Back to Colombia

I got these all mixed up in order, but it's very early in the morning and I still don't have my head out of my........sleepy time, yet, so just be patient and remember, I'm just a dog. So, this is Chucho and Rosalba taking down dry wash. She washes clothes every day, rain or shine. If it's a nice day, it'll all dry by afternoon. If it's not, it make take two, three days to dry. Almost everything goes on hangers.

See? Hangers.

Sheets and towels are thrown over the line. Mommy brought down some clothespins for Rosalba and she LOVED them. So now, she uses a few clothespins.

The gazebo in the backyard is the coolest place in the house.... well, outside of the house. The roof had to be replaced this year.....the ants had gotten into it and eaten holes in it so it leaked but it was 12 years old, so that's not bad. An old man came to Chucho's house and took all the old ones off, which were put on the property next door where the pool is, and replaced the rope all around it and then wove in the new leaves. Then they gave it a haircut.....I can't remember if I already put in a photo of the new roof.....but if I didn't, I will later.

This is Susie, a hound puppy. She and her four siblings were born up at the farm but Susie got the heebie-jeebies and had to come down to the town vet for shots and medicine. Chucho took the medicine back to the farm, and gave the other pups shots, too. It made mommy cry to hear them cry when they got stuck with the needle. Poor little guys.

Chester is Eytza's dog. And he loves Susie. They play a lot.

Uncle Charlie.

Daddy

Uncle Al, saying Show me the pesos!!

Colombian breakfast....huevoes and arapas. Eggs and corn pancakes.

Chucho sweeping the water off the roof so it doesn't build up more and leak. Some of you were doing the same with snow in your part of the world.

The young men who are building Uncle Al's pool. They had such a good time teasing Daddy and Mommy.....couldn't understand each other's language, but somehow managed to communicate.

This man was inside the old house bending rebar for the pool....all by hand.

More bending

and bending.....

The inside of the old house where materials are stored...sand and gravel for the making of cement.

Behind the pool hole.....jungle-type stuff with planted corn.

The pool hole

So, there you are folks...and Uncle Patrick. Another day's installment of pictures. More tomorrow if I get up early enough. Mommy and Daddy are going to the beach today because it's going to be in the 80s. I don't mind. I just stay home and keep cool.

Have a wonderful day. I love you all. Juni

Trujio, Colombia

I'm not sure Mommy spelled this correctly, but it's pronounced Tra-hee-yo. It's a little town up in the mountains that she and Daddy and Uncle Al took a bus ride up to see. Like most Colombian little towns, it had this pretty church in the center. All the big churches are Catholic, but there are other religions there, too. Well, some Bapist, and some reborn Christian ones. Not many. Some. A few. Mostly Catholic.

All the towns have a square, with a pretty park in the middle. At this time of year, they're all decorated for the season.

Mommy and Daddy.

Typical Colombian scene in a little town.

Birdhouses everywhere.

There were these very tall trees with brilliant yellow flowers.

And there were a gazillion hummingbirds in them......

Hard to capture, but there's one.....

Not to mention the red birds....which were almost impossible to get a picture of because they just didn't stay in one spot for very long. But Daddy is a patient man.

More pictures of birds and flowers of Colombia another day. Have a wonderful one!! I love you all. Juni

New Year's Day, 2012, in Colombia

Mommy and Daddy spent most of the day in this pool. It was a risk, because it wasn't chlorinated, but it looked clean and it felt great.

Uncle Al was getting ready to do something to Isabel, who is Santiago's mama. She's just the cutest thing, and sooooo very nice.

Here's Daddy, in all his whiteness.

Uncle Al and sister-in-law, Rosalba, who loves the water but won't bare her body in a suit. She's very shy. She's two years older than Mommy.

Sanitago is attemptint to ride the ball with his daddy, Fernando. Mama Isabel is ready to catch him, and Sarita will help, too. Santiago is nine, in the fourth grade, and had a love affair going with Sarita.

Water boy. I hope he will come to America sometime so I can meet him. Mommy says he's a lot of fun and would love to play with me. She and Daddy would like to adopt him and I say, why not? They adopted me and look how I turned out!!

Next post for more pictures.

Making Tamales

Building the fire in the new lot.

