Friday, January 28, 2011

Billy and Dylan put the motor on the boat last weekend,
Yay!!



Afterwords, they came home to pick me up...and yes, Pepe too!
Besides the fact that when I hopped on the boat,
and my cell phone fell in the water,
it was a nice trip. 
We took Billy back to the marina so he could drive the truck and trailer home, and Dylan drove me back to the house on the boat.
He's turning out to be an excellent captain!
The boat rides wonderfully, love the 4 stroke!
It was a nice dry ride, that is until I hopped off the boat and dropped Billy's cell and my camera in the water!!
The camera was trashed, evidently salt water is hard on electronics...
I was able to recover the SD card, so luckily I didn't loose any pictures!
Now I just need to replace my "boat" camera!
And the SIM for Billy's phone was fine.
(You can always count on me to drop something, maybe it's some sort of disorder???)



The weekend before the boat motor arrived,
we went out for a family kayak trip.
It was great, we even took a swim!


Here's a before and after of the property from the water:
(1 year later)






You can tell when the local fishermen have a good day!
The Frigate Birds have a wing span of up to 7.5ft!
A bit intimidating to me!!
At the right tide, occasionally they (the fishermen) pass by our house.
Besides all the wildlife out here,
they are the only other signs of life we see.
(What a beautiful thing!)




As excited as I was to see this beautiful bee visiting my orchid,
he was as unsuccessful as we were at pollination.
 



Other Orchids in bloom:



Hungry anyone?
We've got plantain, waba and cashew:
(I love each one, but I'd have to say the waba is my favorite. Very sweet)


A pretty tree in bloom:
(I enjoy the fall of the petals on the ground almost as much as the blooms themselves!)




So, what makes a person trespass?
(Through barb wire, mean trees, and cow droppings???)



Why, this of course:
Ok, so maybe maybe I'm not normal!
But I couldn't resist.
They're bird nests...
Ok, not just any bird...
The Oropendola!

See:
These are my favorite birds in Panama,
besides Lucy of course!
Not only do they have the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen a bird have,
they make some of the neatest mating gestures I've ever witnessed!
(I'm currently working on a recording)
Anyhow, as far as the trespassing goes,
the owner of the property is a neighbor and I highly doubt that he minds a gringa in his cow pasture with a camera!
(If so, I'll just give him a couple bucks!!)


Speaking of the coolest bird in Panama...
Here's my baby girl debuting her natural colors!!
(It actually looks like she enjoyed being in front of the camera.)



Left upper and lower: The juvenile black hawk..if you look closely you can see his breakfast.
He followed me around on my morning walk and ate up what I chased out of the brush on my way.
He's great!  I love watching him mature, and seeing him every day is a real bonus!
Middle pic: The " Social Fly-Catcher." This couple has taken over a nest built last year by another couple.
It's so close to my front porch that I'll have a 'birds eye view ' when the babies hatch!
Upper right: The Lineated Woodpecker
Lower right: The Roadside Hawk
These birds are here every day, and are nearly as much a part of our family as the rest of our pets.
ALL MY BABIES!!
;)



So, while I'm having fun taking pics,
the real work is being done by my wonderful hubby!
Stucco man galore!
This week he's stucco'd the inside of the garage, (the smaller of the 2 rooms)
the inside of the planter that borders the front porch,
AND the inside of the retaining wall for the boat ramp.
(Yes, there are reasons for the random tasks, but I'm just the photographer trying really hard to document the info on a computer with a bad attitude...I haven't dropped it, but I AM ready to throw it it at this moment!)



So, that's it for now.
If I don't kill my computer very soon, my next post should be on schedule...
my schedule!

Salud amigos!











Thursday, January 6, 2011

New Arrival!

Ahoy there matey!!
The new boat is finally done!
Hopefully we can get it seaworthy very soon!

On a side note:
Billy finally got cable TV ordered.
3-5 days.
That was Monday...

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Some pics of 1 of the 2 New Year celebrations we attended:




 
Above: Billy attempting to get a shot of the both of us...





Above & below: Front & rear views of the party location!
(and my 2 very handsome men!)






We had a great evening.
After this party we went to the "Merf's" place...
They had a bonfire, food, guitar, fireworks, and some great company!

(bty Mary,  don't forget about the Peace Corps.
As always it was great seeing you and we can't wait for you and Perry to become residents!)

