Grounding Gus, the escape artist.

A little over a year ago we installed 2 chain link side gates on both sides of the casa. This gave us the ability to keep the dogs on one side of the yard when we have guests staying in the casita. This past month, Gus (pronounced Goose) has been showing off his leadership skills to his new little sister, Yoli (the newly rescued street dog we adopted.) Gus finally perfected his climbing technique and has managed to escape from the confines of the back yard at will. It appears Gus would take a running leap at the side of the house and then vault over the 1.25 meter gate. Rather clever actually.

Yoli is actually a little taller than Gus, and she has already managed to steal food off the kitchen counter. So, before Gus could teach her how to vault over the gate, we decided to intervene and put up some barriers. First, John installed wires above the gate with iron bar extensions added for strength. This did nothing to discourage him, and now we were concerned he would hang himself on the wires if his vaulting attempt failed. Next, John tied some floppy orange plastic safety fencing to the top of the gate, and this did the trick. No more attempts at escape, but it was a really ugly temporary solution.

So, earlier this week, we contacted our handyman Luis. Luis built the original gates, so he came over Tuesday to discussed a permanent solution. We decided the easiest fix would be to extend the height of the gates from the original 1.25 meters to a full 2 meters high. We ordered all the materials from the local hardware store, and they delivered everything Thursday. This morning, John picked Luis up at his house, with all his tools, and a helper. Four hours later the problem is solved, and Gus' wings have been clipped. Yoli will never learn to fly.

Geeze, Mom, how am I gonna jump that?!?

Yoli and Gus, with Randy in the background looking puzzled at the gate.

Notice the row of brick pavers at the bottom of the fence on the grass? That was to stop Yoli's attempts of going under the fence.

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Meet Yoli, our newest addition to the family.

Meet the newest addition to the Wegner pack. This is a sad story with a happy ending.

We have a wonderful foundation here in Atenas called “Animales Atenas.” They work tirelessly to stop the suffering of street dogs and cats in our area, by organizing spay/neuter clinics, providing education and hosting adoption fairs. You can read all about it on their website

Lately, I've become more involved, helping the foundation with fundraisers, and I just recently agreed to take on the maintenance of their website.

Earlier this week, John was scrolling through his Facebook news feed when he came across the little face below. I could tell he was smitten. We've talked about adopting another dog before, but we’ve always been concerned with the old man of the pack, Randy, and how he would react to another creature entering his kingdom. Randy is our 14 year old Jack Russell Terrorist. His younger brother, Gustavo, is a mixed breed Zaguate (street dog) we rescued 3 years ago in the neighboring town of Grecia (Greece.) Goose is now about 4 years old and he has kept Randy young. They chase and romp all over the Villa Wegner compound, all day, every day, until they drop from exhaustion. They are both extremely healthy and happy boys. 

The caption reads… “I’ve been dump and I’m living in a construction site. I am small and quiet, looking for someone to love me.”

The “Animales Atenas” posting on Facebook reads, “Guizi (GISI) urgently needs a home, a quiet family who loves her. She is a shy dog it will take her a while to trust again. She is of petite stature and looks like a puppy even though the vet thinks she's already more than one year old. She was recently spayed but for lack of space she has to be returned to the street, a construction lot where some heartless brats dumped her. Who can give her a hand - perhaps for a short time until she finds the optimal place for a wonderful life???”

We went to meet this little girl yesterday and found she is indeed a very calm dog, and extremely skittish. This is probably because she has been so mistreated all of her life. She is living in what appears to be an abandoned house construction. A neighbor lady, Brenda, and a friend of Animales Atenas, has been making sure she has water, and has been feeding her 3 times a day. The dog now trusts Brenda, but she was definitely afraid of us.

John sat down in the middle of the street of this quiet neighborhood, and kept talking to her in a very calm voice. Eventually, she sniffed his hand and decided he was OK, but she wasn’t about to get too close. I walked with Brenda in the street and we kept calling this pretty little girl over. She finally came close enough for me to pet her head, but she didn’t stick around for long. She ran back to her “home” and cautiously observed us for a bit. She became curious when a car parked down the street and had to venture out to check out the Jehovah Witnesses that had arrived to begin their Sunday work of soliciting new congregates in the neighborhood.

So, we went home and talked about it. The reality is, I think we both knew, we could offer her great life and more love than she could ever imagine. Besides, da boyz, Randy & Gus, need a little sister, especially if she can be a calming influence for these two high strung brats.

Now, the name given her by Animales Atenas, Guizi, ( geesi, where the “G” sounds like the “G” in geek) just won’t do. You see our Gustavo, is called Goose, or Goosie, for short. The two names are too similar for a dog to distinguish them as different sounding syllables.

Thus, I came up with the name “Yolanda,” or “Yoli” for short. A little research found this is the perfect name for her. The word Yolanda comes from the Greek word for “Violet Flower.” Our little girl was found abandoned in our town of Atenas, which mean “Athens,” the capitol of Greece.

