Big Mac Sauce

Hailey has arrived! She came on Friday night - we picked her up at the airport and she was wearing sweat pants and uggs...LOL Didn't take her very long to strip in the car into shorts and a tank top. We stopped at the Jolly Roger for a quick, cold beer before heading home.

On Sunday, we decided to take Hailey for a drive down the east coast as the weather really wasn't the best for hanging at the pool and suntanning. We drove almost all the way to Nagua. We stopped in various little towns along the way, took lots of pictures. We discovered a few awesome beaches that were really worth the trip. We also stopped in Gaspare Hernadez at a little jean shop and Hailey found a couple of pairs of jeans.

Today we took Hailey to Puerto Plata shopping at La Serena (dominican walmart). Found a cute bathing suite, daisy dukes in white and a shirt. Found Christopher Columbas's fort at the end of the Malecon. Pretty cool except we forgot the camera!!

Ross's only complaint thus far is we forgot to pick up ice cream today for his cantelope (from the fruit truck on the side of the highway). We got a couple of pineapples, cantelope, and the sweetest oranges. Tough beans for Ross!

Now, for the very best part of my day.......I have two of the bestest daughters in the world...well, truth be told, I have three of the best daughters in the world BUT...can you say BIG MAC SAUCE????? Hailey and Kaylen arranged for me to have a WHOLE tube of big mac sauce...guess what we had for dinner tonight....oh, you guessed and are SO smart....we had home made BIG MACS...did I tell you how much I LOVE BIG MAC SAUCE?????

I think I have died and gone to heaven....

mmmmmmmm....BIG MAC SAUCE

Sparky

Well, this last week has been relatively quiet. Our neighbours in Casa 6 were getting settled and we spent some time showing them around and giving them a few pointers. Went to Cabarete on Sunday for a couple of beverages and a snack on the beach. Ross did some sightseeing. Got a couple of good slaps.

Our pool repair is almost complete. Just a little finishing work and it should be good to go. Just have to vacuum it and get the water filled and chemicals added. I was a little concerned when the plumber had a hammer and a chisel and there were some very large chunks of concrete flying, a huge hole in my hard...but I must say that I am pleasantly surprised with the results.

It's been very, very hot and dry here. No rain to speak of in about six weeks now. Everyone you talk to says how unusual it is for this time of year. We did have some angry thunder yesterday but it didn't pan out into anything.

So, today I had a complete mental fart. Okay, I really screwed up. No, I didn't smash the car up.

I decided that today would be a good day to burn some dead branches and trees. Looking back on that decision...it really wasn't a very good one to make.

I started our subdivision on fire. Not just a small smoking fire but a raging inferno. I burned almost everything in site on one lot. It took five of us with buckets and garden hoses to put it out.

Ross asked me as I struck the match and started the paper burning if I had the garden hose ready "just in case". No sooner were the words out of his mouth when the inevitible happened...the wind picked up. Needless to say, we had a few frightening moments but all was well.

We now know the lay of the landscape in that lot. Not pretty I might add. There were empty paint cans, beer bottles, wood, dead tree branches and even an old pair of shoes!

It actually turned out to be a good thing...no one can sneak through that long grass anymore!

Just call me Sparky!

hmmm

I went to Puerto Plata last Thursday with a lovely Dominican lady, A'Myra. She is a seamstress. She knows Puerto Plata.....and where the really good fabric store is...YEAH FOR ME! Now don't get too excited for me. Without her, I'd never find the place again!! LOL Old Puerto Plata was so very interesting...very old wooden buildings painted like a rainbow...very, very narrow streets, in fact some were so narrow the SUV was squeezing it's way through! I'm hoping to make another trip with her soon so I can start learning my way around.

Now you are probably wondering why I would have a seamstress sew for me, but alas...I don't have my sewing machines here so I have to pay someone to sew for me. We picked out some lovely fabric for bedroom basement curtains. When Hailey arrives (in 12 days) we will pick out paint and get that room finished. Ross has hung ceiling fixtures so just needs a few homey touches yet.

Tomorrow is the "big" day. We will officially harvest our first banana hand (that's the whole stock thingy). I'll be the cutter...Ross will be the catcher. We guestimate that the "hand" will weigh about 60 - 70 lbs. Once the bananas are off, we will then cut down the remaining tree as it will die anyway. No fear though...I have two more hands growing and five more trees that are well on their way.

