The prize

Recycled plastic bag

Yeni picked this one. I think it needs a clasp of some sort. What do you think?

Now I have to figure out how to get it to the USA. ;-)

Pick your prize
We have a winner!
Guess what this is?

We have a winner!

Not a mint, apirin, or Alka-Seltzer, not an egg of any kind or a spider case

We have a winner in the 'Guess what it is?' contest. Wow! There were some amazing guesses, and some funny ones, too. Click 'comments' below the linked article to check out the guesses.

After posting this, I really felt guilty because I was thinking that no one in the world would ever be able to guess. That's why I decided to give a prize to the 'most clever answer' if no one won. I thought that after I posted the answer, everyone would exclaim, "Not fair!", because the 'thing' is so obscure.

But I should have had more faith in my readers! They know everything, as I find out every time I ask a question on Facebook. Personally, if I saw that photo, my own guess would have been a piece of coral and I don't think I could have come up with a second guess.

I will keep you in suspense no longer. The photo is of a large and painful kidney stone, guess #29 by Yeni R of 44 guesses. Congratulations, Yeni! What I want to know is, does Yeni have a medical background? How did she know?!

The stone was removed surgically last week in San Pedro from our little female chihuahua, Zoe. Here's her x-ray:


I always thought that kidney stones were bb-sized or smaller and had no idea that the calcium or whatever could build up to this size.

It looks like an egg, doesn't it? I wondered if one of the roosters had gotten a hold of her in some freak accident of nature! (By the way, the other strange looking spots in the x-ray are trees and things showing through the window where I put the x-ray to get a photo.)

Poor Zoe. She must have really been suffering. Thankfully, she is doing fantastic and even within a couple of hours of the surgery was up and running around the vet's office looking for her "papi".

Here is the happy family back together again:

Clockwise from top, Oso, Joe, and Zoe

Congratulations, Yeni! In the next post, I'll let Yeni pick her prize. ;-)

Guess what this is?

Guess what this is? Please don't say paper clip. The paper clip is there to give you an idea of the size. The paper clip measures 1-1/8 inch or about 3 centimeters.


It was hard to get a good photo. I took at least 20 and these are the best.


Any guesses? I will give a prize to the first correct guess or the most clever wrong guess if no one guesses the correct answer. But your answers have to be here, not on Facebook!


Update: We have a winner!

Pick your prize!

September 11

Molly and Alex

On September 11, 2001, we were in Houston, Texas, taking care of final paperwork at the Honduran consulate and arranging for shipping of our cars. We were supposed to leave for Honduras on September 13, but that didn't happen.

We were wakened by a phone call telling us to turn on the television. ..... Oh, the horror of it. I was glued to the television for days. It just didn't seem real no matter how many times I watched it. How could something like that happen? God rest the 3,000 souls who didn't survive that day.

Of course, our flight was canceled. We ended up not being able to get a flight in which we could take both of our little dogs until a week later. The airline only allowed two dogs in cabin per flight and every flight had at least one. We had made all the arrangements for them and even had made an advance trip to the airport to make sure there wouldn't be any problems, but all of that changed with 9/11. The helpful airline's customer service solution was that we only take one dog with us. Right: We'll just abandon one of our 14-year-old dogs in the airport. No problem. So, instead we ended up spending an expensive week in a motel in Houston with two dogs before we finally were able to leave for Honduras.

At the airport, we were designated as suspicious characters, exacerbated by our one-way tickets. Our four huge overstuffed bags were searched completely, down to unfolding the socks. I waited, trying not to notice that all the blonds sailed right through with a wave. I never thought that the inspectors would ever be able to put everything back and zip up those suitcases, but miraculously they did.

Honduras was a relief as we had no news, no phones, no cable TV, and no newspapers in the beginning.

Both dogs have since gone to doggy heaven and I still miss them.

Pet Peeve #473

That egg is definitely broken.

D - E - F - I - N - I - T - E - L - Y

Not definitly. Not difently. Not difinetly. Not defenitly. Not deffinitly.

