Cat Colony - Better Than Internet or TV

Here is another potential member of our cat colony. We decided "no more" and then he showed up! Jeff can twiddle on the internet or watch TV for hours but I've got to be doing something. Usually I prefer physical stuff but the body can only work for so many hours so my past times are touring the yard, counting the fruit, watching the chickens and playing with the cats!

This little guy looks a lot like Chicken Little but is smaller and has green eyes instead of golden ones. The temporary name is Pollo Pequeno (small Chicken). This won't be his real name if he sticks around.

Chicken Little has gotten bigger (the neighbor thinks he looks pregnant). Here he is with Pollo Pequeno giving him a sniff and a little jostling. Chicken Little is the welcoming committee and is very sociable. All the cats like this little guy so maybe he can join in.

Here is Junior (his balls have dropped so we will bring him in soon) and Chicken Little and Princess. There is a little dirt patch under the Maria Tree that they all seem to like. It is also the killing area for gecko eating and playing. We think we found a low cost spay/neuter clinic in Mayaguez - more on that later.

Princess is getting a little larger I think and is definitely a happier, healthier kitty! She has a lot more energy and really tears around playing and hunting geckos. We still can't touch her though which is disappointing. If I sit in a chair with my legs horizontal on the bench together she will sometimes crawl onto my legs and bite my knee, rub on my calves, and bear hug my legs. Then she'll bite my shoes and undo the laces. She'll come in the house to chase balls with bells in them but we can't pick her up or pet her ...yet. Someday!

So the kitties are endless hours of amusement for me. They trail me around the yard "helping" when I sweep, trim things etc. They chase rakes, trowels, hedge trimmers etc and like to be underfoot. When I need a break they are usually hanging out and I drag a stick with a piece of bathing suit on the end of it around and we play race track. Yes - kitties are fun.

Favorite Fourth and Favorite Expressions

This is the best fourth of July ever! No frightened animals, no M80s, no fireworks, nothing. It is a pleasant surprise in the land of surprises where every holiday is celebrated and celebrated and celebrated. So what do Puerto Ricans do on the fourth? Go to "la playa" (the beach) of course. Jeff and I went diving at the "almond wall" in Corseca, Rincon last night. We were there at around 5 pm and it had been raining. When we went to park there were a gillion cars driving stuff in and out. People were claiming their spots on the night of the 3rd so they could enjoy family and swimming and sunshine on the fourth! There were tents, BBQs, bags of food, kayaks, umbrellas, ice chests etc. and loads of people out swimming. The coveted spots are under the few trees or close to the entrance for easy loading purposes. We did our dive and it was pretty murky. After 75 minutes we came in and in 6 feet of water thought we heard a jet ski over us. We hugged the bottom and surfaced along shore amidst legs and arms of nighttime swimmers! The sun set and we headed home while everyone else headed to the tents. Expressions: I've never been one to really appreciate "expressions" much. The only expression that made me smile was from a good friend in Washington, Ron Hammond. When something was REALLY intriguing or had a useful feature he would say it was "the bees knees." I don't know what that means, but I still see his eyes twinkle and the light bulb in his head blinking when I hear it!

Here in Puerto Rico we have picked up a few interesting expressions that make us smile or think in some way. Part of the interest is the question of whether this is really an expression or just a mis-communication. What ever it is we enjoy them. Whenever I talk to anyone about gardening they grab a piece of something and say, "cut it, stick it in." (which works by the way) When talking about plans for the yard: "you can't eat flowers." People here are practical. When we dive at the cuevas (caves) there are times when it is scary or difficult to get back through the reef because the tunnels have "rip-your-mask-off current" in them. Sometimes the thought of entering the little hole just creeps people out and they go up. Well a friend told us of someone who did just that - came up and tried to cross the top of the reef in bad conditions instead of going through the tunnels. When they rounded up with their friend they found that he had "left his eggs on the beach." At another dive site one of the owners of the property comes out and for $3 will watch your car (a useful thing at night in the middle of nowhere). One time our friend David came for a dive and this guy was having delusions or something and roped David and his friend into hauling large rocks around and putting them in a special place. This guy was "not quite right in his ceiling." (a useful expression and one of my favorites - that and the turtle reference). So that's it for the fourth. 11 pm and still quiet except for the orchestra of a billion bugs harmonizing!

Painting and Propagating

The hair "painting" adventure went well enough so I decided everything must look better painted! We had some floor paint that was left with the house and used for the upper deck and benches in the front. I put it to good use painting unfinished things around the yard. First I painted the cement bench we made. It is still kind of a crudely made bench but works better than blocks and boards, won't blow away in the wind and looks pretty darned good painted!

Next I moved on to the troll bridge. It is pressure treated wood, but I figure a coat or two of paint will extend its life and make it look more finished!


Finally the redone "Mad Max" shade bed. It looked a little plain in bare cement and now it looks really really good! It is near the troll bridge and cement table so the paint just ties it all together.

So here's a ginger bloom that is basically spent. Note the little sprouts coming vertically off the base of the flower. When I first got here I didn't know how to propagate these and now I do. I noticed that the bloom would weigh things down so my first attempt was to clip the bloom down and hope the shoots would root. I had partial success. The I tried snapping off the shoots and planting them but many did not survive.

Cut the flower stalk off at the base and then cut the shoots off.

I separate the shoots, stick them in water until they root, plant them in pots for a bit and then plant them out! So now instead of the plant sending up new shoots I have the new shoots and a bunch of suckers to propagate as well! A ginger factory of sorts...

More Blogs and an Arte y Pico Award

It seems like every now and then we stumble on to a blog of someone who for one reason or another has decided to move to PR. There definitely is a common thread in all these blogs. We have different perspectives but we all go through the same experiences moving here.

Minerva just awarded us the Arte y pico award. Thank you Minerva. Her blog is
http://retirement-merry-go-round.blogspot.com/  Although shes not in PR right now her cats are and she will be coming back.

I will put this blog in the Links block on the right hand side of our blog. It will go next to Summer and Stefan's blog http://ca2pr.com/ Fortunately we found their blog before we moved here so we were able to learn a few things before we moved here. I am sure there are more blogs out there with similar content but sometimes its not easy to find them.