We went to rescue her from the construction site today, and she is has now found her forever home. This week we will have her checked out by our vet and get her vaccinated. Now starts the process of helping her adjust to her new surroundings and her new family. Right now, she is hiding under our bed. Wish Yoli, and us, luck!

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Goose Goes Shopping

Almost lost The Goose tonight.

HRH Gustavo -- The Goose

We (the people) and the dogs all went for a ride so that I could drop off a flat tire for repair and then go to the grocery store. At the tire repair shop, I opened the rear hatch and helped the repairman lift the tire/wheel out and then followed him to show him the spot where the leak was. Didn't notice that after I'd turned my back, Goose jumped out and ran for it.

Since the repair was going to take a few minutes, I decided to go do the grocery shopping. I got back to the car, closed the hatch, got in, started 'er up and backed out. As we reached the street, Randy, The Jack Russell Terrorist, began barking like a maniac. Pat told him to calm down. I looked in the mirror and saw a small black dog run past the side of the car. "Oh, there's a dog out there. That's why he's barking," I said. I was only partly correct.

We drove down the hill to the grocery, did our business, then drove back up the hill to the tire repair shop.

I parked inside the shop and opened my door to get out. There was Goose jumping up and down with his usual stupid-happy look on his face, probably saying, "Hey Dad -- Hi Dad -- Isn't this fun Dad?" Whereupon he lept over my legs, hit the center console once, made a sharp right turn into the back seat and promptly engaged in a sporty fight with Randy.

Pat and I just looked at each other.

Then it hit me what had happened. The little brat had gone "walk-about" and when he saw us leaving, he wasn't trying to get back to the car to get inside (when he dashed by and Randy was barking). No. He was pulling his usual act where he runs and hides until the car or the "search party" (me) has passed by so that he can come out and frolic some more, out on the loose.

We apparently took long enough with the grocery shopping so that when he saw us come back to the repair shop he figured that there wasn't anything very interesting to be seen among all of those shops and concrete, so, "What the heck, I might as well get back in the car."

We got lucky.

Imagine if we had gotten all the way home and then opened the back car doors to let Da Boyz out in the yard.

"WHERE'S GOOSE?!?" A really interesting scene would have followed.

That danged mutt.

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Cane Toad or Bufo Poisoning

What a scare Randy, our Jack Russell Terrorist, gave us last night. We knew it was just a matter of time before he would have an encounter with the deadly Cane Toad, or Bufo.

We had gone into town to meet friends for dinner and left da boyz, Randy and Goose, in the house for a change. Now that Costa Rica is in the green season, the rains come almost every afternoon, or evening. This is the optimum time for the poisonous Bufo to come into the garden looking for bugs. These toads are deadly poisonous to dogs and we don't want our boyz outside when there is even a remote possibility a Bufo could be in the yard.

We came home around 8:30 PM and John immediately started to do his nightly Bufo patrol. I opened the kitchen door and Randy and Goose darted around me to get outside. Too late... there was no stopping Randy. He spotted a Bufo before John could get to it and his little Jack Russell brain locked into the hunt. It didn't matter how John yelled at him to stop. Randy was on a mission.

John scooped Randy up, with Goose tagging along like a good boy behind, and rushed him to the sink in the utility room to start rinsing Randy's mouth before he could ingest the poison.

The cane the toad produces venom from two venom glands which appear as two oval enlargements behind the eyes on the head.

The glands hold a milky substances that is a neurotoxin. When ingested, it causes foaming of the mouth, paralysis, convulsions and finally cardiac arrest. This is so terrifying because all of this happens rapidly from the first onset of symptoms.

We discussed the possibility of Bufo poisoning with our vet a couple of years ago and she recommend keeping Club Soda and blood pressure meds on hand in case of an emergency.

I grabbed a bottle of club soda so John could start rinsing Randy's mouth and then shaved off the recommended minute amount of BP medication. By this time, Randy was shaking and his breathing was a little raspy. John had to pry Randy's mouth open so he could thoroughly rinse and towel dry the inside of his mouth and cheeks.

We weren't sure if the crisis was behind us, and with no emergency vet in our little town, I called a good friend of ours that runs an animal rescue shelter to see if she could give us some advice. Frances recommended we give Randy some milk with an egg and some lemon juice and told us to bring Randy to her if he got worse. Randy lapped up most of the concoction and the shaking stopped. We are so grateful for Frances and her sage advice. We stayed up late last night, watching him until we were sure the worst of it was over.

John patrolled the yard again last night for more Bufos and sent a few on a one-way, non-stop flight over our property wall. (It's important to note our neighbor property is vacant and there are no animals living there that could be hurt by a Bufo.) John found the toad Randy had bit and we were really lucky his hunting skills are not as good as they were when he was a young pup. This time Randy bit the hind quarter, avoiding the deadly poison sacs. I know John didn't get much sleep last night, he was vigilant all night, making sure Randy was on the mend.

We still have several months of rainy season left this year and as soon as the sun sets we will be on Bufo Patrol everytime da boyz want to go outside and water a tree.
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We have a new address!