And certainly not defiantly! Unless you are rebellious instead of certain about something.

Definitely.

I definitely like ice cream.
I defiantly refuse to eat chicharrón.

La Gringa's year-old laptop and laptops of another sort

Thankfully I am a touch typist.

My 'Q' key quit working yesterday. I tried to comment on someone's blog and was able to reword my comment without a q word, but the captchas got me. Every combination of test letters that popped up had a 'q'. Finally, about the fifth time, I got lucky but by then the captchas had decided I was a spammer and deleted my comment. :-/

Why the 'Q'? Obviously from the photo above, the 'E', 'N', and 'S' are my favorites. I used a little sewing machine brush to try to clean out underneath the keys − which was difficult as there is almost no space between the keys. I pulled out a ton of dog hair! My dogs like to take turns sitting on my lap at night when I'm on the computer. Those waiting their turn line up on the left and when they tire of me, they jump off on the right. This is the only manner in which these chihuhuas are orderly.

The key still wasn't working great but at least I could eventually get a 'Q'. Today it is healed. Hallelujah!

Rebuttal to a couple of idiots

Cartoon by Dave Walker.
Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

We are going to get down and dirty today, folks, so if you aren't interested, you might just want to come back tomorrow.

What the heck is it about the internet that brings out the worst in some people? Or is it not the internet, but the person's true nature shining through? There seems to be an innate belief in some that anything goes and nobody, nowhere, nohow is going to tell them what to do. Cursing, lying, slandering, spamming, threatening, stealing others' work − they believe all should be allowed in the name of free speech and woe to anyone who tries to stand in their way.

Honduras Living is a discussion group for expatriates living in Honduras, those considering moving to Honduras, and expatriate Hondurans moving back to their home country. We have a few simple, common sense rules that have served the group very well I think. In a little over two years, the group has grown to 850-plus members.

We did not want a group dominated with misleading information from unscrupulous real estate agents or where people are afraid to give their opinions because they would be attacked by others. We started the group and that is our privilege to decide the rules − simple as that. Our group's guidelines ask members to be polite and considerate. Everyone's opinions are welcome as long as they can state them civilly without personal attacks. At times, I personally absolutely cringe at some of those opinions.... but I and the other moderators respect members' right to give them.

Since members needs and wants vary, no internet group is going to meet the needs of all people all of the time. We just try to ensure that the group is the best that it can be for the majority of the members most of the time. One member's rights terminate when those rights step on the toes of other members. Of course, everyone always has the ultimate right to unsubscribe from the group whenever they feel the need to relieve themselves of the constraints of the group's guidelines.

Overall, we have a great group of helpful, friendly people and most do their best to follow the guidelines. Invariably, those very few who cannot, or will not, will cry "censorship!" What they are really saying is that "I was too lazy to or couldn't get away with (advertising/making personal attacks/trimming prior posts/fill-in-the-blank) so I'm going to blame the moderators for being evil censurers."

Recently, an either very misguided or unethical member decided to capitalize on the vast amount of information in our group. He copied a ton of members' messages from our group and put them up on a website. He was sent a form letter requesting that he remove all the information for which he did not have permission to use, which was about 98% of his site.

Ultimately, he saw the light and removed the material, but not until after he had sent various threats to me. Since he couldn't go with his original plan, he set up a forum. Great! More power to him. If he works at it and has something of value to offer, his forum will succeed. If he doesn't, it won't.

That is the ultimate law of the internet: It is not 'If you build it, they will come'. It is 'If you have something of value to offer readers, they will come back'.


Unfortunately, in order to build up his forum membership, he again took the again unethical route. He harvested email addresses from our group and sent unsolicited email to our HL members. What was done was done, not much we can do about that.

But then, yet again showing his true colors, rather than putting his own effort into making his site a place that people will want to visit, he decided that the only way to build up himself and his forum was to blast our group and me in particular with false claims. I guess he was thinking that our members would believe that and become so incensed that they would flock to his group.

