Thursday lunch special - everybody is lunch!

If you sit still for a little while you will be surprised at what you will see.  We sat down together to rest on the veranda.  We turned our chairs to face the kitchen rather than the ocean.  We were watching the parrot climb up and down the door frame.  He maneuvers very well using his beak as another appendage.  He's smart and daring too.  As we watched, two geckos in a death grip grabbed our attention.  One of them had the other by the neck and I could see blood.  As they wrestled they fell from the top of the wall in a free fall and landed on the same wall several feet below.  Now, how did they do that?  They were flying through space - how could they grab onto the vertical plane from which they were loosed?  As we discussed the physics of that feat a large head appeared at the top of the wall.  We were not the only ones watching.  There was a large and ugly iguana with an upper body shaped like a moray eel.  We watched him take in the whole scene: the geckos, the parrot and us.  He was watching us and we were watching him.  He had been planning to settle the gecko dispute by democratically eating them both but then no one expected that free fall.  The iguana moved across the beams of the kitchen roof.  We could hear him and occasionally we could see him.  Then we noticed that there was another creature in on this event -  a gorgeous, sleek, electric-green iguana.  She was on the farthest end of the wall.  What we began to realize was she was Plan B for the moray-eel-head-iguana, but she sensed danger and dove out the back way.  Now that the big iguana was some distance from the geckos they made their move.  One was bloody and the parrot had his eye on him, and the other slipped quickly under the freezer.  What a drama!  We witnessed a showdown, an acrobatic miracle, a prowling bully and a beauty in fear of her life.  It's hard to get any rest for all the stimulation!

Another Day

After the first two days of rain it stopped.  This is the way it usually goes.  Kind of like a lawn mower that's been sitting all winter: takes a few pulls to get it started.  Anyway, I've had time to catch up on some household chores.  Put up some more hat hooks in the bathroom and installed a piece of glass in place of a screen that got knocked out by the critters when they got excited.  It was  the lower part of a screened in area of our bedroom.  We can still see out but there'll be less work fixing screens. 
I'm in the midst of a 3 year plan to automate and simplify things around here so it's not so labor intensive.  It's labor intensive becoming less labor intensive. 
Amaranths water pick quit working.  The hose got brittle and snapped.  I replaced it with some 1/4 inch drip system hose.  Gave it a bit more life.  I already have plans for it when the pump quits working. 
As I was walking past my Buddha Hands tree I noticed it was covered with small white granules.  It looked like someone had sprinkled it with laundry detergent.  It turned out to be eggs of some sort.  I've never seen anything like it before.  Must be some specialized Buddha Hands Bugs.  None of the other citrus were affected.  I got a squirt bottle with some watered down dish washing soap in it and sprayed the bottoms and tops of all the leaves.  When I checked it this afternoon it looked fine.  Most of the eggs had fallen off and the remaining ones were easy to remove. 
The chickens are doing fine.  Haven't had any predators get in the pens since I fixed the wire.  We'll be having a bunch of new babies from three nests in a week or so.   Our nests all end up being communal.  You'll see 2 or 3 hens all squished into the same box.  There are plenty of nesting boxes but they like getting together.  The goose and the duck had that going on.  The goose layed  3 eggs but something got all   all of them.  When I checked her nest to see how her eggs were doing I discovered no goose eggs and 10 duck eggs she'd snitched from the duck.  There's no male duck so her eggs weren't fertile.
Well, that's about it for now.  Things are pretty layed  back for a while.  See you tomorrow.  Wally

Problems of paradise

One of the events of the rainy season is the flying termites.  When the rains come the crowded nests get stirred up and some of the termites get wings and take off by the millions.  What you have is a big mess because they die by the millions too and do you know what you get when you have millions of dead and dying termites?   -  a gazillion wings in every nook and crook and cranny, on every surface flat and vertical.  If you try to sweep them up the wings take flight again without the termite attached.  Once I dumped a dustpan of wings over the edge of my veranda and they floated up and across the veranda again!  The ants come in for the bodies of the termites so they get swept up too. This is a unique housekeeping problem during the rains.  I won't take a photo of this phenomena as it isn't a pretty picture.

Unlike Spain, the rain in Aticama falls everywhere...

Variety as spice...

I've been glad to have Amaranth take care of the blogging for the past few days.  I got too hot when I was burying the lines for the pump and I haven't had a lot of energy.

One nice benefit from having the extra pump is we have twice the water pressure we had before so the tank is filling faster which means we can water the plants more thoroughly.  It's tough at the end of the dry season.  I start to get a little burnt out on watering.  Much of the watering is done by timers at night so we can spread out the usage over 24 hours instead of having to do it all during the day.  It is better to water at night because the plants process water at night with less evaporation for chlorophyll-making during the day.

This morning I repaired a watering system for trees below the chicken pen.  I had them all nicely mulched but the chickens removed it scratching for bugs.  Just as I finished our friend, Tom, who gave us the parrot, stopped by to see how the parrot was doing.  He was surprised that the parrot was liking life in the cage and had adopted Amaranth.  Chico doesn't like men.   My sore finger can testify to that.

