted with the total lack of intelligence most of the people on the panel showed. He said he had no idea when he'd be coming home.
Being called for jury duty is very trying, and I remember one time not leaving that place until 6:45pm, so there's no telling when it will be over for him today. He also fears he's going to be chosen for the jury panel and that will mean he'll have to return tomorrow. I know he is not happy right now in the slightest.
At least Fernando wrote an email that Guillermo got to see before he left in the morning. I know Guillermo was happy about that, anyway. Fernando says that he and Eva are taking a 2 week vacation right now, heading first to Techiman (which is in Ghana) and then to Burkina Faso and then Mali. I mailed the two of them another package today, with lots of snacks, and they should get it when they get back from their vacation. :-)
I think Guillermo kind of knew jury duty would drag out like this. Yesterday, he mowed the entire field, thinking he'd better get that out of the way. It sure looks nice. It's hard to believe that at one time this field was used for baseball practice, soccer practice, there were special holes made to practice playing golf, it was where the kids practiced driving and where we had a regulation volleyball court set up. Those were definitely some fun times!!! Now there are trees everywhere! Guillermo just loves planting trees and the field is perfect for that now, as it served its purpose for when the kids were younger. And, as you can see, the martin house is up!!
He sounded weary, and disgusted with the total lack of intelligence most of the people on the panel showed. He said he had no idea when he'd be coming home.
Being called for jury duty is very trying, and I remember one time not leaving that place until 6:45pm, so there's no telling when it will be over for him today. He also fears he's going to be chosen for the jury panel and that will mean he'll have to return tomorrow. I know he is not happy right now in the slightest.
At least Fernando wrote an email that Guillermo got to see before he left in the morning. I know Guillermo was happy about that, anyway. Fernando says that he and Eva are taking a 2 week vacation right now, heading first to Techiman (which is in Ghana) and then to Burkina Faso and then Mali. I mailed the two of them another package today, with lots of snacks, and they should get it when they get back from their vacation. :-)
I think Guillermo kind of knew jury duty would drag out like this. Yesterday, he mowed the entire field, thinking he'd better get that out of the way. It sure looks nice. It's hard to believe that at one time this field was used for baseball practice, soccer practice, there were special holes made to practice playing golf, it was where the kids practiced driving and where we had a regulation volleyball court set up. Those were definitely some fun times!!! Now there are trees everywhere! Guillermo just loves planting trees and the field is perfect for that now, as it served its purpose for when the kids were younger. And, as you can see, the martin house is up!!
Here is a view of part of our field, all nicely mowed.
The watermelon and cantaloupe plants are really taking off now! There are some good sized cantaloupes under those nice leaves.
How do you like our new windsock, Rebeca?
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Pictures of Vicki, too!
Vicki, taking care of the plants.
There is always a lot to do outside, and even more so now, after all the rain we've gotten.
Guillermo and I had to struggle to get in our 7,000 steps on our pedometers today. We were supposed to work-out in the afternoon, but never made it to the gym. Instead, I spent a lot of time on the computer and Guillermo spent a lot of time weeding the garden, so neither of us did much walking today. So, after coming home from the dinner with our friends, we walked about 4 loops in our field. It was about 9:30pm, a waxing gibbous moon was out, there was a refreshing breeze blowing and we were happy to be outside in our field getting our steps in.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Success!!
Yesterday, July 7th, Guillermo and I went to Mom's house to mow her lawn before she returns from Switzerland. We decided to go on Monday, for three reasons: one) she was returning Monday night; two) they were predicting rain for the afternoon on Monday, with more on Tuesday; and three) Fernando usually contacts us on Tuesdays so we wanted to be home for that.
We finished mowing her yard and not more than 15 minutes later it started pouring rain and it rained pretty much the rest of the day. THEN, we get back home after deciding we wouldn't eat out anywhere because of all the rain and there's an email message from Fernando!! On a Monday!! The message had just been sent several minutes earlier, so we quickly got on gmail to see if he was still there. And he was!! So, we were able to chat for at least 5 minutes, and then it was time for him to go. So, that was another instance of perfect timing!!! But the most exciting news of all (and this is where the success comes in) was that he got our two packages that day!!! We were just so glad to know that the packages made it and that he and Eva had some easy things to snack on now.
Today, July 8th, I went to the Post Office to mail another package off to Fernando. The first post office, where I usually go, wanted to charge me DOUBLE what I usually pay for those packages. I walked out and took the package to UPS, where they wanted to charge me an INSANE amount of money to mail it. So, I decided to go to a completely different post office and there I was able to mail it for the regular price.
