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2005
2005
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Okay, so you need an update, Joyce and Larry….
December has come and gone and not a word about what happened during that month. I can hardly remember
what happened except if I go back and look at pictures I took during the month….so the first set of photos from
December are of several different snakes that Pablo has brought me, dead, hanging off the end of a stick. He and
I have had conversations about the fact that there are only a few poisonous snakes around here and that all the
ones he is killing are not poisonous. Of course, since I have only lived here for a short time, my credibility is pretty
low. Off I went to the local mall and the bookstore therein and bought a book on reptiles and amphibians of this
area.
Every day for a few days we would spend some time reviewing the photos and reading the descriptions in the
book and remembering the snakes he has killed. I think we both now know which ones are dangerous and we
have come to an agreement…I acknowledge that he doesn’t like nor trust any snakes and he acknowledges that
maybe some of them can continue to live here.
The next series of photos on my computer are of the egret that was here daily when I first arrived and has since
made sporadic visits. Which leads me to the next part of that story…Dinah, my dog that I have had for thirteen
years has decided that it is time to retire from being an alert watchdog. Contributing factors are her diminishing
eyesight and failing hearing. She snores through the arrival of strangers until she suddenly wakes up and runs
out barking though the visitors have been there for quite a while. Her retirement led me to look for a replacement
as I appreciate some warning about strangers.
In speaking to a woman here in Calderitas she told me about another woman who was feeding a street dog that
was very sweet and might suit my needs. I went to look at the dog and she was a pitiful sight. She cowered under
a table and wouldn’t come out, she was covered with hairless areas where fleas and mange had taken hold and
she was really skinny. I decided to take a chance on her as she is young and can learn whatever Dinah has to
teach her if Dinah can stay awake long enough. I named her Mari….she is a rather silly thing, but she is smart,
comes when you call her, sits when you tell her to sit, and is absolutely convinced that birds are terrible creatures
and chases them whenever she sees them…on the ground or in the sky…so now you know why Colleen the egret
doesn’t show up often or stay long….
The next series of photos are of the digging of a mighty hole in the ground, the installation of a concrete block
structure in the hole, and the placement of a two chambered plastic septic tank. Hurray!!! I don’t have to drive
away from the land to dump my holding tanks any more…it should take about 8 months before we see anything
come out the outlet end at the rate that I put stuff in it…supposedly the outflow is suitable for irrigation purposes.
We shall see.
Then there are some photos of the architect and his wife come to talk about the design of houses here…that
whole part of what is happening has come to a virtual standstill until Colleen’s estate is settled. Perhaps Jean and
I will build a duplex with personal monies so that I have a place to live and she has a place to stay when she visits.
The next photos show Sam, the woman who came down with me in her RV, hanging out near the pond in a tree.
She, Pablo and I have more projects and work to do here on the property than anyone will complete in a lifetime.
As fast as we chop away the jungle, something grows back where it was nice and tidy a month ago. We are
making headway and there are lots of areas that are just trees and grass instead of the jungle and it looks quite
beautiful.
Then there are photos of the Dia de Guadalupe which occurs on December 12th each year. I attended the
novena at the nearby rancho of the Uc family. They have a statue of the Virgin Guadalupe on the porch of their
ranch house and each year on her feast day they take her down and parade her around the area then put her
back on the porch. The novena follows…this is a series of prayers repeated over and over and long tuneless
songs sung while the turkeys and ducks quacked along in the farmyard until finally the prayers are finished. Most
of the people up on the porch praying were women while the children played in the house and the men sat under
an awning in the rain down below drinking beer. Toward the end of the prayers, a whole roasted pig showed up
on the tailgate of a pickup truck and the men in the yard below got that ready to unload. I know where I am going
to sit next year and it isn’t up on the porch.
Then there was the day that Sam and I took a trip to Majahual to deliver the refrigerator that I hauled down here
for a couple who have a vacation home there. In trade for bringing the frig, they have given me 9 days of staying
at their home on the Caribbean. I decided to ask some friends from the States if they would like to come down and
share the house with me and 8 women from Reno are arriving in Cancun on March 9th to stay for a week…it
should be a lot of fun!!!!! While I was there in Majahual I took a bunch of photos of the house to send to my
friends.
Then there is the folder labeled Miscellaneous with photos of Mari poking her nose into the foamy stuff that
washed up on shore in a windstorm, beautiful sunrise photos and Sam all grubby from working to clear the
property.
Then comes the folder labeled Noche Buena (Christmas Eve) with pictures of the dinner at the Cabrera family’s
house in a small village about 40 minutes from here. Rodolfo Cabrera was Colleen’s Spanish teacher and this
was my second Christmas Eve dinner at their house. Oh how Colleen was missed!!!!! For dinner we ate many
different parts of a pig cooked different ways….that and tortillas…and the squash that I took from the gazillions of
squashes growing here at Maricasa.
The last folder of photos from December is labeled Artifacts…in the two years since we bought the property we
have accumulated various and sundry pieces of pottery, spear points, obsidian knives, figurines and grinding
stones that are uncovered as we clear the jungle. On the property there are about 6 mounds that are remains of
platforms on which the Mayans built their homes some 800-1200 years ago and also an unexcavated pyramid. I
think that the Mayans must have had quite a temper as there is broken crockery everywhere….almost anywhere
you scratch the surface there are artifacts. I finally sorted them all out and lined them up for photos.
So, that is it for December…I have put some of the aforementioned photos here and the photos of the artifacts
are located here.
As I am writing this December update on January 28, I will now need to write January’s update too. Thanks for the
reminder Joyce and Larry.