We have met our new neighbours that bought Casa Numero 6 across the road from us. Absolutely lovely Polish immigrants, accent and all...good salt of the earth type of people. We have been offering them all sorts of advice and think we maybe overwhelmed them the first two days. We had them here for dinner and they reciprocated the next day by cooking dinner for us - fantastic meal was prepared. They hope to live here full time in the next five years or so.

We celebrated (oh yeah...NOT) Superbowl Sunday at our local watering hole. Ross enjoyed the game and taunting the Montreal contingency. I wish I had brought a laptop or pencil to stab myself in the ear with as I was so bored (anyone who knows me well knows that I hate football).

We have finally had some monsoon rains the last day or two. I don't have to water the trees. It rains for about 10 minutes...the sun comes out for an hour....it rains for about 10 minutes...You get the picture.

BUT I DON'T HAVE TO SHOVEL IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Two Months Now

WOW!

Almost two months now since we left Canada...you know the saying...time flies when you're having a good time...it's very, very true!

I can't believe it's over a week now since I last blogged. We have been so busy.

The carport is now officially complete.

Our handrails have been fabricated, installed and painted.

We are still painting the inside of our security bars...very tedious job.

We have begun to paint the outside of the house. This is no small feat. We didn't think we had a very big house until we started painting. I want a hut I decided. Less work!

Ross cleaned the basement bedroom. No living insects anymore. Light fixtures are hung. Windows are clean. And, the bathroom door now closes thanks to a machete that was used to plane the door so it fit into the frame. (Ross thinks he's becoming Dominican...well at least he's starting to think like one - gotta be innovative when you don't have tools which I hear about daily.)

We're still working on the neighbour's yard. Our current project is draining the pool with a garden hose...been at it for three days now...probably another two at least. Now that's a tough job.

I now have another job - a part-time job. Doing some paperwork for (get this)...Rent A Gringo. Ross is their "new" mechanical guy. We have a welder, a roofer/painter and a carpenter/plumber. What a team of misfits!! LOL

I'm still going to the animal shelter every Wednesday morning for a few hours.

Last job: suntan which is getting wicked by the way!

Still no sign of rain and we could desparately use one day at least. We have had to start watering plants every night...not good!

Still counting the sleeps till Hailey's arrival.

Thieves Market

Ross and I went out this morning to the Thieves Market at the Jolly Roger Bar. Kinda like a farmer's market only lots of second hand stuff, new stuff, burned movies, food and lots of other stuff.

Got some new "used" books to read and had breakfast.

I picked up my new, handcrafted shoe rack. Perfect fit by the front door. Just have to train Ross to put his shoes on it now!! LOL

So we stopped at the local minimart on our road on our way home this morning. I wanted to pick up a fresh chicken, a bottle of water and some fresh pork chops (from the German butcher next door). The minimart has a little bit of everything there...cold beer, rum, fresh veggies, rice...and VIAGRA...holy but did I laugh...just imagine...stop for a quick beer, a bbq chicken half, a little blue pill and off to see your woman...only thing missing from this little scenario is a remote control!

Ross had a little project. He decided to see if he still had his high school carpentry skills. He built a seat for the back of the quad. He used up some of the left over lumber from the carport. I must admit, it turned out quite nicely. He sat Jack on the back of the quad today and took him for a short ride. Jack only fell off once but clearly enjoyed his ride with Dad. I guess the next ride will have to be mine although I'm hoping that Ross will put some padding on the bottom to save my delicate butt from slivers...

Weather has been so friggin HOT. We haven't had rain in eight days now and we are starting to feel its affect. We had to water all the plants last night as everything is starting to dry out. We go into town and it feels like we are in an oven. Good thing we almost always have a breeze on our little patch of paradise. I actually ventured into the pool today as I was so hot.

So the carport is almost finished. We are waiting on one last roll of roofing material and it is finished. It has been re-enforced with cross beams...something for me to back into!

Life is good...relaxing and fast all at the same time. The days seem to fly by so quickly. It's a busy day when you do a load of laundry, check your facebook, make dinner and fall into bed at 9:30 pm because you're exhausted.

27 more days and Hailey arrives for a much anticpated visit!!!!!