So, with all these rains, the creek was running a little today. Guillermo excitedly called me out there because he thought he saw the Painted Bunting, and also a blue and white bird that probably was a parakeet. With our binoculars, we were able to see the Painted Bunting, and we were glad about that since we used to see them all the time around here and now we know it's STILL possible to see them. We caught one more glimpse of the blue and white bird, but still aren't sure what it was. There sure was a lot of bird activity back around the running creek, Guillermo said "It's like the Pantanal here today!"
It's about 11pm here and Rebeca just called saying they have a small King snake underneath their entertainment center!!! We will be eager to talk to her tomorrow to find out how it went trying to catch that thing! Hopefully the two dogs are staying away from that excitement.
Guillermo set up the martin house yesterday. Even though it's past time for the Martins, they will see the house and remember it for when they return next year.
We finished mowing her yard and not more than 15 minutes later it started pouring rain and it rained pretty much the rest of the day. THEN, we get back home after deciding we wouldn't eat out anywhere because of all the rain and there's an email message from Fernando!! On a Monday!! The message had just been sent several minutes earlier, so we quickly got on gmail to see if he was still there. And he was!! So, we were able to chat for at least 5 minutes, and then it was time for him to go. So, that was another instance of perfect timing!!! But the most exciting news of all (and this is where the success comes in) was that he got our two packages that day!!! We were just so glad to know that the packages made it and that he and Eva had some easy things to snack on now.
Today, July 8th, I went to the Post Office to mail another package off to Fernando. The first post office, where I usually go, wanted to charge me DOUBLE what I usually pay for those packages. I walked out and took the package to UPS, where they wanted to charge me an INSANE amount of money to mail it. So, I decided to go to a completely different post office and there I was able to mail it for the regular price.
It's about 11pm here and Rebeca just called saying they have a small King snake underneath their entertainment center!!! We will be eager to talk to her tomorrow to find out how it went trying to catch that thing! Hopefully the two dogs are staying away from that excitement.
Guillermo set up the martin house yesterday. Even though it's past time for the Martins, they will see the house and remember it for when they return next year.
Working on the post where the martin house pole will be attached.
This is one of two avocados left on our avocado tree. C'mon, little avocado, hang in there!
Friday, July 4, 2008
Wishing for rain and finally getting it
Starting with July, 2008, we are going to keep a chronicle of what is going on with us here in San Antonio. To read our previous blog, which is mainly about our trip to South America, there is a book called Our South American Journey.
A summary of what has happened, since we got back from South America in May:
(Fernando left for Africa at the end of May. He is helping Eva with her research (for her PhD) on the Colobus Monkey and they are working in West Africa in Ghana. In the latest email Fernando sent us, he said that he and Eva might take a trip at some point to visit other places in Africa like Mole (a city in Ghana), Mali, and Burkina Faso, to name a few. He says that their biggest obstacle right now is securing the visas for the two countries and the fact that they don't speak French.
In an email Fernando wrote in mid-June he said:
....Since you asked about what we eat, vegetables are pretty limited. For one thing we don't have refrigeration, and for another they don't sell many vegetables anyway. We can get okra, tomatoes, hot peppers, onions, garlic, ginger, plantains, corn and various kinds of fruit. There are a few other vegetables that I don't know how to cook, and cassava. Since meat is pretty much out, we eat a lot of eggs, lentils, and beans for protein. I should have brought a bunch of power bars or something because our supply is running out! There's really not much to take out for lunch / snack food......
So, after that email, we sent Fernando two packages, a week apart, filled with power bars, granola bars and dried fruit. He has yet to receive the first package, so we'll wait until we hear when and if he ever receives that first one. He and Eva only go into town on Tuesdays, so it's not like they can check the mail every day. In his latest email, he said that lately they had been getting some rains there and their last trip into town took two hours, instead of the usual 30 minutes, because the roads got so bad. This made them get stuck in the mud a few times.
At the end of June, someone rear-ended the back of Guillermo's truck at a red light. The damage was very minor, (only to the rear bumper) but since there was some damage, the company truck that hit our truck took full responsibility and our truck was repaired in less than a week!
