Spanky’s and Shat

We found a new bar – Spanky’s.  You get free pour drinks.  My limit I think is three but who is counting.  Actually my head is pounding and not counting.  I don’t believe Ross’s limit is much different than mine.  You can attempt to play pool after a few drinks but in my case I had difficulty trying to even hit the white ball.  What a fun bar to go to though…lots of laughs.

Now as I start writing this blog, I have come to realize that I haven’t blogged for a very long time.  Now, I don’t have many blog fans but hey, someday someone might find some humour in what I wrote.

Oh, and before I forget, don’t let anyone forget that when I leave this grassy paradise for greener pastures, I want to be buried with my pruning shears! 

I have sort of a mish/mash of thoughts running through my head (might be a result of those three, free pour vodkas from last night), so bear with me…or is that bare with me…whatever.

Swimming pool - *****ing pool isn’t fixed.  Chantel messed with that little process again so we are in drying mode again.  But, that’s ok…gives me more time to cut down the shit that is growing because of Chantel.  Chantel was a bit of a disappointment…all talk, no action…LOL  We got a ton of rain, a little bit of wind and three very unhappy dogs.  The thunder and lightning was spectacular.  Some of the lightning bolts were so close to us we could feel the heat.  Guess that’s not a great thing when your electrical isn’t grounded and you have iron bars on all your doors and windows.

Rain makes things grow…you have no idea how fast things grow in the tropics.  I swear that it rains and the grass grows an inch a day…you prune something back and a week later you can’t tell you pruned.  I have also discovered that it is just about impossible to kill a plant.  I pruned back some hibiscus trees and took a couple of branches, stuck them in a pot…and they are now growing.  I’ll get my free hibiscus hedge yet…oh wait…that will have to be pruned.

I’m attempting to grow a new plant – moringa.  This will be my second attempt…Ross killed the first attempt but I have forgiven him.  Supposed to be the next plant to save the world…you can eat it, drink it, feed it to your dogs….and get this….the more you prune it, the faster it will grow…see why I LOVE my pruning shears. 

We have evil cats.  They are six months old now and may not see seven.  They have attempted to flee to the outside world but Boss and Shelby have discouraged that behavior.  I have had bathing suit strings eaten off, a bedroom screen pulled out (that encouraged a number of creepy looking bugs to move in but gave the evil cats something to do before Ross came along and killed them – the bugs…not the cats).  These cats are like crows…if it isn’t fastened down, they will carry it off and destroy it.  Their newest toy is a stick and several cardboard boxes taped together.

There are a lot of strange people in this world.  I have come to witness some of them.  When you people watch (national sport in this country – not baseball as everyone assumes), you have to seriously think ‘are they opening a Walmart here?’  And the way some of them dress…you just know that they didn’t look in a mirror before they left the house or in the case of the men…they simply don’t have a wife to correct their bad dressing behavior.  I must say that everyone has his or her story as to why they are here and it is kind of fun trying to figure out their “story” and then finding out your vision of that person was completely wrong. 

Now, I don’t like to admit I have been wrong but I’ve been proved wrong in people observation once or twice.  Oh well, shat happens…..

Now, speaking of shat…I’m still rotflmaopmp…

So, we were invited to an impromptu (well for us anyway) birthday party.  All started innocently enough.  Met up with some friends for a quick beer and then off to another bar for the birthday party.  Grown-ups drank at the bar, kids were swimming in the pool having a blast.  Little ones running around nekid…kind of cute in the nicest way…

The food (pig roast) and sides were fantastic.  The Dominicans know how to cook a pig!  I enjoyed it until someone made some comment about it being chased around the field this morning and now, here we are enjoying it…

Anyway, the shat…so one little girl (about three years old) is running around nekid…stops….gets a real serious look of concentration on her face…standing BESIDE THE SWIMMING POOL……and….out pops a poop…not a big poop…but non-the-less…a poop.  So, don’t fret, the poop didn’t make it into the pool, her dad came along and picked up the poop.  If I had had one of my dog park poop bags leftover from Canada, I would have given it to her Dad to use.

So after the pig and the poop, we were off to Spanky’s and thus my rambling thoughts.