He has one strong supporter who you'll read about below. I had to include the information about him just for the entertainment value.

Now ordinarily, I know how to deal with trolls and misfits. Ignoring them is generally the best option. Soon they get bored with their own griping or their new listeners get bored with the negativity and start wondering "Where's the meat? Why am I here?". That has happened before.

Try as I might, this time I feel compelled to defend my reputation. I don't care if they don't like me or call me names. It has happened before and it will happen again. But when someone casts aspersions on my integrity, I can't let that slide.

I wanted to post a rebuttal on his site, leave it at that, and let people make up their own minds about who was telling the truth. After 2 1/2 years of blogging my heart out and more than 2 years of our Honduras Living forum, hopefully people have a pretty good idea of my character.

Two problems arose. One person advised me that since Nick owns the forum, he could alter or delete my message or enter a bunch of false responses from imaginary people supposedly supporting his claims. Wow! Why didn't I think of that? I guess I just don't have that kind of nefarious mind.

The second reason is ironic. Despite his claim to have an open forum and allow anyone to post anything they want, it seems that he has blocked my IP address and I physically can't post a rebuttal to his attack on his forum! Hah. So much for an open forum with no censorship.

So, for those who are interested, here is the rebuttal that I would have posted:

----------------------

It's just too funny reading the slanderous falsehoods posted by people to rationalize why they refuse to follow some simple guidelines. Nick stated: "You can count on the fact that no matter if someone pisses me off or not, I won't delete helpful info from MY site! " I guess he doesn't have to censor if he can prevent a truthful rebuttal to his false claims from even being posted in the first place.

Nick, first, Yahoo Terms of Service are very clear about copying and reposting information sent by other group members. I'm sorry you weren't aware of that. If you had asked, I would have explained to you that not only could you lose your Yahoo account but your website could be shut down by your website host provider. Host providers take copyright violations very seriously.

Second, yes, I sent a message to you pointing out your copyright violations. I thought it was fair to give you 48 hours to remove the unauthorized material − rather than simply filing a DMCA complaint with Yahoo and your website provider. The letter sent to you is a standard recommended form letter and there is nothing "nasty" or "rude" about it. You, however, were the one who sent three messages to us with various threats of trying to ruin my reputation if I didn't drop the matter, just as you are trying to do here, and just as you tried to do in the past. I didn't respond to your last two messages. You'll recall that the entire conversation was between you and all three moderators. We have all of the messages if there is still any question about who said what.

Third, despite what you had done, you weren't banned from the group until you threatened to spam all of our members, which you have since done anyway. Harvesting email addresses and sending unsolicited emails to members of a group is also against Yahoo's guidelines and in general is considered a pretty slimy thing to do. And, yes, I have gotten complaints from members about it.

Fourth, as far as accusing me of deleting your messages, that is a ridiculous claim. Any member can search the Honduras Living message archives and find all of your messages.

NYPD stated, "I never insulted,ranted, made inappropriate comments, but the "powers" decided I did not have a voice ."on their private site" So like any Demagog. they ban people who voice an opposing opinion."

Apparently we have a vastly different opinion about what is insulting, ranting, or inappropriate. The moderators did consider calling a pregnant woman "ignorant", "desperate" and a "moron" as insulting and inappropriate. We also considered telling an 80-year man to "grow up. get a life." as insulting and inappropriate. You also sent at least one abusive private email to a member and another one to the moderators.

The moderators were trying to work with you on your inability to follow the group's guidelines, but abusing our members is not tolerated. It had nothing to do with your opinions. I don't recall reading any "opposing opinions" from you at all. I have no idea what your opinions are except that you have difficulty expressing them in a civil manner.

Also interesting is the fact that NYPD complains of the discussions about the maquila closing dragging on. Obviously he didn't read the messages or he would know that Nick was the one who dragged them on and on with his 32 responses on the original thread and his 17 messages on the follow up thread started by him! Hah! There were many complaints about those threads from other members, but since we DON'T censor opposing viewpoints, what were the moderators to do? Would you propose censoring Nick? Or only allowing opinions with which *you* agree?