Rebeca and Jason have been enjoying the hummingbirds in their backyard and are really happy that this is a holiday weekend. 3 days off is SUCH a luxury!!! Diablillo (a.k.a- Energumeno) has been his usual little devilish self, going viciously after the neighbor's dog the other day. Fortunately, the neighbors were able to pick up their dogs before Diablillo got to them, but Jason was mortified anyway. The good thing is that Duke does NOT join into these types of encounters, so at least Jason had only one dog to deal with. Duke just stays back and watches Diablillo get in trouble.
Today, July 4th, my brother Andrew is getting married in Warnemunde, Germany. I wish we could have been there with him. Guillermo and I drove to my mom's and my sister Linda's house to check on their plants. On our way to their houses, we stopped at Central Market to pick up a few items. We forgot to bring our own fabric bags for our groceries, and it's strange, but now we feel bad when we are forced to use plastic bags. We have been using our own fabric bags since last summer, back when it wasn't fashionable yet. Today, we saw many people with fabric bags and we felt bad that we didn't have ours with us.
Here are a few pictures from around our house. Notice the one with the rabbit. Where he's sitting, that's how our grass looked about two weeks ago.
It's amazing what a little rain can do, although we've tried hard to stay within our water restrictions.
Guillermo's garden one day before our good rains. Those cantaloupe plants in the foreground are REALLY going to take off now!
This little guy lives in our backyard. He doesn't move out of our way, we have to go around him!!!
A summary of what has happened, since we got back from South America in May:
(Fernando left for Africa at the end of May. He is helping Eva with her research (for her PhD) on the Colobus Monkey and they are working in West Africa in Ghana. In the latest email Fernando sent us, he said that he and Eva might take a trip at some point to visit other places in Africa like Mole (a city in Ghana), Mali, and Burkina Faso, to name a few. He says that their biggest obstacle right now is securing the visas for the two countries and the fact that they don't speak French.
In an email Fernando wrote in mid-June he said:
....Since you asked about what we eat, vegetables are pretty limited. For one thing we don't have refrigeration, and for another they don't sell many vegetables anyway. We can get okra, tomatoes, hot peppers, onions, garlic, ginger, plantains, corn and various kinds of fruit. There are a few other vegetables that I don't know how to cook, and cassava. Since meat is pretty much out, we eat a lot of eggs, lentils, and beans for protein. I should have brought a bunch of power bars or something because our supply is running out! There's really not much to take out for lunch / snack food......
So, after that email, we sent Fernando two packages, a week apart, filled with power bars, granola bars and dried fruit. He has yet to receive the first package, so we'll wait until we hear when and if he ever receives that first one. He and Eva only go into town on Tuesdays, so it's not like they can check the mail every day. In his latest email, he said that lately they had been getting some rains there and their last trip into town took two hours, instead of the usual 30 minutes, because the roads got so bad. This made them get stuck in the mud a few times.
At the end of June, someone rear-ended the back of Guillermo's truck at a red light. The damage was very minor, (only to the rear bumper) but since there was some damage, the company truck that hit our truck took full responsibility and our truck was repaired in less than a week!
Rebeca and Jason have been enjoying the hummingbirds in their backyard and are really happy that this is a holiday weekend. 3 days off is SUCH a luxury!!! Diablillo (a.k.a- Energumeno) has been his usual little devilish self, going viciously after the neighbor's dog the other day. Fortunately, the neighbors were able to pick up their dogs before Diablillo got to them, but Jason was mortified anyway. The good thing is that Duke does NOT join into these types of encounters, so at least Jason had only one dog to deal with. Duke just stays back and watches Diablillo get in trouble.
Today, July 4th, my brother Andrew is getting married in Warnemunde, Germany. I wish we could have been there with him. Guillermo and I drove to my mom's and my sister Linda's house to check on their plants. On our way to their houses, we stopped at Central Market to pick up a few items. We forgot to bring our own fabric bags for our groceries, and it's strange, but now we feel bad when we are forced to use plastic bags. We have been using our own fabric bags since last summer, back when it wasn't fashionable yet. Today, we saw many people with fabric bags and we felt bad that we didn't have ours with us.
Here are a few pictures from around our house. Notice the one with the rabbit. Where he's sitting, that's how our grass looked about two weeks ago.
It's amazing what a little rain can do, although we've tried hard to stay within our water restrictions.
Guillermo's garden one day before our good rains. Those cantaloupe plants in the foreground are REALLY going to take off now!
This little guy lives in our backyard. He doesn't move out of our way, we have to go around him!!!
These petunias are looking so beautiful along our front sidewalk.
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