Front door - Inside

We have a new address! It's about 40 meters (131 feet) South of where we had been living for almost a year. Yes, it's official, we moved out of the casita, and into the new Casa last week. There are still lots of things that are not done, but we just couldn't live in our 300 square foot (28 square meters) casita any longer. We had the single car garage packed from floor to ceiling. Last August we stuffed as many boxes into the small attic as we could and when we ran out of space there, we crammed everything else into every nook and cranny we could find in the casita. The only space left was a pathway from the front door to the bed, the bathroom and a tiny workspace in the kitchenette. I'm amazed we were able to live like this for the past year.

Our new Dutch door

Even though we are lacking a number of amenities in the Casa, we decided it is workable "as is" and we will live without until the finishing touches are completed. Here is a short list of the things we still need:

• Kitchen Cabinets
• Kitchen Counter tops
• Kitchen Sink
• Master Bathroom Cabinets
• Master Bathroom Counter tops
• Master Bathroom Sink
• Master Bathroom Towel Bars
• Guest Bathroom Cabinets
• Guest Bathroom Counter tops 
• Guest Bathroom Sink
• Guest Bathroom Towel Bars
• Interior Doors (9 of them)
• Replacement of defective water heater
• Pantry shelves (almost done)
• Laundry room shelves
• Internet service

The Terraza

In the interim, we are using the laundry room sink for everything from preparing meals and washing dishes to brushing teeth. It's a little awkward to use a bathroom toilet and then go to the laundry room to wash hands, but it's workable.

My gas range is installed in the kitchen, along with our new side-by-side refrigerator. Wow, is it nice to have lots of freezer and refrigerator space. When we sold our home in Houston, the new buyer talked us into selling him our "almost new" side-by-side refrigerator. We waited until now to buy a replacement. I've have really missed not having the ice maker and water dispenser in the door for the past year. Our new Samsung refrigerator has all that and I think it even works better than the one we left behind. At least it doesn't shoot ice out all over the place like our old LG. The LG had a hard time dispensing ice into a glass... we considered ourselves lucky if only half of the ice cubes landed on the floor. We've setup a couple of folding tables for workspace and stainless steel wire shelving (on wheels) for temporary cabinet space, so I guess you could say I've got a workable kitchen.

Decorative Wrought Iron Windows

Our king size bed is where it belongs, along with our armoires (wardrobe cabinets). John finished the build out our closet with shelves and clothes rods, so we have plenty of space for hanging clothes and storing shoes.

The living room sofa and our Lazy Boy recliners have been unwrapped and moved into the new living room. John hung the big LCD TV last week and Saturday, CableTica showed up in the rain to hook up cable TV. They said they would be back this week to hook up the modem for internet service. Eliécer, one of our builders, stored our living room coffee and end tables in his workshop last year. He said he would bring them back to us one day this week.

Alexander, the security guy, came and installed a state-of-the-art alarm system for us. This system arms 19 windows, 4 doors and 3 motion sensors. It has a voice dialer feature that is really slick because we can program up to 5 phone numbers that are called in sequence when there is a security breach. We can also call the home phone and arm the system from the road if we forget to set the alarm. The system lets you arm the doors and windows when you are home so the motion sensors don't set it off, and when we go to bed, we set it to "night time" so the motion sensor in our bedroom won't trigger the alarm we get up to go to the bathroom, but it will set off a siren if John raids the refrigerator.

We've programmed our voice dialer to call our cell phones for now, because calling the "policia" here is a joke. We are usually in the neighborhood and could get here pretty quick if there is a security breach. We have friends that live close by and we will use them as a backup whenever we can't get here quick enough.

Gustavo, the gate guy, came and installed an electric motor on our beautiful wrought iron gate. It comes with two remote controls and there is a switch in the Casa that we can also use to open and close the gate. It work really great, as our dog, Gus (pronounced "goose" in Spanish) can attest to.

Today, I was trying to label all the switch plates in the Casa, so I would know what switch powers what light fixture, fan, etc. Xiomara, the woman that helps me with the house work, was helping me and she pressed the switch for the gate. Immediately, it started to open and Gus made a run for freedom on the streets. John yelled, "Close the gate" and she pressed it again, causing it to close and catch Gus on his way out. Gus yelped in pain with his shoulder pinned between the gate and the support post. I pressed the switch again and it opened releasing the poor little guy. Needless to say, we were all worried Gus had sustained significant injuries, so John and I rushed off with him to see the vet. Our vet wasn't open yet, so we found another vet that was. John stayed in the car with Gus, while I went in to see if the doctor could check him out. As soon as John opened the car door, Gus bolted and ran down the streets of Atenas, with the two of us chasing after him. Obviously, the injury wasn't much if Gus could run like that. Finally, instead of running after Gus (he thought we were playing a game) John just sat down in the street near the central market. Immediately, Gus ran to John to see why he wasn't playing anymore. John scooped him up in his arms and we walked back to the vet's office. The doctor said Gus has some swelling on his right front shoulder, but it was mild. He checked Gus out and said to keep an eye on him for the next couple of days, but he thinks our little rescued street dog will be just fine.