Nick, I wish you all the luck on your new forum. I sincerely (really sincerely) hope that all like-minded people join you there. I do think, however, that when your ethics and veracity is questionable, people will have a difficult time relying on your answers. Remember that the same technology that gives you the power to make these false claims publicly also allows others to follow you and your reputation wherever you go.

------------------------

So that is the rest of the story -- the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I feel better now. Thanks for indulging me.



Cartoons by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Frustrations!

Between losing power, internet connection problems, Blogger connection problems, and correcting typos resulting from numb fingers, I'm just ready to scream.

_________________

I received this email today:

hello. my name is Pxxxx. i´m a frequent and anonymous reader of your blog. i´m writing this `cause you are not posting since a few days ago. where are you, are you sick or you just gave up? í´m a ceibeño and i like what you write of my town. when i´m at the super market or elsewhere i look around if i can see a gringa taking photo just to say hello. if that happens i hope not to cause you a ´´mal momento´´. i wish you the best. P

Hahaha. ;-D That made me smile and jolted me out of my lazy stupor. I decided to try to get back on track and finish some of the articles that I've started in the past couple of months. Wouldn't you know it? Today is the day that I cannot connect to Blogger for hours at a time. Aaargh!

_______________

My coconuts are rotting and falling off the palm. All of them.

_______________

Yes, my fingers are still numb from the Ulnar Tunnel Syndrome. I guess I'm going to need to go have surgery somewhere before my fingers fall off.

________________

My inbox, which I've successfully kept to under 50-to-be-attended-to for the past year or so, is now bursting at about 250 no matter how many I dispense of each day.

________________


There. I feel better. How about you?

It's the funny bone, but not so funny

Numb and tingly to the right of that line

Pay attention bloggers and blog readers! La Gringa may save you from a serious medical problem − seriously!


I have diagnosed myself to have a funny bone problem. It isn't so funny, though.

What I think I have is called ulnar tunnel syndrome or cubital tunnel syndrome. The ulnar nerve, which runs from the spinal column down the length of the arm to the outer two fingers, gets pinched in the area of the elbow.

Image: Medical University of South Carolina

The result is two numb and tingly fingers, the pinkie and the ring finger. In my case the whole outer part of my left hand feels numb as well. It's constant and it is painful. Typing feels like I'm tapping on a bed of needles.

Ulnar tunnel syndrome can be caused by an accident, certain throwing sports, or weight lifting, but it is often caused by repeated pressure on the elbow. In my case, it was probably caused by...what else?...leaning on my left elbow while my right hand clicks and clacks through cyberspace, your blogs, and my bottomless pit of an email inbox.

I had the same symptoms once before. Can you guess when? It was a few months after we first got home internet access after four years without it. I was rediscovering the world day and night! I researched my symptoms at the time but had forgotten the name. That's why I sounded mysterious about the problem. I just couldn't remember the name. The last time it went away after a few weeks and I promptly and thankfully forgot about it.

This time, it's worse. It's really painful to type. I make so many errors because those two fingers feel like big fat salchichas (sausages). Every single time I type 'any', it comes out 'zany.' I'm getting lots of extraneous v's, z's, and s's and that big fat pinkie keeps HITTING THE CaPS lock liKE THis. They aren't really big and fat; they just feel that way.

My funny bone is telling me something. It's telling me to get off the damn computer so that's what I'm going to do.....Well, as much as I can anyway. You know that I'm an addict, don't you?

Here's the plan:

I'm not going to answer email for awhile and − oh, horrors! − not going to reply to comments. I'm going to start taking ibuprofen which is supposed to help with the inflammation and do some stretching exercises. Wish me luck! I don't know what I'll do if it doesn't go away on its own. I'm scared to death to have surgery.