December has come and gone and not a word about what happened during that month. I can hardly remember
what happened except if I go back and look at pictures I took during the month….so the first set of photos from
December are of several different snakes that Pablo has brought me, dead, hanging off the end of a stick. He and
I have had conversations about the fact that there are only a few poisonous snakes around here and that all the
ones he is killing are not poisonous. Of course, since I have only lived here for a short time, my credibility is pretty
low. Off I went to the local mall and the bookstore therein and bought a book on reptiles and amphibians of this
area.
Every day for a few days we would spend some time reviewing the photos and reading the descriptions in the
book and remembering the snakes he has killed. I think we both now know which ones are dangerous and we
have come to an agreement…I acknowledge that he doesn’t like nor trust any snakes and he acknowledges that
maybe some of them can continue to live here.
The next series of photos on my computer are of the egret that was here daily when I first arrived and has since
made sporadic visits. Which leads me to the next part of that story…Dinah, my dog that I have had for thirteen
years has decided that it is time to retire from being an alert watchdog. Contributing factors are her diminishing
eyesight and failing hearing. She snores through the arrival of strangers until she suddenly wakes up and runs
out barking though the visitors have been there for quite a while. Her retirement led me to look for a replacement
as I appreciate some warning about strangers.
In speaking to a woman here in Calderitas she told me about another woman who was feeding a street dog that
was very sweet and might suit my needs. I went to look at the dog and she was a pitiful sight. She cowered under
a table and wouldn’t come out, she was covered with hairless areas where fleas and mange had taken hold and
she was really skinny. I decided to take a chance on her as she is young and can learn whatever Dinah has to
teach her if Dinah can stay awake long enough. I named her Mari….she is a rather silly thing, but she is smart,
comes when you call her, sits when you tell her to sit, and is absolutely convinced that birds are terrible creatures
and chases them whenever she sees them…on the ground or in the sky…so now you know why Colleen the egret
doesn’t show up often or stay long….
The next series of photos are of the digging of a mighty hole in the ground, the installation of a concrete block
structure in the hole, and the placement of a two chambered plastic septic tank. Hurray!!! I don’t have to drive
away from the land to dump my holding tanks any more…it should take about 8 months before we see anything
come out the outlet end at the rate that I put stuff in it…supposedly the outflow is suitable for irrigation purposes.
We shall see.
Then there are some photos of the architect and his wife come to talk about the design of houses here…that
whole part of what is happening has come to a virtual standstill until Colleen’s estate is settled. Perhaps Jean and
I will build a duplex with personal monies so that I have a place to live and she has a place to stay when she visits.
The next photos show Sam, the woman who came down with me in her RV, hanging out near the pond in a tree.
She, Pablo and I have more projects and work to do here on the property than anyone will complete in a lifetime.
As fast as we chop away the jungle, something grows back where it was nice and tidy a month ago. We are
making headway and there are lots of areas that are just trees and grass instead of the jungle and it looks quite
beautiful.
Then there are photos of the Dia de Guadalupe which occurs on December 12th each year. I attended the
novena at the nearby rancho of the Uc family. They have a statue of the Virgin Guadalupe on the porch of their
ranch house and each year on her feast day they take her down and parade her around the area then put her
back on the porch. The novena follows…this is a series of prayers repeated over and over and long tuneless
songs sung while the turkeys and ducks quacked along in the farmyard until finally the prayers are finished. Most
of the people up on the porch praying were women while the children played in the house and the men sat under
an awning in the rain down below drinking beer. Toward the end of the prayers, a whole roasted pig showed up
on the tailgate of a pickup truck and the men in the yard below got that ready to unload. I know where I am going
to sit next year and it isn’t up on the porch.
Then there was the day that Sam and I took a trip to Majahual to deliver the refrigerator that I hauled down here
for a couple who have a vacation home there. In trade for bringing the frig, they have given me 9 days of staying
at their home on the Caribbean. I decided to ask some friends from the States if they would like to come down and
share the house with me and 8 women from Reno are arriving in Cancun on March 9th to stay for a week…it
should be a lot of fun!!!!! While I was there in Majahual I took a bunch of photos of the house to send to my
friends.
Then there is the folder labeled Miscellaneous with photos of Mari poking her nose into the foamy stuff that
washed up on shore in a windstorm, beautiful sunrise photos and Sam all grubby from working to clear the
property.
Then comes the folder labeled Noche Buena (Christmas Eve) with pictures of the dinner at the Cabrera family’s
house in a small village about 40 minutes from here. Rodolfo Cabrera was Colleen’s Spanish teacher and this
was my second Christmas Eve dinner at their house. Oh how Colleen was missed!!!!! For dinner we ate many
different parts of a pig cooked different ways….that and tortillas…and the squash that I took from the gazillions of
squashes growing here at Maricasa.
The last folder of photos from December is labeled Artifacts…in the two years since we bought the property we
have accumulated various and sundry pieces of pottery, spear points, obsidian knives, figurines and grinding
stones that are uncovered as we clear the jungle. On the property there are about 6 mounds that are remains of
platforms on which the Mayans built their homes some 800-1200 years ago and also an unexcavated pyramid. I
think that the Mayans must have had quite a temper as there is broken crockery everywhere….almost anywhere
you scratch the surface there are artifacts. I finally sorted them all out and lined them up for photos.
So, that is it for December…I have put some of the aforementioned photos here and the photos of the artifacts
are located here.
As I am writing this December update on January 28, I will now need to write January’s update too. Thanks for the
reminder Joyce and Larry.
December 2006
Life's Adventures