Rodolfo, one of our builders, is here today with a helper, re-installing the sprinkler system they had to remove when they started construction on the Casa. Once the sprinkler system is up and running again, we'll have Mario, our gardener, bring in a truck load of top soil and new grass sod. I can't wait until we have grass growing again. You just wouldn't believe how much mud two little dogs can track into the Casa in a day. I'm also looking forward to planting shrubs and flowers in the garden and along the walkway.

We haven't started unpacking yet, because we really don't have anywhere to store the stuff until all the cabinets and shelves are in place. In the meantime, we have stack of boxes in the dining room and spare bedroom. The great thing about being retired is there is NO deadline to meet... there is no reason we can't take our time unpacking. We can unpack at our leisure, if that means we live with stacks of boxes everywhere, so be it. The first priority will be the boxes in the dining room so we can have friends over for dinner. The rest of the stuff can live in the spare bedroom until we are ready to deal with it. Finally, we have all the room we need.

In other great news, John's "Residencia Permanente" was approved last week by the Ministerio de Migración. One of the requirements for residency is participation in CAJA, or Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social. This is the national medical care system. We applied for John's CAJA carnet last week and we just picked it up this afternoon. Now all we need to do is schedule the appointment with "Migración" for later this week and they will give him is Cedúla, the national identity card. With his cédula, he will have all the rights of a Costa Rica citizen with with exception of voting. This is the equivalent of a foreigner in the United States that has a Green Card, granting them legal status.

Well folks, that's all the news for now.
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Life With Suzie

Hey ... it's the old man here, not the nice sweet Tita. Here's the skinny. Some of you know that we have a 1994 Isuzu Rodeo. Some of you may even know the name by which I call said vehicle. It's not Suzie. If you don’t remember the name, perhaps a refresher is in order: http://gooblegobbus.blogspot.com/2008_06_01_archive.html

Tuesday night, after winding down a day of construction workers running all over, dogs acting like maniacs, a smoker billowing apple wood smoke all over the place and finally trying to once again stuff everything back into the garage so that the door could be shut for the night, we retired to our bedroom for a little TV and reading.

After very little of these diversions, we decided to kill the lights and call it a day.

Some time towards midnight, Pat woke up, then woke me up. “The lights are on inside the car.” [This is one of the advantages of living in a shotgun shack. We can see our entire world, out the front window, while lying in bed.]

“{Expletive deleted},” I said, and climbed groggily out of bed. I knew that The {Expletive deleted} Car had been acting up lately, electrically. And one of “her” most annoying traits has become the inside courtesy lights staying on unless all of the doors and the hatch are very tightly closed (i.e., slammed.)

Fumble fumble fumble in the dark, looking for the keys. I unlocked the front door and padded out into the driveway. {Expletive deleted}!! Now I was hopping around with sopping wet socks having forgotten that, duh, in the rain forest, it rains … and the concrete is wet with COLD rain. [Yes, I sometimes wear socks to bed … get over it.]

Got the front passenger side door opened and slammed it. The light went out. Well, that was easy.

Locked up, stripped out of the wet socks and crawled back into bed. I was almost instantly asleep.

“Hey,” Pat said poking me, “the car lights are still on.”

“Urhuuu?” I sat up and looked. Sure enough. The {Expletive deleted} Car’s interior lights were on?!?

No fumbling this time. I knew exactly where I had thrown the {expletive deleted} keys. Pad pad pad, out into the driveway in my bare feet. {Expletive deleted}!! I’d forgotten that the construction workers had been dribbling concrete, sand, rock and all descriptions of sharp-ish things on the driveway throughout the course of their work, earlier in the day. Some of those little sharps kind of weld themselves into the bottoms of your bare feet so no matter how much hopping around you do, there’s just no shaking them. Ow! I leaned up against the car and brushed the offending daggers from my feet.

Well, the second most likely culprit of not being slammed hard enough to ensure that the interior lights go off would be the back hatch glass. Blick! Slam! The lights go out. [Come on … the sound the latch on the glass makes when you push the button is “blick”? Didn’t you know that?]

Anyway, success. Lights out. Back inside … lock ‘er up … crawl into bed. Ahhh. Peaceful sleep.

“John.”

“Wut?”

“Look.” In the darkness I could see her pointing out to the front. The {expletive deleted} interior lights were on again in that {Expletive deleted} Car.

“Arrrrrrrrgh!” I stomped outside. Now I was afraid that all of these episodes might have pulled the old battery down far enough that the car wouldn’t start in the morning. I got in, put the key in the ignition, cursed the FSM and turned it. Well, well. The {expletive deleted} engine started instantly. I ran the rpm up a bit and sat there letting the battery charge back up, shut ‘er down, got out … SLAM!

The lights went out.