If I get some guest blogs, I'll post them. If I don't and I just can't stand it anymore, I'll occasionally post some pictures or something that I vcan ( <− see what I mean?) do mostly with my mouse asnd my right hand. I'm going to try to go cold turkey and just not even open my email every day, because that is my downfall every morning. So, dear readers, my advice to you is to make a concerted effort to NOT lean on your elbow(s). That simple tip could save you from UTS! To learn more about Ulnar Tunnel Syndrome in simple terms, check out this page: Ulnar Tunnel Syndrome - U. of Missouri

To read more detailed, but still easy to understand information about Cubital Tunnel Syndrome, see this:

Cubital Tunnel Syndrome - Orthopod

eMedicine reports that CTS (UTS) is the second most common compressive neuropathy after Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. They also state that it affects men 3-8 times as often as women, though I read other sources which stated that it was more common in women.

For all things Cubital Tunnel Syndrome, including a public forum, see:

Cubital-Tunnel.com

If you spend a lot of time on the computer, I really recommend that you read this page and perhaps develop some good habits now to prevent getting UTS:

Ulnar Tunnel Syndrome - Self Care


Get off that elbow!

Sick and sick sense of humor

I haven't mentioned that I'm sick because I don't want to seem to be fishing for get well wishes − though I do love 'em. You can never have too big a pity party when you feel sick, can you? ;-)

I have a bad cold, with a cough that won't quit, a sore throat, fever, and a nose that just won't quit running. Sometimes I just stuff a kleenex in my nose (when El Jefe is not around) and let it hang there. I cough so hard that my ears hurt − I think I'm blowing my brains out my ears. My sneezes are so loud that I fully expect my neighbors from a block away to come to see what the explosion is.

Anyway, in my feverish delirium, it didn't occur to me that anyone would not immediately see the humor in my last silly post.

However, a friend from another part of Honduras read my egg article before the crystal egg article and was afraid that I had received some sort of threat. Yes, crazy things do happen in Honduras and there are those who practice witchcraft.

I am truly sorry if anyone was worried on my behalf! It was just my sick sense of humor (no pun intended) and I hope that no one else was worried about me.

It's worse than I thought

It's even worse than I thought.

I just took the practice test at Typing Certification.com.

Old computer:

67 words per minute, corrected
69 words per minute, uncorrected
97% accuracy

New laptop:
36 words per minute, corrected
53 words per minute, uncorrected
68% accuracy

I keep putting my fingers on the wrong keys.

Thanks for the hugs and here's a kiss

Dove candies words of wisdom

My sob story about the theft (of the item and my trust) resulted in the second most comments on any article I've written. I think that only my Touristy tips for La Ceiba received more. ;-D

I really can't express how much your comments meant to me. I don't even know some of you and for you to take the time to send me a note is really appreciated. I've been thinking about it for days and I'm just tongue-tied trying to figure out how to express myself. I'll just say that it felt like a bunch of hugs from my friends. It does help incredibly to know that others understand my feelings and don't think that I'm being petty or childish.

It's easy to gripe about the little annoyances like not finding Dijon mustard or getting bad service, or even being cheated or lied to. It is a lot harder to write in public about the things that really, really hurt. Especially when there is a chance that someone may say I deserved it or it was my fault or that the poor should be excused because from having decent morals or that I'm "rich" anyway so what does it matter?

I know that a lot of people want to believe that I MUST be doing something wrong to have all of these bad experiences with employees. I used to wonder about that, too, but I've talked to too many Hondurans now to worry that I somehow brought it on myself. These things happen to everyone I talk to from all walks of life! And it doesn't seem to matter how well or poorly paid or how well or poorly treated the person was or whether the employer was gringo or Honduran. And I know what was in my heart when we've done things for Nora and Carlos. We are not naive and never wanted or expected undying gratitude, but we didn't expect to be robbed either!

Aaron made this comment: "Right now I'm absolutely sure I'd rather starve than betray a friend and steal from them, but I've never been faced with that choice." Yes, I can agree that if I had hungry children, I might be tempted to steal. But the choice that Nora had was not 'to steal or go hungry.' Her choice was to continue to WORK at a well paid and flexible job or to steal to take a vacation. She apparently chose the short-term gratification.