Happy New Year everyone!

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Christmas Day:
Well, for the first time in what must be a hundred years,
there were no children in my house on Christmas Day.
Dylan was invited to go out with a friend of ours on a charter,
so he stayed the night before with them...and a bunch of kids!
I can't say I liked it,  but if you ask him, he'll tell you it was the "best Christmas ever!"
(He got a little taste of scuba diving!)

He loved everything from everyone:
Ashley: Evidently you can pick out a good knife, and candy!
Mom & Dale: The pic above on the bottom right is him opening the helicopter...
Great one!
And of course it goes without saying, the gift card earned some major points!
Dad: Cash is king!
Danyelle: When you gonna come play these games with him!?


I know I said he had a great Christmas, 
so you're probably wondering why he doesn't look so happy in the next picture...

There's actually a very good explanation for that look!
We told him to "Save the best for last..."
(A PlayStation 3)
So, he opened a game that can only be played on the PS3.
(oops)
I made a joke saying that I thought he could play it on one of his current systems...
He didn't laugh.?





Construction Update:








Here's a little crafty stuff I've been doing:
I made some ornaments out of seeds from the mangroves.
Background: Mangroves
Top Center: The Flower
Bottom Center: The Seeds
I made them while hanging out on the hammock in the ranchito.
(Any excuse is a good one to hang out up there!)







More strange stuff...








 Here's another: Can you guess what it is?
(It's actually 4 different pictures, and it's not another strange mushroom!)








"The Fragrant Swan"
We actually find most all of our orchids in the wild,
but I bought these from a little Indian boy who was selling them roadside.
Panama: $3 each
US: $200



Others in bloom
(and 1 that has been pollinated)







This is a 7 picture panorama that I created of the sunset at the ranchito:







That's it for now.
I can't believe the holiday's are over.
I sure did miss everyone this year.
It would be nice to have everyone here for the holidays someday...

I just try to remember:




Friday, December 17, 2010

Happy Birthday to my beautiful mom!
I love you!
December 18, ****!

 The (other) Ginger I mentioned finally opened up enough to photograph!







Sue sent me some pics of our kayak trip...
(The PFD's are strictly for safety and we wore them all day...hehehe!)



Saturday, December 11, 2010

Something has been eating my corn!?

On a daily basis since cobs started appearing on the stalks,
our employee has been bringing us an ear of corn a day.
One that's been chewed on a bit by a raccoon.
No problem I thought, we love to share!







Until:
 Well, the picture above depicts a new story.
Dylan stumbled across this on one of his 'hunting' trips...
Daddy is not happy to share this much!
So I set out yesterday at 6:30 am to hide in the corn and see what's up!








Well, maybe the Black Chested Jay?
They've been around an awful lot lately...
Naw...I don't buy it.
Did you notice how neatly that cob was cleaned?








 Well, the baby Black Hawk is lurking around...
However, I'm still not convinced that it's a bird!






hummm...

Now I'm starting to get bored and not so very comfortable...
(don't ever leave the house in Panama without a book!)
Oh welI, think I'll lay down right here...
Ever wonder what a corn field looks like from a laying down position?









 I figured I should change up my hiding spot so I moved further down the bank...

Not much going on down here...I'll take some 'I'm bored' pictures.
(see above)






HA!
As usual, my men were right...
The monkeys!
Look at that rediculously fat face in the smaller pic...
Again I have to agree with my Hubby,
They're very greedy!





Other than that...


Above: Orchids currently blooming.
Thankfully, we've had better luck with our Orchids!
The bottom right Orchid is a little something Billy found on the way home the other day.
He's done such a great job!
Our property has an average of 1 tree per 10 sq'  lets say...
(I'm asking Billy the property stats as I type and he's not cooperating very well ;)
Nearly 1/3 of them have at least 1 orchid!
(We have about 15 acres, that's a bunch of Orchids! )





Ah...
This is a Ginger flower.
This is from a friend who kindly gave us about 15 plants!
I have another variety that is bloomed at the moment, but I'm not happy with the pic.

PS
Did you know that you can buy Ginger root at Publix and plant it?
Dylan picked up some at the market and planted it recently and it's already growing!
Awesome!






As the pic says, it was

'Another Day in Paradise.'
I am truly blessed!









'