This week was like Christmas! Packages arrived from my friend Elaine in Alpharetta GA, which I picked it up on Monday the 17thand one from my cousin Jodi on the Friday 5/21. Jodi sent me 4 pair of light long pants and long sleeve shirts for those times when there is no wind and the biting bugs are out in force and Avon Skin So Soft bug repellant from both of them. Elaine sent me a camera for my PC that I was hoping to use for video conferences with family and friends once we get internet service at Kismet. But, sadly, it isn’t compatible with the Windows 7 operating system that is running on my PC. I’ll have to look online to see if there is software to download that will make it work. Jodi threw in a couple surprises too! A new fishing hat, a Jingle Buddy ornament, and a photo editor package! Thanks Jodi and Elaine and I love you both.
On a side note to the above, and something important to me because she is a very good friend, Elaine was laid off from her contracting job at AT&T on Friday 5/14. Please add her to your prayer list asking that she find another job soon! She has a son and daughter-in-law (husband and wife) that are both deployed separately in the Middle East right now too so please pray for their safety as well.
We had a nice long thunderstorm on Tuesday 5/18. It had been raining off and on all day and just after dark the entertainment began. We lost power when a lightning bolt flashed almost directly overhead and that lasted all night. Again, with the palapa over my roof I was denied the soothing sound of the rain on my tin roof. But the advantages of the roof far outweigh the sound of the rain. Wednesday brought more rain and the Caribbean is a muddy brown color, not the normal green and blue it should be. The rainfall total was about 8 inches. That’s a good thing though because it’s been so dry here this past month and some of the water cisterns on the Cayes, and owned by the mainland people without access to city water, have been suffering. In Hopkins we have city water so it’s not a problem. But, since we are only 6 feet above sea level, and all the rain from the western ½ of the country feeds into rivers that flow down from the mountains to the sea, we were afraid that the rivers would overflow their banks and flood many of the towns. Thank God it didn’t happen. The roads to Dangriga and Placencia/Punta Gorda (south of us) were shut for about ½ a day though because of water over parts of the road. Tricia talks of a time a couple of years ago when she had waist deep water on the property. That would be a problem for me since my trailer is only 2-1/2 off the ground. I’d have to make a run for it to higher ground! One of the bad things though is that flood waters tend to rise pretty quickly. It would take me about an hour to get underway and that may be too long. But then I could abandon some of my stored things and hope that they dry out and are usable afterward. I guess it’s just a “wait and see” situation…
Monday 5/24 will be another of those costly days for me. I’ll start my 1st 6 month visa and will have to put down a US$500 or $600 nonrefundable deposit on my car at the customs office. That equates to 10% of the value of my car. The other option is to pay the duty in full, which really isn’t an option. Or I can leave the country for 15 days and start the visa process all over again. A holiday would be nice. Maybe drive up into Mexico along the eastern coast to Cancun and Playa Del Carmen and do some shopping at 1 of the Super WalMarts to fill up my food bins. I do have to go across into Mexico by July 4th anyway to collect the temporary duty for my car and trailer that I couldn’t collect when I crossed the border because the bank was closed for the day. That’s equal to about US$800 and would pay for most of my trip. Hmmm…what to do??? Maybe I can get a condo at the Royal Sands Resort in Cancun for the US$300 a week that we had a year ago. That was a really nice resort.
Tricia, Ron, and Peter have been doing a lot of work around the place. They’ve poured a concrete floor in the shower attached to the main building and a small porch patch just outside one of the ground floor rooms. Since the fishing has been so poor lately Tricia hired Peter to build a river stone wall in the cabana room to hide the toilet, which was formerly closed off by a curtain. The place is looking pretty spiffy! Another addition to Kismet is 15 baby chicks to be raised for eggs and food. They are a week old and it will be another 2 weeks before anyone knows how many roosters and hens there are. For all we know Tricia could have bought 15 roosters! Hopefully there will only be 1 or 2 though. Any more than that and they will definitely be raised for food because too many roosters cause a fight for dominance. Plus it would be an awfully noisy place come dawn when they all start crowing!
I’m headed back to Kismet now to settle in with a cigar and a good book on the beach (true but also said just to make you all jealous!) As always, stay well, keep happy, and practice peace. I am!!!
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