“Nooohohohoho you don’t you {Expletive deleted}{expletive deleted}{expletive deleted}{expletive deleted} Car! I know your tricks you piece of {expletive deleted}. So, I waited for the lights to come back on. And waited. I hit the windows with my fist to try to jar it into the state of electrical Botherationus lightus. Nada. I bashed fenders with my ample butt. I rocked it on its springs. Nuttin.

“All right, ya {expletive deleted} … good night.”

I laid down in bed but couldn’t take my eyes off of The {Expletive deleted} Car, outside our window. It just couldn’t keep doing that. I had by now opened and closed every opening of that old heap at least twice. Next thing you know the slamming would have been waking up the kids down the street!

I think that I drifted off a little. You know that in-between state of mind when you’re not quite sure if you’re awake or dreaming or what? I was there. Are those really lights?

Now it was my turn for the jab. “Pat!”

“Huh?”

“Are those lights on in the car?”

“Yep.”

That ripped it.

Not that the new, calm, Pura Vida serene me would ever fly off the handle and get violent or anything. Perish the thought. But I was headed for The {Expletive deleted} Car with blood in my eye. I threw the driver’s side door open – flipped the hood release – jerked the hood latch free – lifted the hood with more than a little force … and then stood there, in the dark, holding up that hood, with the hood support rod in my other hand, wondering where the {expletive deleted} is that {expletive deleted} little hole where the hood rod goes so that this {expletive deleted} heavy son of a hood doesn’t fall on me and kill me.

Yeah, I know … plan ahead.

Finally, the hood rod slipped onto some hole or another and it seemed sturdy.

With both hands I reached down to the battery wiring and with the strength of a really {expletive deleted} off maniac, jerked the wires off of the battery terminal.

[Had ya going there, didn’t I. Haha. I knew that the terminal clamp was loose because I had installed it without a wrench the other day. But it made good reading, didn’t it.]

Victory! No more lights.

I staggered back to bed. The neighboring farmer’s rooster crowed. And again. And again.

Oh … don’t do this to me. That means that it’s a quarter to 5 and the freakin sun will be up in 45 minutes. Then the dogs will be up and jumping all over to be let out. Then I’ll give up and stay up.

And that’s what happened last night.

So if this episode sounds a little cranky, it’s because, well, I’m cranky today!
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Day 32: Fun day at the beach with the furry kids.

This morning we drove down to Playa Doña Ana, just past the port of Caldera on the Pacific coast. We took our furry kids, Randy and Gus to see what they would think of a Costa Rican beach.

What a beautifully maintained park! We were greeted by one of the park employees offering to trade his baby, iridescent green iguana for one of our dogs. Needless to day, no deal. We chatted with him for a few minutes before walking through the jungle canopy to to beach.

The beach is set up with lots of picnic tables and barbeque pits for grilling. This is a great place for a family outing and it's only about 45 minutes from the house.

Randy was tolerant of the beach, but Gus was terrified of the waves. I guess it will take a few more beach trips for them to get used to the wave action. Maybe they'll learn romp in the waves like the other dogs.

On our way out we managed to get a photo of one of the capuchin monkeys in a tree. Cute little guy.

After the beach, we stopped for a wonderful fresh seafood lunch at El Restaurante Los Lagos. Randy and Gus sat at our feet while we ate and we tossed them a few french fries to reward them for their good behavior.
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Retirement - Days 7 & 8: The first harvest from our Mango tree

A little over a year ago, we planted lots of fruit trees and here is the first harvest from our Mango tree. It is amazing how fast everything grows here in the tropics.


 
The boys have settled into life in the tropics, as you can see in this photo of John and his pack. Randy is just a little jealous, but he will always be top dog. Gus is doing well, we just need to get him to stop chewing everything in sight.

Yesterday, I got a little creative and cooked a meatloaf in the electric skillet. It actually came out pretty amazing and much better than I expected. It takes longer and you have to turn it over about half way through the cooking time to brown it on both sides. Since meatloaf always needs a tomato sauce topping, I decided to experiment and try my hand at some homemade tomato ketchup. I used some fresh limes from a friend's tree, garlic, wine vinegar, tomato paste and splenda. I think I like it better than any store bought brand I've had. Heinz, better watch out, you may have to make room for some new competition.

Last nights dinner with meatloaf, rice and a salad was delicious. Today we need to pick up some bread at the bakery so we can enjoy some leftover meatloaf sandwiches for lunch.

Cooking in the little casita has certainly been challenge with the lack of space and tools. I have to use all my inventive skills to create interesting meals. I can't wait for our 40' container to arrive next month. Then I'll have a real gas range with a real oven. I'm more than ready to activate my sourdough starter and get back to bread baking.
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Retirement +5 days: Enjoying ourselves and expanding the family

It's been 5 days since we arrived and we have been on the go since we got here. We finally got to meet some new friends we have been exchanging emails with for months. They are from Kentucky and retired to Atenas a couple of week before we did. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner together and finally put some faces with the names. We hope to get together frequently.