Happy New Year

I was going to write in my blog on Christmas Day but we ended up having a really busy day of phone calls to my girls and a lovely Christmas dinner with good friends.  Then, I was going to write on New Year’s Day but that didn’t work out so well either because of the fondue with good friends, cards, and too much wine (wine will do that to you every time), so I decided that today was the day!

I looked back to see when I last blogged and can’t believe I haven’t written since September!  Now, I have to rack my brain to try and remember everything that has happened.

I found out that I am going to be a Great Auntie.  My niece, Megan, is going to have a baby in May and she is really excited.  Of course, I had to bug my brother and Megan’s mom about being grandparents!

Many of you have read about my love/hate relationship with our swimming pool.  My relationship with the pool has deteriorated again.  The pool has several holes in the bottom concrete and our pool is empty, trying to dry out so we can begin the repairs and repaint the pool.

Boss is still going to obedience lessons.  He loves to run on the beach before lessons.  He loves the car ride to and from lessons.  He does not like being told what to do.  He is a very strong dog.  He’s learned some of his commands both verbal and hand.  “Stay” really isn’t working all that well for us yet…

Ross is a stalker.  I don’t know what it is with Ross and Russian women.  We were in the grocery store shopping.  Ross doesn’t usually come with me but for some reason he decided to make the trip with me.  He was pushing the cart for me as I was getting the things on my list.  I turned to tell him something and he was gone.  I saw him pushing the cart looking at things he would never look at…shampoo, soap, tin foil…I couldn’t figure out what he was doing until I saw the “woman”…she was stunning (I don’t usually check women out).  He was following her around the store.  Finally I told him I was finished; actually I was getting tired of following him around the store.  We went to the checkouts were the “woman” was…she walked up to two of the nastiest looking old Russian men, one of who was holding a toddler…she picked up the toddler…Ross’s fantasy was crushed!

We had a Christmas tree this year.  Ross and I decided to take the plunge and decorate the house this year.  We went to La Serena (Dominican version of Walmart) to get our goodies.  We came home with a Charlie Brown artificial tree and assorted lights and decorations and I think I would have made Martha Stewart proud with my decorating abilities.  We even had some garland and lights on our door arches.  We had our usual string of lights on the outside of the house.  Boss ate the electrical cord one night so Ross had to make some repairs to the cord.  Boss ate the electrical cord a second night only this time the lights were plugged in…he doesn’t bother the electrical cord anymore.

We had another first sighting of something that just makes you shake your head and ask why.  In December, Ross and I were going to Puerto Plata.  It was raining.  Dominican’s don’t like to get wet.  Dominican’s love plastic.  Dominican’s are very resourceful in avoiding the wet and utilizing plastic.  A grown man is driving his motorbike down the highway in the pouring rain.  He has a very large sheet of clear plastic covering his ENTIRE body.  The plastic is molded over his face as he is driving down the road and all we could see was his mouth open wide as he was gasping for air.  The plastic was flapping in the wind behind him as he went down the road.  I don’t know about you but one of the first things we teach toddlers is to NOT PUT PLASTIC BAGS OVER YOUR HEAD….this guy obviously put some thought into this.

Last night we went to a Dominican birthday party.  A group of friends rented a tourist bus/van to take us all to Puerto Plata to a hall.  We were among the first to arrive.  We all got our drinks set up and were sitting around visiting.  As family of the birthday lady began to arrive, every one of them (young and old) greeted each of us individually and really made all of us feel welcome.  They love their loud music…holy but it got crazy after a while!  Lots of dancing, laughing and then the food arrived at around 9:30 pm.  I made eight dozen homemade buns to be served with the meal. 

We were served first as the guests of honor (I would have thought that the woman, Rebecca, who was having her birthday would have been served first).  They made a traditional Dominican soup/stew called sancocho.  Now, everyone who knows me really well knows how much I don’t love vegetables.  I am also not really into mystery meat.   I googled sancocho before we went so I knew what we were in for.  Good thing I did – if you are curious, and I know you are, google it!  Now, let me say on a positive note that the broth was lovely! LOL 

Today is January 3 – only three more days…50.  We’re having a dinner party with friends at favorite restaurant.  Should be a fun night and I am looking forward to it.