NO CABALLOS (lo siento)

For the first couple months we've been here we have had horses occasionally show up on the upper part of our property. We used "bad" spanish to let the rancher know we liked having them there, and he would rotate them on and off the property. We started to work on that part of the property though and realized that the horses had made trails (which will be useful) but had kind of evil eating habits. They prefer only grass and new grass at that. They ignore vines, plants with stickers and pokey seeds etc. and continue to tear off new growth. This gives the weedy things a competitive edge. These horses are big, and you can see how much green there is on the hill - unfortunately it is mainly vines! Horses eat 30 pounds of grass a day.

These two ponies were our favorites...we could pet them, and feed them green grass and water.

This is the male and pregnant female (she was scary) We didn't like her much.

So after the last time the rancher moved them we started to pile sticks (trees have been cut down for years) and we started to pull vines and realized it is a mess up there! We love the horses, but we want to put some ornamental plants and fruit trees and a star gazing platform up there and can't do it with horses there. They will eat all the special things we plant. If we want grass up there before the rainy season we have got to pull vines, get sticks out of the way so Jeff can weed whack and let the grass go to seed. So that's the plan -- NO CABALLOS. So long horses...we will miss the creepy sounds of large things moving around in the night...of horses stampeding toward the fence for fresh grass...and knowing that the clap clap clap of horse hooves in the street meant they were coming to our house.

Our last memory is of feeding our little group fresh grass down by the Corazon tree...

A Busy Week for the Kruse's

-new kitchen sink and faucets.
-new light fixture in Kitchen.
-CRIM taken care of.
-windsurfing practiced.
-raised bed by 8" using 2x8's.
-built a shelf for the microwave so it's not on the counter.
-new light fixture in hallway.
-cleared the upper right corner of our yard.
-pruned Aceola tree
-pruned Orange trees
-planted traveler's palm
-planted Neem tree
-cleaned the gravel area near the fountain dividing plants and relocating them to along the
driveway
-enjoyed the Ponce Carnival Parade
-harvested and eaten too many Corazons
-built tomato cages (just in time - there are already little fruits on the 4 foot high plants)
-befriended Holstein a roving kitty who has started curling up outside our door
-taken "Little Boy" (aka Dakota) our inside cat on escorted excursions outdoors
-discovered 9 little chickens trailing their momma across the yard
-got new socks (my feet have been really hurting - stone floors are wonderful but hard and it doesn't help that I am balancing on stumps to clear brush and standing in crotches of trees to harvest and prune...and I am using snorkling fins when diving which means I am walking across limestone and sticks and stuff barefoot)

Some Tidying up Around the Yard....

This is how the entrance to the house looked when we got here in October. There were ferns and trees and weeds all mixed in with some really nice stuff that also needed dividing and pruning and cutting and cleaning up! Hidden under the mini-jungle I discovered a defined planter bed outlined with rocks. I worked for many days to unveil the beautiful things in this small area. It still isn't completely how I'd like it, but it is much better.

See all the stuff? There was leaf debris up to the tiles and the dirt is at least a foot below. Leaf debris is great, but not when things need dividing and flowers need removing and when there is total chaos and plant wars going on!

Here I've got the area a little nicer. The gingers have room to breathe, the begonias are divided, the ferns removed, the corn plants relocated and some organic matter put in. Now you can see the stairs when you pull into the carport!

This is to one side of the driveway. There are oranges and the house on the other side up a slope. You can maybe see Jeff to the left with the weedwacker trying to tackle vines and grass that are over his head. A year is a long time and we didn't have any idea what could happen. This whole area to the left is now clear and we are digging it up and putting in vegetables and fruit trees. We have planted papaya trees from seed, parcha (passion fruit), bananas (relocated from other areas of the yard), coconuts (relocated), yucca (relocated) and tomatos and peppers etc.

After a while things started looking more manageable (until we started working on the upper hillside). To the left is a now-clear-grassy area we are digging for a garden. To the right you can see a couple of the 13 orange trees we've got. The gate is at the bottom of the driveway.

This is a photo of a couple of the orange trees that are loaded with oranges. The house is behind them, and you can't see it. I have been doing some harvesting/pruning and the view is totally different now! We drink a gallon of orange juice every few days and still have at least 4 bags ready for juicing at all times. I have only pruned 5 trees so far but the difference is astounding. I even skeletonized one of them and it sprouted new green leaves after we got a little rain.

This is the top of the stairs - the main entrance to the house. The coconut that nearly bonked me is in the background. It is a lovely little house and the view changes daily as we continue to clean up and move plants around!

CRIM Makes Me Cringe. Trip 1

Personally I thought 5 trips to CESCO was excessive. Today we went to CRIM so we could fill out a piece of paper so we don't have to pay property tax. Here in PR you don't have to pay property tax on your first house but you need to fill out a form to take advantage of the exclusion. We got there at 11:45AM. We took a number (74). They were serving number 35 and the small dirty room was full of people. No one was at the only window. They were out to lunch until 1pm. We left. We went to our mortgage company to see if they could help. They told us what we needed CRIM to do. It's not the $13 a YEAR we will save in not having to pay our property taxes that drives us to CRIM. It's the problem that the tax department doesn't recognize that we own the house until we get the paperwork to show our name. It could be a real problem if we ever sell the house.So we will try again in the middle of the week early in the morning. We were told this is a good time to go.