This past week, we've had lots of miscellaneous business matters to take care of; paying for trash pickup, paying our annual property taxes (they were due back in January,) and getting a new P.O. Box (the physical address is a little complicated.)

We also expanded our little family by adopting a little brother for Randy.

We've named him Gus. He is a mini-pin/terrier mix, about 9 or 10 months old. He was rescued from the highway 10 weeks ago. Ever since we brought him home, he and Randy have been romping through the yard and the casita, barking at anyone, or anything that moves.

We heard from our shipping company and our 40' sea container should be here by August 12th. Now we have to put some flooring in the attic of the casita so we will have enough room to store all our stuff until the we build the house. We met with friends today that will be here tomorrow morning to help us build out the attic.

Before we build the house, we want to build a "ranchito" so we will have a large area for socializing with an outdoor kitchen and barbeque. John started working on the drawings for it today and hopefully we can get started on it very soon.
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Retirement +1: Toad Licking

Toads in Costa Rica are known to be dangerous but little did I know ... Before moving to CR, we had made contact with a Costa Rican dog rescue center because they had a cute 2 year old fox terrier which we thought would be a great companion for our 8 year old Jack Russell terrier, Randy. Alas, the night of July 11, the little fox terrier tried to eat a CR cane toad and died shortly thereafter. Having been out of contact because of the move, I didn't read the news of the little guy's demise until today, July 13. Coincidentally, our friends who picked us up at the San Jose airport on the 12th also warned us to watch Randy to make sure he didn't try to eat a toad.

That was enough for me. In my usual calmly freaked out way, I began a frenzied search of the Internet for information about the local toads and post-exposure countermeasures in case (when) Randy ran into one.

I was sitting out on the front porch, reading, getting more and more cranked up about the damn toads when a neighbor walked up. She wanted to show us how she thought that our back yard level was causing her (lower leveled) house to leak water through the walls. Standing there in the lawn, I remembered seeing a huge toad back there about a year ago. I was "on alert."

Suddenly, there was movement across the yard. Randy and I saw it at about the same instant. He took off running and barking; I took off running and yelling for him to stop [Note to self: When are you ever going to learn that once a Jack Russell's brain locks onto whatever it is chasing, yelling is pointless? Atomic bomb blasts would be pointless. Remember, there's no stopping a Jack on a roll.]

However, all of the yelling, combined with Randy's being a little off his game due to all of the events of the past few days, caused the boy to falter in the deep lawn and we arrived at the toad simultaneously. I managed to hook my toes under his chin and spun him sideways. Almost in control. Pat got to the spot just a couple of seconds later and grabbed our nitwit up off the ground.

And there I was ... face to face with a 6-inch freakin' classic example of what a Costa Rican poison toad looks like. Only 1 knife.

ONLY ONE KNIFE!! There. I've admitted it to the world. I was caught in a strange country, fresh from an airplane trip and had yet to properly re-equip myself, even though almost 24 hours had passed. The shame.

The one knife was a Byrd standard Rescue sheepsfoot serrated blade. That means no point on the blade, folks. Just super-sharp serrations.

Here comes the lesson ...

"No matter what a great and grand Blade Master you are, NEVER, EVER, hit a poison toad with a full swing slashing blow. Too much blood spatter, and, er, poison spatter."

The toad was thusly dispatched and carefully loaded into a plastic bag using the "picking up doggie poop" method.

But the knife was a mess. The yard was a murder scene. And unbeknownst to Mr. Blade Master, a bit of the gore had found a home at a tiny spot on my lip.

I cleaned the knife very thoroughly in running hot water and soap, then oiled it down. I also re-washed my hands and went back to the front porch to finish my poison toad research.

My lip tingled a little. A few minutes later, it was more than a tingle. It was very much like a shot of dental Novocain in the lip. I almost instantly figured this one out.

A quick dash to the bathroom and a hard scrub down with baby wipes, followed by soap and water, followed by about a 5 minute full-on blasting with city water. Then I looked in the mirror. Leapin' liz ... er, toads!

"Mah lip was all blowed up." Cripes. Yipes.

Pat really let me know that she did not enjoy seeing this. Silly girl. She wondered if the next moment would bring convulsions and cardio-pulmonary arrest. I assured her that my research verified that no such arresting had ever happened (I lied.) But I did know that just from a little brush with "toad licking," there wasn't much possibility of any serious affect.

So, we ate lunch: me trying not to bite my own fat lip; Pat watching for me to keel over. A good half hour into it, Pat took the photo. An hour after that, and I'm able to write this. No biggie.

I'll let you know if my face falls off.


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Countdown to Moving Day: 19 days and have I 20/20 vision again.

The cataract surgery yesterday was a complete success!  I went for a follow-up with the doctor this morning and I now have 20/20 vision in both eyes.  I will probably just need some reading glasses now.  I have needed glasses to see at a distance since I was 18 yrs old.  It will be so nice to be able to drive with just a pair of non-subscription sun glasses.