Some rambling.....

Yesterday, I hired a local boy (Manuel) to do some painting for me. He's 13 years old and is one of the few remaining local shoe-shine boys in Sosua. He's basically a good kid but does require supervision. I have to give him credit, he took his task very seriously and worked hard in the hot sun.

I had him painting the fence, some window trim and apparently part of the house along with his jet black hair. His trimming skills are not that good yet...LOL

By this time this nice young man finished up a whole gallon of paint, he looked like a gringo. He was covered with paint! Ross and I decided the poor kid should take a shower to wash some of the paint off before sending him home. Ross got the basement bathroom cleaned up for him to use. There are a few things I should have pointed out to Manuel BEFORE leaving him alone in the bathroom.

1. Closing the shower curtain when showering. Aparently, Manuel has never had to close a shower curtain (probably has never showered in an actual shower stall before). The bathroom floor was completely soaked with about a 1/2" of water on the floor. No harm done...its tiled and has a drain on the floor.

2. Shutting the water off after taking a shower. After Manuel came out of the shower and dressed in his painted clothes, he joined us on the patio. I thought I could hear water running so went to check the bathroom...yes, water was still running...towel on the floor..typical teenager.

Manuel didn't know how to put a seatbelt on either. When I drove him back to town, I had to show him how to put a seatbelt on.

This gives me some great insight into how much we take for granted. We have to re-teach our way of thinking in this country. There are so many people in this country that have not been exposed to what we consider daily acts in life. Many people have told us not to expect much from the Dominicians and Haitians when getting them to work for us. I will probably get burned for my efforts but I want to be optimistic and try and help someone everyday in some small manner. It left me with a good feeling to pay this young man for his labour and it left him with a huge smile on his face to put some pesos in his pocket.

I am going to have him come and work for me on Thursday as well.

So, now for the good part.....

Ross and I were invited out for beer and pizza last night by a couple of guys we have working on our carport. We went to the local mini-market about a km from our house...middle of nowhere...you can pick up some staples, water, etc...they bbq chicken, make pizza...it's quite a busy establishment.

We sat at the picnic tables for about three hours. Good food...cold beer and met lots of people. So, now it's dark, the guys on the bike had no headlight..."not to worry," says Blaine..."it's all downhill into town." We were all pretty gooned. Three beer (an not little beer bottles either) for RD$100 (about $3.65)I for one was glad we didn't have far to go to get home.

God Bless the Dominican Republic!

Ants

Ross and I have been discussing the dramatic amounts of snow that home has been receiving. We only have access to American news (New York/Boston) and are amazed at the amount of snow the northwest states have been receiving. We can't say enough how glad we are that we don't have to shovel snow, wear gloves and boots, and be cold.

That being said, we have our own problems.

1. We are dealing with constant sediment in our pool. Try and try as we might, we just can't seem to get it under control. We have hard water and I think there are large amounts of calcium in our water and I think this is part of our problem.

2. Vines and weeds. Not only do the plants grow quickly, so do the weeds. I pull weeds everyday and they appear to grow in front of my eyes.

and.......

ANTS!

Note to self, when Ross drops food on the floor between the stove and cupboard, pick it up IMMEDIATELY. Before we went to bed last night, Ross commented that there were a couple of ants on the cupboard. Upon further investgation, I found a piece of meat on the floor between the cupboard and stove COVERED in sugar ants. Got out the handy can of toxic bug spray and took care of that problem.

But, our problem didn't end there. When I got up this morning, my countertops were literaly moving. I forgot to put a few crackers away in a plastic bag and the ants were having a feeding frenzy.

Unfortunately, I used up the last of the industrial strength bug spray last night and didn't have any left. Thus, at 8 am I was at the Supermarcado buying the biggest can of spray I could find.

Ants are gone and my kitchen is now spotless and insect free!

And the carport saga continues.....

We have three guys: a business major (from England), a welder (from Saskatchewan) and some Swedish dude who breathes too many paint fumes. All nice guys who are trying...

Ross stands and shakes his head...their construction work will pass however, they argue constantly. Maybe by May they will be done...rotflmaopmp

You can't help but laugh at them. Even they say that they work "Dominican" style...which means VERY slowly. To their credit, they do analyze everything to death and do measure twice!