At noon, friends, Kate and Greg, stopped by for lunch and brought lots of bakery goodies as a tribute for the repairs I did for them.  After lunch I worked on a pressure washer Tom had dropped off. It had been sitting for quite a while and the carburetor was plugged.  I took the carb apart, cleaned it and reinstalled it.  It started on the second pull.  I also fixed the all-important pressure relief valve.  It opens up with the build up of too much pressure.  If it doesn't open you're in for big trouble.  Something pops or blows.  The problem was someone had taken it apart and reassembled it in the wrong order.  I'd never worked on one like this but I'm good at puzzles.  I reassembled it in the sequence that made sense. It worked.  In troubleshooting, I usually study it to find the logic that went into it's design.  When I understand that the solution is clear.  Works for me.

After I got the pressure washer working I decided to give it a test drive on the bricks in front of the cono.  In no time they looked clean and new.  They tend to build up a coating of moss which can be very slippery when wet.  Just one more thing ready for before the rain begins.  The rain began on June 18th last year.  I know were getting close to the 18th, although I never am sure what day or date it is.  I usually get the year right around May or June, although not always.

After I pressure washed I finished up with some watering of trees.  We have one called "Hands of Buddha."  It's a citrus and the fruit looks like a couple of hands praying.  It's supposed to be delicious and we watch each day as it's first fruits ripen.  This year many trees will be fruiting for the first time.  Two Kumquat trees are full of fruit too.  We also have a Blue Banana from Brazil that's nearing readiness.  These bananas taste like vanilla ice cream when frozen.  We also have red bananas and some other variety I'm not sure of.  There are so many delicious varieties of bananas that you will never see in a market in the U.S.  We've been tagging the plants recently because we have too many to remember their names.  I've been planting for years and usually I just plant things and forget their names.  I got it because I liked it so when it flowers or fruits I'll be happy.  No name necessary.  Many of our tropical fruits are named differently in other countries which adds to confusion too.   I learned from local folks how to crush the leaves and smelling them to identify some trees, especially citrus.  They can tell the difference between a grapefruit and a lime or an orange just by the smell of their leaves.  Cinnamon leaves smell wonderful and make a great spicy tea.  Their bark is the source of ground and stick cinnamon.

When I first came here there were loofah vines growing.  Loofahs are those sponge like things you use to scrub up with in the shower.  They grow like cucumbers on a vine and when dried the skeleton is used as a scrubber.  I hadn't seen any in years.  I'm not sure why.  I got to thinking about it and asked around.  A month back my neighbor located a vine and brought me seeds which I planted.  I planted the vine at the base of a tree for support.  It's vigorous and happy.  Maybe that's why people got rid of it.  How many loofahs can you use?  We'll give them as gifts with some of Amaranth's home made soap.  You can eat loofahs when they're green like a cucumber.  Scrub a dub on the inside and the outside.

I planted Valerian seeds someone asked me to start for them.   You can make a calming tea from the roots and that's where Valium originated.   We also use passion flower leaves for a sleep aid.

The water tank is 5 inches from full and will fill tonight.  I rest peacefully when the water situation is under control.  It takes vigilance.  We never take water for granted.  Eventually we'd like to drill a well.  We had tests done and there is good clean water from 26 to 50 meters.  The problem is finding a company who can install the well correctly.  We had a friend who payed 26,000 dollars for his well.  It wasn't sealed right and it keeps filling with mud during the rains.  It costs him 1000 dollars to have someone clean it on a regular basis.  We've checked out other companies but haven't found one we have confidence in.  I may end up doing that myself too.

Well, it's 10:06 PM and I'm missing out on some good dreams.  Bye for now.  Wally

Parrot-parenting

Our new family member is becoming more relaxed and open to explore.  We were told that he has lived in freedom, feeding himself and living outdoors, but he doesn't fly. We put him in a large cage for the first day and then let him out during the day to explore the kitchen and veranda.  He seems to be very happy.  He likes to be wherever I am and if he hears me and I'm not in sight he gives a high scream.  He also does this when I'm on the phone.  For having been independent he seems to prefer company and attention.  He is wild though.  He bit Wally hard when he reached towards him with a perch.  Since he doesn't fly he gets around climbing with his beak to pull him up.  In addition to his scream for attention, his repertoire also includes "Paco" with his voice raising on the second syllable in a coarse and irritated manner.  Guess Paco was in trouble a lot. He also says "huevon" which means lazy - I can see a story shaping.  Another expression sounds a bit like a curse, so our new colorful member will be undergoing some reformation.  Yesterday he was drawn to the classical music playing on the XM radio.  I moved a chair in front of the radio and used it as a perch.  He sat there and made sweet little murmurs nodding to the music.  He can make some lovely purring sounds when he is content.  We are still waiting for a name to come to us, a name that will match his personality, which he reveals more each day.

Fresh flower jewels...

I had a very happy surprise on Sunday.  Wally gave me a pair of earrings he designed and had a jeweler make.  Each earring is an attractive clip fashioned from sterling wire that is meant to hold a natural flower.   What could be a finer adornment?  I wore plumeria and mandevilla yesterday and they smelled better than any perfume.  I think habanero peppers would look snappy too.  Today I am wearing lacy hibiscus.  The earrings are lovely without the flowers too as the clip is cleverly disguised in the wire design.  How precious to have Wally surprise me with such loving thought and invention and how flattering that he imagined my face framed by flowers.