Aaron, who is Honduran, also said that he has grown cynical and now he doesn't trust anybody and that his expectations of others is zero. The trust issue is the hardest part of living in Honduras for me. I can adjust to not having electricity, water, and a hundred other things, but I just don't know how a person can adjust to living without trust without becoming a very hard-hearted person.

In the article I made this comment: "If it wasn't for El Jefe and his good and decent family, I think I would be ready to go back home." I should clarify a couple of things about that comment. First, of course I know other decent, honorable Hondurans. But I do think the dishonorable people outnumber the good ones and the good people agree with me about that. It's really a sad state of affairs.

The other was about the term 'home.' Kman asked "where is home?" I don't even have the answer for that. I guess a more appropriate phrase would have been "back to where I came from." I've been here so long (6 1/2 years) that I don't really consider Texas my home, and yet sometimes it is hard to consider Honduras my home either. I guess I'm homeless!

Daniel, also Honduran, suggested that I read Seneca's Book of Seven Wisdoms and that would give me the answer. I've found what I think may be the book he's referring to. I've glanced through it but haven't had time to read it yet so I don't know what specifically he was referring to. Hopefully it will become clear when I read the whole book. Or, Daniel, you could give me a clue now....

Charlie made a good suggestion about asking Carlos for 'help' in finding the item. I talked to El Jefe about it and it turns out that he had already done something similar a month ago. At this point, I'm sure the item is long gone. But I will file away that idea for future reference.

I'm trying to just put it behind me. I will be more cautious and less trusting in the future.

Thanks again, readers and friends. Here's a kiss for you.

Feliz Navidad

Feliz Navidad!

Merry Christmas!

Happy Hanukkah!

To all my loyal readers.

I'll get back on schedule in a few days, I promise.

La Gringa is falling apart

Look, ma! No teeth!

Yesterday we were eating a late lunch of Tex-Mex soft tacos (flour tortilla folded in half and filled with spicy ground beef, shredded cheese, lettuce, guacamole, and lots of jalapeños), when all of a sudden I felt a crunch.

Knowing there was nothing crunchy in my taco, I was a little startled thinking maybe it was a piece of bone in the ground beef.

So I delicately reached in and pulled out.....part of my tooth! I broke a tooth! It must have already been cracked because I wasn't eating anything hard enough to break a tooth.

This morning we made an emergency trip to the dentist. As soon as she looked in my mouth, she went out to the waiting room to get El Jefe. I knew it was bad news then, because generally she explains things to me directly (in Spanish) and I understand just fine.

The tooth already had such a large filling that now there is nothing to do but get a crown (which she doesn't think will last very long) or an implant. I'm going to have to see the especialista (specialist) who only comes to La Ceiba from San Pedro Sula once a month.

Just in case you are wondering, it was a molar way in the back, so at least I won't look like a toothless hag for the next four weeks. Hahah. I should have taken a photo of the x-ray for blog accuracy but when you are in the throes of despair it's hard to think about blog photos. The red line on this drawing is approximately how my tooth broke.

Waaahhhh. I've never had any serious dental work like this done before and I'm scared!

Another reason I'm scared is that long ago I had the most vivid dream that all my teeth started falling out. Every time I opened my mouth to talk or even smile, another tooth would fall out. I can only remember two dreams out of a lifetime of dreams and that is one of them. It was just so real that I always thought it was like a vision of the future or something.

What the heck is going on with the stock market?

Should I be scared? I am. I had a stock (FFIV) I was going to sell at $90 the other day and now it is $69!

Oh, I know I should keep up with what is going on, but if anyone can give me a quick synopsis, I sure would appreciate it.

And the winner finally has her prize

New growth unfurling on a Sago palm

Annie at The Transplantable Rose finally received her prize for winning my contest. It was a pretty tough contest, but Annie is a real pro at identifying plants. I thought the photo was tricky and looked more like a bundle of green beans to me. When I announced the winner, I included some photos from five days later to show what the plant ultimately looked like.

