Sunday, July 24, 2011

Minor Update

Talked to Mom tonight.  Turns out they are racoons, not opposums.  Two very large racoons.  The conservation officer said to put chicken wire in all the openings to the outside, so various grandsons came over and did that today.  The larger trap set out last night didn't catch them.  The food in the trap was gone and the trap wasn't sprung.  These are smart racoons.  Mom thinks that L. has been feeding these coons for a long time, since she kept saying that the cats sure ate a lot of food.  I wondered why cats needed to be fed twice a day when it was first mentioned.  So, tonight we find out which side of the chicken wire the coons ended up being trapped on.  I didn't ask if anyone has looked for them in the house before blocking all the access points.  And, why are there holes in the first place?  Seems that when L's husband built the place he decided that was a cheap way to get heat under the house to keep the pipes from freezing.  So, there was no floor under the bathtub or something.  Sometimes the truth is just to weird to ask for more details.  No word on if the rifle is still part of the plan.

Unwelcome guests

When my Mom and I Skype I keep up with the goings on in the small MO town where she lives.  A friend/extended family member went on vacation for the first time in decades, and Mom and my Aunt were in charge of feeding the cats, Mom in the evenings and Aunt in the mornings.  The lady has a cat door and apparently other openings to the outside that hadn't been an issue when she was there every day.  However, turns out that 2 opposums decided they had found heaven with her gone, and moved in.  There were countless messes each day, and her son was called in to help with a trap, which didn't work.

When the lady returned, she cocked her bb gun as far as she can (she's in her late 80's and small but wiry) and when she heard them the first night she was back, she crept down the hall and popped one in the head.  Didn't phase it.

Now she's got the rifle out.  He great-grandson told her she can't shoot that in the house!  She says it's her house, she can if she wants.  Family members descended with more traps...  I'll keep you updated.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Friday Fragments (on Sunday)

I sometimes like the cute little ways blogs come up with something to post, like Friday Fragments for ideas that don't flesh out to a full post, or Sundays in My City with pictures from around town on a Sunday.  However, those require actually posting on a particular day.  So, my fragments are on a Sunday, which doesn't really rhyme.

I went down to breakfast in the restaurant this morning.  I had the desayuno typical (my spell check doesn't do Spanish, so I hope that is close...), or typical breakfast here in Honduras.  It was really good.  It's fried plantains (done right!), refried beans, and egg over easy, something that looked like a slice of fried Spam, some kind of cheese/cream and fresh made tortillas.  I prefer the creamy sauce rather than a hard piece of white cheese of some sort that is sometimes included instead.  At any rate, the owner of the hotel told them that my breakfast was 'on the house'.  I left a 50L tip anyway.

I'm sorting and packing.  I'm already probably too late to have my stuff arrive in MO when I'm there in September.  I'll set up the storage unit so that all Mom will need to do with the movers is point.  The place here is total caos (spell check can't even come close for that word, so just go with it...) as I pull everything out and decide what to send home and what to leave here.  It is making me think in detail about what I need to have to feel comfortable.  A table is high on the list, it seems.  My kitchen table I bought in WA is going back.  It is a nice, stable flat surface that is doing duty lately as my ironing board.  I'll have to come up with something else.  My hammock stand that has done more duty as a temporary place to hang clothes will also go back.  It's the little details that make a lifestyle comfortable or not.  I'll see how it goes.  I may find that it motivates me to do what I need to do in order to leave Honduras even faster.  That would include having a job someplace else to go to.

No progress on my hammock this week.  I didn't feel good and had no energy.  Once I get the stuff packed I'll start working on it again.

I still feel like I'm shooting an arrow towards the future and I don't have any idea what or where the target is.  Just aim in a general direction and shoot.

Monday, July 04, 2011

What else I'm doing

When it comes to studying, I can find all kinds of cool things to do instead. Last week I started weaving a hammock in the hammock shop on post. I'm slow. It will get done, eventually.

First you load the 'needle' that I think is called a shuttle in regular weaving. Specific terms kinda get lost down here. And with me in general. Anyway, this is the needle, and I'm loading it up.






Then you poke, pull and prod the yard through what you have already done. What you see here got unwoven because I made a mistake. I did this part three times, because after I fixed the first mistake and got back to where I'd left off, I found another one lower down.






The gold/red/black hammock behind me I found out that night is being made by the Chaplain. The Universe does have a sense of humor. So far I've only cussed in front of him once. I'm learning to watch my mouth. I guess that is a good thing. He wasn't offended, and may not have actually heard it as I was cussing that it was raining hard just as I was getting ready to leave. Rain on a tin roof is nice, but not so much when there is a half mile walk to the gate.




I'll post progress pictures as I go along. It will be multicolored as I got what yarn was left over from the post's order. I had to buy it myself since I'm a contractor, but I can use the facilities for free. This won't be an ultralight hammock, the yarn weighed 20lbs.

Happy 4th of July

Yes, they have a 4th of July here in Honduras.  It's a normal work day for them.  I'm off work, getting things caught up.  Mostly I'm taking care of the small things that make me feel out of control of my life on a regular basis.  Laundry and ironing are almost finished.  Then I can put away the towel that has graced the top of the kitchen table for weeks.  Papers are being sorted and scanned and packaged to be sent home.  Most of it is being tossed or shredded.  Piles of papers are shrinking and disappearing.  This is good.  I may be sending my big stuff home in a couple of weeks.  I need to get the small stuff organized so I know what goes where.  The only things left after that should be things small enough to mail home or things that I'll leave here.  I'll be living out of 2 suitcases, something I've said I want to do for years.  We'll see if that is true or not. 

I have no place yet to go to when my contract is up here.  I can stay here until I find something.  I have not been studying, I have not been working on weaving the hammock I'm making in the shop at work, I have not been working on my resume.  I'm still not totally in control.  It's a start.