As usual, John is  taking excellent care of me.  He cooked dinner last night and then packed more boxes.  Today he spent  the day boxing up more stuff while I kept track of the inventory.  I swear stuff must be multiplying in the closets and cabinets when we're not looking.  I not supposed to lift anything more than 30 lbs for another week, so all the heavy lifting has been left up to John.  Maybe I'll get lucky and he will have everything packed before I go back for the final check-up with the eye doc.

Yesterday, we went ahead and booked our airline tickets on Continental for July 12th.  Tomorrow we are off to the vet to get the APHIS7001 health certificate for Randy, our dog.  The document has to state he is healthy and he has had all the required vaccinations.  Once the vet signs the document, we have to send it to Austin to have the certificate authenticated by the State.

Friends are planning a farewell party for us on July 9th and then we are off the Costa Rica 3 days later.
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Final 2008 Update

It has been awhile since we last updated the blog, so i thought I'd play catch up with a recap the last quarter of 2008.

2008 managed to get one last blow in before year end. The Saturday before Thanksgiving Greta, our 12 1/2 year old Boston Terrier, gave up her fight against Cushing's desease.

This was really hard on us, coming only 4 months after her mother, Holly died. I think she really missed her. Greta was Holly's constant companion from the day she was born. I know pets only come into our lives for a short time, but they brought us such joy, we will always miss them.

We finally finished the remodeling of the kitchen and the replacement of the hardwood floors in the living and dining rooms so we had a nice Thanksgiving celebration with family and friends.

I went down to Costa Rica with our eldest, Donald, the week after Thanksgiving to take care of some things at the casita in Atenas. It was a nice break and it gave me a chance to recharge the batteries. It would have been even better if John had been able to get away from the work grind too.

I continued to look for work, but so far I haven't found the right opportunity.

Christmas was low-keyed this year, we didn't even decorate the house. The house had been torn up for months with the remodeling so we decided to just enjoy having everything in it's place again.

We drove over to Louisiana on Christmas Eve to spend it with Nick, Mary and the grandkids. Donald and Wendy also drove over to Louisiana from Alabama and we all had a great time together.

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Goodbye My Faithful Friend...

On Monday, June 30th, my little Boston Terrier, Holly, suffered a seizure during the night. She had been refusing to eat for the previous 2 days and I think she knew we were leaving on a trip. She became weaker and weaker, taking only water. On Tuesday, John and I made the difficult decision to let her go. Wednesday my dear friend, Nancy (Holly’s "other mother"), came over to spend time with us. I held Holly cradled in my arm for a good part of the day. Her breathing was very labored and she keep looking at me with these sad eyes that broke my heart. I told her "thanks" for all the wonderful years we had shared and told her that if she needed to go, it was okay, I would always miss her, but I would always hold her memory in my heart. I was waiting for John to pick us up and take up to the vet at 3:15 PM on Wednesday, July 2nd, when Holly took her last breath and died in my arms.

Holly was with me for almost 16 years. She was my best friend and we went through a lot of tough times and blissfully happy times together. She saw me through a divorce and the empty nest syndrome when my boys left home and married. She tolerated all the grandkids pulling at her when they were babies.

She fell in love with my John at the same time I did. I think she knew we had found true happiness when I met and later married John.

It is still too painful to talk or write about Holly's passing and I can’t begin to tell you how hard it was to come back from our trip this past week and not have her at the door to greet me.

Greta and Randy seemed a little down when we got back. I think they miss Holly too. Holly never let Randy usurp her position as the alpha of the pack and she was still putting Randy in his place up until two days before she died. Greta never spent a day apart from Holly from the time she was born.

We are all having to adjust to not having her in our lives. I am going to start another blog about Holly, our life together and how much I loved her. The first post will be what you see below, "An Ode to Faithful Companions".

A Dog's Plea (An Ode to Faithful Companions)
by Beth Norman Harris

Treat me kindly, my beloved friend, for no heart in all the world is more grateful for kindness than the loving heart of me.

Do not break my spirit with a stick, for although I should lick your hand between blows, your patience and understanding will quickly teach me the things you would have me learn.

Speak to me often, for your voice is the world's sweetest music, as you must know by the fierce wagging of my tail when your footsteps falls upon my waiting ear.

Please take me inside when it is cold and wet, for I am a domesticated animal, no longer accustomed to bitter elements. I ask no greater glory than the privilege of sitting at your feet beside the hearth. Keep my pan filled with fresh water, for I cannot tell you when I suffer thirst.

Feed me clean food that I may stay well, to romp and play and do your bidding, to walk by your side and stand ready, willing and able to protect you with my life, should your life be in danger.

And, my friend, when I am very old, and I no longer enjoy good health, hearing and sight, do not make heroic efforts to keep me going. I am not having any fun. Please see that my trusting life is taken gently. I shall leave this earth knowing with the last breath I draw that my fate was always safest in your hands.

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Update on Greta, our 3-legged wonder dog!

Some of our readers have asked for an update on Greta since her leg was amputated six months ago. Like any dog mom, I'm always happy to brag about one of the pups...