I'd like to blame the delay on the Honduran mail system but I really can't. I procrastinated for so long trying to decide what she might like from Honduras. When I finally got it all together, we sent it "Express mail," which in Honduras means 6 days to the U.S. The clerk assured El Jefe that they don't steal the packages − there is something about getting that kind of assurance that just makes you worry more. But sure enough, it made it there in exactly 6 days. ¡Ay caramba!

Part of my problem was that every time I picked up something that I thought was nice, the girl in the store said, "This is from Nicaragua" or "That is from Guatemala." Actually, a couple of the small things I sent her were from Guatemala, but most of it was from Honduras.

Annie wrote about it here if you would like to see what she received. I can't think of anyone nicer to win the prize.

Disorganization and depression

Great Kiskadee, our early morning alarm clock

Just a quick note. I'm feeling overwhelmed for some reason. It's not that I don't have anything to write about − al contrario! (to the contrary!)

I have so much to say that I'm going in several different directions at once. I have articles drafted which need photos, photos which need articles, a stack of newspaper clippings that need talking about, several articles that need follow-up, and many ideas that I need to get down on paper. All that and I can't seem to finish a single thing.

I'm afraid I've become a procrastinator. Also, I have a problem with wanting everything to be perfect with all the little loose ended tied in a knot. Don't get me wrong! I know that I never achieve perfection but those of us who strive for it sometimes have a problem ever finishing anything or even starting some things for fear of not measuring up.

Another thing is that I've been depressed. We've lost two of our chickens and another one seems that she won't recover enough to be able to survive on her own. Our neighbor's dog was poisoned yesterday and I'm worried sick someone will try to poison our dogs. Our house has things that still aren't finished or are broken and we have no idea where to find a decent workman to do them. I broke my brand new camera! And just in general, I'm feeling like a loser. How's that for pouring it all out?

Reader Ki gave me one idea − he suggested that I am possibly brain damaged from bashing my head into a 2x4 a few years ago. ;-) I kind of like that idea as a built-in excuse, but does anyone have other ideas or suggestions about getting yourself (myself) organized?

I'm going to post this now before I erase it and tell you what a perfect day I had today.

Weather report and other chitchat

Weather

We've had a tropical rainstorm for two and a half days − the rain hasn't stopped in all that time. It's a little chilly − high 60's to low 70's F (20-23 C) with 96% humidity. That is called a frente frio (cold front) in Honduras. Apparently there must have been a problem somewhere west of us on the highway to San Pedro Sula because our newspaper didn't arrive until after 1 p.m. yesterday. It normally comes between 7 and 8 a.m.

A bridge is out in Tocoa to the east and some 250 people have been evacuated. Most of the north coast of Honduras is experiencing flooding, schools have been closed, and many communities are cut off from the rest of the country because of flooded roads and damaged bridges. Another 24 hours of rain is expected. It's amazing what you get used to in this country.

This is the photo I took of the Rio Danto a couple of weeks ago. The photo below is from yesterday's La Prensa.

Rio Danto after one day of rain (La Prensa, Honduras)

Falling trees

A tree fell down near the creek behind our property. I think that many of the trees have root rot or something. This is seventh or eighth tree to fall in the past two years. A 25 foot tree (8 m.) makes a loud noise when it falls. It's amazing the things you get used to in Honduras.


One of our platano (plantain) trees fell, too. Luckily the fruit was ready to harvest. The weight of the platanos might have pulled the plant down.


Small talk

"Small talk" is back! For those who don't know, clickable snippets of the latest readers' comments are shown in the Small talk section of the sidebar on the right. It's a popular feature because often the comments are more interesting than the articles. :-D


Gunshots

Someone was shooting a gun nearby yesterday, in the rain. I hear a lot of gunshots, but usually only one or two or three at a time. Today they were either doing target practice or they were very bad shots, because the shooting just went on and on. I brought Chloe inside, just in case any stray bullets came this way. It's amazing the things you get used to in Honduras.


