Proof of Life post

Some bloggers apologize when they haven't posted recently. La Gringa has to be much more dramatic than that − so here's my 'proof of life' photo. A minor problem: We decided to cancel the newspaper for awhile so this one is dated February 23! Hahaha. Oh, well. I'm going to give you some details that only you and I know, so you'll know it's me writing, not an impostor. ;-)

No, I haven't been kidnapped. I'm still alive. I'm fine. El Jefe is fine. I've just been completely engrossed in other things. I'm kind of a monomaniac. I immerse myself completely in whatever I do to the exclusion of everything else, but you probably knew that already, didn't you?

The newspapers were just piling up while we were reading the articles at the online sites. Chloe the Rottweiler misses the paper most of all because she was paid a 'cookie' every morning for delivering it to our hands. (video proof)

Crisis continues

To tell the truth, I'm really burned out on the political crisis (which continues in full force) and the news has been depressing lately − lots of problems, conflict, and violence, and reports of foreigners (Nicaraguan, Cuban, and, yes, US American) interfering to rile up groups and to train them in the tactics that get attention from the "international community". There are serious efforts being made to destabilize the country. US Ambassador Hugo Llorens continues to sit at the head of the table, but seems a bit defensive and uncomfortable in the news conferences lately. Maybe it is clear to him (finally) that he has worn out his welcome.

I'm trying to revamp the Blogicito somewhat and trying to figure out how to code what I want to do requires my full attention. I'm making progress slowly but surely.

Rooster news

The topic that I know you all are interested in the most is Pancho. I'm very happy to tell you that he's doing GREAT! Nothing like having a rooster in your closet or on the terraza outside your bedroom to get you up early! Every morning he and the teenage roosters would have a crowing duel that went on and on and on. I guess Pancho wanted to let them know that he's still The Man!

Yesterday morning, I woke up to find Pancho standing up. I took him out of the cage and put him on the terraza and he was limping but seemed steady enough so I let him have his first day of freedom out in the garden in more than two weeks. Though he still has a bad limp, it took three of us to catch him to put him safely in his cage for the night. Today he's outside again and I gave the two teenage roosters to Carlos. I don't ask and Carlos doesn't tell, but I assume that those roosters will become beloved pets and live to a ripe old age just like the last two I gave him. (yeah, right!)

On the homefront

The floor has been repaired, the dust has been cleaned and cleaned and cleaned and the furniture has been replaced again. At last! I'll tell you more about what we did to the loose tiles another time − so far, so good. Now we have two more areas to work on....mañana.

Arexy, the maid, will be celebrating her first anniversary with us next Tuesday! More accurately, I'll be celebrating it; I'm not sure about her, but I think she will. Bet you thought it could never happen, didn't you? She's been wonderful. A good worker, a fast learner, very dependable, thorough, mostly careful, and very pleasant to be around. That's the good news. The bad news is that she's pregnant and going to move back to Tocoa soon. :-/

In the 'hood

Trees are being cut down to put a road through along side our property. Boohoo. I hate that on so many levels! Traffic, privacy, wildlife, etc., etc. At least it opens up our view to the mountains a little bit. Gradually over the years the trees have grown and covered the mountains. I guess I need to get back to work on those curtains I started back before the political crisis consumed eight months of our lives. (See my very first article for almost this same exact view from 8 years ago. Interesting!)

If you look closely to the right of that taller post, you can see a worker on top of the 40 foot trunk chopping it up by hand with an axe (I think − but maybe it is a machete, which would be more typical). I hold my breath every time they start chopping. One of the falling 40 foot (12 m.) trees came pretty close to our muro, not to mention the power lines.

As a point of interest, these guys have an interesting work schedule. They come around 7 a.m. every morning, chop down one or two trees, and then leave around 9 or 10 a.m.

You may notice the flower bed covered with fresh mulch. We've had Carlos (a former worker from our construction days) and another guy here doing some major garden clean up. Carlos cleaned up that area a little more than I wanted − and I thought I explained it so well! The garden looks so fresh and neat with new mulch. Now that we are entering the dry season, the mulch will help to keep the soil moist and cooler.

And in case you were going to ask: No, Honduran birds do not like my Purple Martin house. Once a dove made a nest on the 'porch' outside but that's about it.

This is more than I intended to write − time to get back to CSS and HTML and PNG images. Ugh! If this doesn't tide you over the weekend, check out some of those older articles and let me know what you found.