Greta is doing fantastic! She's not as active as she once was, but I have to remind myself that she will be 12 years old tomorrow. Her right foreleg was removed in July of '07 due to a rapid growing malignant tumor. Since this time she has adapted well to getting around on 3 legs. She still jumps up on the sofa and bed whenever she wants too but I have noticed she takes her time getting down. It's as if she is making sure she has a clear landing zone before she propel herself down to land and balance on just the one front leg.

She doesn't like to walk for any extended periods of time and I this is partly our fault for not making her exercise more. Greta has put on some additional weight since surgery and we have cut back on the amount we are feeding her.

She still runs to the door every time the doorbell rings and she will actually jump up on her hind legs when she wants me to pick her up.

Greta is an amazing little dog and it's just a joy to have around. I am so glad we gave her a second chance and elected to amputate her leg. Her quality of life has not been diminished in the least. If you are ever faced with making this agonizing decision, you need to know that dogs are very resilient. Work with your vet and always get a second opinion. You just might be able to enjoy many additional years with a happy healthy 3-legged friend.

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Our little wonder dog... Tripaw'd Greta

We spoke with Greta's doctor late yesterday and she updated us on the pathology report on the tumor. The pathologist grades malignant tumors on a scale of 1 to 3, with 3 being the most invasive, with the most likelihood of reoccurring. In Greta's case, they rated hers as a 1 to 2 and further indicated we should not expect to see a reoccurance since we amputated the leg.

The good news is Greta has adapted to the limb loss better than we have.She gets tired easily since the left foreleg hasn't built up the muscle strength to support her body yet. She is able to jump up onto just about everything she could before the surgery. She is still a little leary of jumping down, which is a good thing. The last thing she needs is for her to break the left leg trying to get down.

We'll be going back to the doctor on Friday to get the stitches removed. These pictures show how much of her body they had to shave. She has an 8" to 10" incision you can just barely see in the photo on the right.

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Tripaw'd Greta - What a difference 24 hours can make!

What a difference 24 hours makes. Greta's system is back to normal and she ate a normal dinner last night too. I am amazed at her resilience. She slept much better last night. She did start whimpering around 3 AM, but overall we both got a good nights sleep. The first in days for all of us. She yelped in pain a little while ago when the doorbell rang and she took off RUNNING with our other two dogs. I think she thought she still had four legs. Her mother, a 15 yr old Boston named Holly, and her 5 yr old Jack Russell brother Randy, seem to be very curious around her, but they are leaving her alone to heal.

I read up on the Fentanyl, and the patch that she received is the lowest dose available and its only supposed to be effective for 72 hours. We were told to remove it on Friday, but since she's already had it on for more than 96 hours, I suspect its beginning to loose its effectiveness.

Last night, while we were watching TV, I caught her jumping from the floor into Dad's lap. I think we are on the road to recovery and this is not going to slow her down a bit. We're thinking of renaming her "Tripaw'd"
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Greta's Leg Amputation - 2 days after surgery

We picked Greta up from the hospital yesterday afternoon and it has been rough on all of us. She hasn't stopped whimpering. I cuddled her most of the night, and it seemed to have helped some. The vet put her on the fentanyl patch that comes off in a few days. She is also taking an anti-inflammatory pill once a day. I'm concerned that she refuses to eat anything. She is drinking water and she has actually gotten up and walked on her own a few time. I wonder if the whimpering is a side effect of the drugs, or is she really in a great deal of pain. I have confined our other 2 dogs to the kitchen and I'm keeping Greta with me in my office until she gets to feeling better.
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Greta's Leg Amputation

Back in early June we noticed our 11 year old Boston Terrier, Greta had a growth about the size of a nickle near the elbow on her right front leg. We took her to the vet about a week later when it became the size of a quarter. He suggested we watch it for a few days. We went back when it didn't go away and the vet referred us to a soft tissue specialist for animals. Now, 4 weeks later, it is the size of a golf ball and as hard as a rock.

It turns out she has hermangiopericytoma. It is a form of cancer, but treatable. The treatment options are surgical removal with radiation, or leg amputation. John and I have struggled with this decision for a week now and we've had several discussions with the veterinary specialist. Since this tumor is located on her elbow, it may be very difficult to remove it all during surgery. This is the reason radiation would be recommended with any surgical procedure. Recovery could be very lengthy due to the extended muscle damage and radiation to the joint. Radiation would be 3 times a week for 6 weeks and there is no promise they can get it all. Greta would have to be under anesthesia for each treatment. The only sure way to know the cancer is totally gone is to amputate her leg. We talked it over at length, weighed all our options and I've cried a lot. We think her best chance at a happy pain free life is to amputate her leg. The surgery is scheduled tomorrow morning and if there are no complication, she'll be able to come home on Tuesday. This has been such a difficult decision since she isn't in any pain with this tumor. I just can't imagine what will go through her head tomorrow when she wakes up from surgery and finds a leg missing. Sort of "what did I do wrong that made them cut off my leg" or "why did my mom let them do this to me." Who knows what they think.
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