Puppy update

I know some of you are waiting for the weekly puppy update. I have some video and I was putting it together with Windows Movie Maker this weekend. After about 4 hours of work, Movie Maker lost the entire thing! The video, the titles, the music, everything! And, yes, I did save periodically while I was working on it. I started over and it crashed again. Either that is a very buggy program or my old computer just can't handle the job − I don't know which. Anyway, I'm almost over my frustration and I'll try again today.

Here's a sneak preview:

Eyes wide open

It's a contest!

What is it?

The first person to guess right will win a prize. I'll send you something Honduran. It won't be as big as a Honduran mahogany dining room set or as small as a Honduran plastic bag (even though they are great), but I'll try to find something the winner would like.

Rules: The answer must be exact! No partial answers. One guess only, please.

If no one guesses correctly by Sunday, I'll post another picture so you can try again.

This and that, January 7

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Honduras Living

Our little Honduras Living group is doing well! We already have 30 members − not bad for 3 days in business, eh? (eh = Canadian for huh? or right?) I especially like those who can answer questions. So if you are interested in Honduras and you can answer questions, ... or ask questions, ... or even just lurk, come on and join us.

Just enter your email address in the box under "subscribe to Honduras Living" at right or click where noted above.

Conchita

Two broody hens

Is this a seasonal thing? Now both Conchita and Carmen have gone broody. It makes me feel so guilty when I take their eggs away and make them go out in the garden to work. They want to be mommies!

Nikon Coolpix L6

New camera

I'm getting my brand new camera today! I know it's a bad idea to tell you, because now I have no excuse for lousy pictures, but you know me, I tell you everything. Katrina, a fellow La Ceiba blogger, got it for me while she was home for Christmas. She's coming back today and we are taking her out to dinner tonight (Arrecife's) to try to repay the big favor. I feel like a kid at Christmas waiting to open my present.

It's a Nikon Coolpix L6 which will take up to 15 minutes of video with sound. It has 6.0 megapixels (whatever that means), 3x optical zoom, 2 1/2 inch LCD screen, and, oh, a bunch of other stuff that I don't know what it means but I'm sure it's good stuff.

The battery life is supposed to be extremely long, for example 1,000 shots on 2 AA lithium batteries. My current camera has a proprietary rechargeable battery with about a 3 1/2 minute life whether or not you take any photos.

The new camera is supposed to automatically focus on the face − I wonder if it recognizes dog and chicken faces?

There I go again, stealing photos from friends, FH-1100 Pilot

Fly by

Another fellow Honduran blogger, FH-1100 Pilot, from the Island of Guanaja is planning on doing a 'fly-by.' How cool is that? He flies his helicopter to La Ceiba frequently and he has been looking for my house from the little sneak peeks that I give in my blog. Come on! La Ceiba isn't that small. So I gave him directions. I hope I'm dressed when he comes by so I can go out and wave at him.

I told El Jefe about it and he's still shaking his head, trying to figure out all this blogging stuff. I said that Bob could land on the empty lot next to ours, but then we both decided that if he did that, all the neighbors would assume we were drug dealers. El Jefe would give an arm and a leg to go on a helicopter ride.

Jan. 4, 2007, La Prensa, Honduras
Look at that smirk. He knows he has nothing to worry about.

Speaking of drug dealers

Interpol captured a big Honduran drug lord who was hiding out in Columbia. It seems both the U.S. and Honduras wanted him. Guess who got him? Yup, Honduras. He's being held in a special high security cell. That means it might take him three weeks to escape, instead of the two weeks it took him last time when the judge decided he deserved "home stay" instead of jail while he was awaiting trial.

The good news is that there will be a few new rich folk in Honduras. I can't remember reading about a drug dealer actually being prosecuted in all the time I've been in Honduras. Do you know that some policemen, who make on average $165 per month, have four homes? Hmmmm, how could this be?