Ingredients....pork, carrots, white potatoes, yellow potatoes, corn meal, salsa

Filling the banana leaves

Folding the leaves around the ingredients, and tying it with a long piece of bark, I think from a palm tree....stripped in the backyard.

Put tamales into boiling water on open fire

Cover with left over banana leaves and boil for ....three hours?? These are the yummiest things you've ever put in your mouth.

Bedroom at New Year's Eve and Day celebration. Once owned by a drug lord....now either government or privately owned and no one seemed to know. Drug lord is in jail. Casa used for parties. Forty stayed there.

Casa, with three pools, caretakers house, large fish pond with many fish that are eaten and/or sold, volleyball court, ourside bar/kitchen/bathrooms/changing rooms.....very fancy.

Mommy near Uncle Al's new pool. They're building the wall, and then will fill it with dirt, then cement over it to make the walkway around the pool. The top will be tile.

View from the other side, with Daddy and Uncle Al and a couple of the workers. All the rebar was bent by hand. The old house there will be torn down and a new one will be built. They are using it to store materials now, since it's the rainy season there.

And last, but certainly not least, ME! Am I not the cutest thing you ever saw, belly-up or not!! That was rhetorical, of course.

Have a happy day!!

Another sunny day

This is our campsite.....Can you see the river behind us? The trees are on the other side. It's nice, just not a lot of room to run and jump and play, and the main highway is very close so we can hear all of the traffic noise. Oh well.....

Mommy says these little critters have black tufts of feathers on their heads.....they have a cousin with a black beak, too. But they get very close to humans and aren't afraid.

See how tan Daddy's back is???

See how pale Daddy's tummy is??

Sanderling....lots of these in the water. Cute little buggers.

Good Morning family and friends, wherever you are,

I'll have to do two parts to my blog, I guess......the now part, and then another post for the Colombia part.

We went shopping yesterday morning. Every day.....and I mean every day.....Mommy has a list of one thing or another that she HAS to have. Yesterday's was a beach chair....and not just any old beach chair, but one that fit. FIT!! How does a beach chair fit, you might ask. Well, this one didn't have arms, and that one had a bar across the front that hurt her legs, and another one wasn't long enough, and then one was too heavy, and one was too flimsy, and one didn't lean back to sunbathe and....and.....and....Daddy said, choose one. We're done. Target, WalMart, Walgreens, CVS......choose one. So, she did, she chose a cheap one but she's not satisfied, so she'll have to meet someone who likes to shop because Daddy doesn't, and Auntie Em doesn't and all her shopping buddies are in Vermont!! It's a PROBLEM!! Just not one that Mommy won't solve......eventually......snicker, snort.......oh, that's what we dogs do when we want to show how sly we are.....snicker, snort........for future reference.

So, it's another lovely day here in southern Florida. It rained last night, a little hard so I had to get in bed with the 'rents. That's short for parents. Kid talk. Anyhow, I got hot after awhile and the rain seemed to have stopped, so I went back to my couch. Mommy got me a new cover for my couch and I really like it. It's purple! It looked brown to her in the store and was on sale, and I guess it FIT.....so she bought it. I really like it and it doesn't smell doggie like the old one does. I hate that, don't you? That awful doggie smell? Mommy's going to wash the old one one of these days.

Have a great day, all you beautiful people. I'll add a Colombia post next. I love you all.

Juni

Colombia pictures

Thought you might be interested in Uncle Al's pool. Mommy has some other pictures of the beginning of the process, but Uncle Charlie sent this most recent one so that she could see how far they've gotten since she left. All of the digging was done by hand, along with the making of the cement. The wall separates their yard from the next door neighbor's, and Uncle Chucho, Al's brother, and family, live on the other side. This is in the little town of Rio Frio, where Uncle Al is going to build another house for when they have to come into town for errands. When you live in the mountains, you don't come into town and go back in one day. So now, Uncle Al and Uncle Charlie will have their very own place for Mommy and Daddy to stay in when they go down again......yippee aye!!!

This is the view from the top of the mountain behind Uncle Al's farm in the mountains. Uncle Charlie sent this one, too. Isn't that gorgeous?? See all of the little farms in the hills and valleys? Such a beautiful place. I wish I could go, too.......