Category Archives: goals

Puerto Rico Training AKA Spanish Class

As part of my Puerto Rico training and to get ready for our move, I started taking a conversational Spanish class at Aims Community College here in Greeley.  It is 2 days a week and will be a good step in preparation for Puerto Rico.  While I have gotten by in PR without knowing much, it will come in handy.  In PR, most people know at least a little English, but Spanish is by far the preferred language. Cassie being fluent is a good crutch, but after seeing how much easier it is to get by for her I figure I should try as much as I can to learn before we move so I am not as dependent on her.

spanishwords

When my friend Matt and I went into Home Depot in Mayaguez, I needed to get crossco roof coating for the cabana.  I didn’t even know the word for roof, so it made it difficult to communicate.  It’s ‘techo’ by the way.

Britton Spanish

I know quite a bit of vocabulary just by living with Cassie, but I don’t know much of the basic structure of sentences. When people ask if I speak Spanish I still have to say “solamente un poco” or only a little.  I haven’t ever had the formal foundation so kids’ Spanish books and texts have helped. Like the Perico book I worked with this winter.

Perico

 

Cassie tries to help me learn these things at home but it’s different when you are held more accountable in a formal classroom setting. Plus work does education reimbursement so I should take advantage while I can. It’s a win-win! I already feel like I am getting a better grasp on the language and I am excited to use what I learn in “real-life”!

Wish me “buena suerte”! 🙂

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LifeTransplanet.com’s New Home

Well after about 5 years of running this website, including the hardware in the basement that it runs on (Hardware that I bought on the cheap for less than $50),  I have moved it off to a webhost.  I have learned quite a bit along the way about Apache software and various operating systems that it runs on.  From Windows, to Unix and Linux.  I have run it all and noticed the differences, fought battles and overcame challenges.  Lately though I have been running into problems by not having enough horsepower on the computer running it. Rather than buying new hardware, I decided it was time to move the site.  This isn’t something anyone should notice, except maybe that things are faster.

server

I have run my own backups and have setup failover systems so that in the event of a crash, the site would still come up.  I have also solved some pretty quarky issues here and there to get things to work.  There have been DOS attacks (denial of service), there have been LOTS of spammers and even hacks.  It has been a learning experience but running the hardware won’t be something I can do when we move to Rincon.  

repairman

The internet to our house in Colorado was pretty solid/fast and hardly ever went down.  That will change when we are in Rincon where even the water and electric are spotty, plus it fairly expensive to have an internet subscription and we are trying to elimnate costly bills.   Moving the site to a hosting provider is a lot less expensive than hosting it myself and all the maintenance will be someone else’s responsibility.  It will also serve as a resource as I will be able to setup sites for businesses and others. 

Another step in moving on and letting go!  I guess it makes sense that if we move to a new home, our blog should too!  What other constructive activities will I do with the time I usually spent messing around with the webserver?  I am anxious to find out.

 

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Busy Weekend: Chillin’ Dog, Coop Building, Sod Installation

This weekend has been very busy so far, and it’s not quite over yet! It definitely reminds us how much life wakes up around here with nice weather.

On Thursday after work I was in the office hanging out on the computer when I looked outside and saw the chickens flapping and running around. Then I saw a little tan blur running behind them. My first thought was a prairie dog was chasing them. I ran outside to scare it out of the yard when I noticed it wasn’t a prairie dog/gopher but rather a little dog! A chihuahua. When he saw me he just cowered next to the house. I wasn’t sure if he was biter so I reasoned with it. I even said aloud, “If you don’t hurt me or the chickens, I won’t hurt you.”

Cassie and Dog
Me and the little guy

And slowly I approached him and was able to pick him up. He looked really tired and just sort of trembled and fell asleep in my lap. After a long rest we set him outside hoping that he would then run home wherever that was. However, a couple hours later after we had run some errands, he was still there. We don’t have any dog food anymore since Schnoodle died, so we just gave him a little water and cat food.

We walked around the neighborhood on Friday and asked all the neighbors if they knew whose dog he was was, but no one knew. I really don’t like to turn animals into animal control, because I know that most of them get euthanized. Especially in Greeley, chihuhuas and pit bulls are two of the most common dogs in the Humane Society, so his chances were slim if he went there. He was so chill and sweet, that I couldn’t bear that. If we were staying in Greeley, we would probably adopt him ourselves.

Chill Dog
Chillin’ chihuahua with his paws behind his head

I told my co-worker friend about him and she said she would take him and help look for the owner. If the owner could not be found, she offered to adopt him. He definitely added a fun aspect and reminded us how fun a little dog could be -especially one that could see, hear and play unlike Schnood in her last few years.

In addition to that fun diversion, we had some work to do. We wanted to finish a yard sod installation in one of our rentals where some of our friends live. Since we don’t own a truck, we had to do all of it with our little Honda Civic.

Sod in Honda
Sod in the Honda filled to the brim

We stocked the car full of sod and had to make about 3 trips before it was done. Sod is a little expensive, but it is nice to have an insta-lawn. I think it turned out great! See for yourself:

Yard BeforeYard After
Yard Before and After

And after we laid the final pieces of sod, we rushed home to fix a dish to bring to a brunch and help build a coop with some other friends who are starting out with their first chickens.

egg pizza
Breakfast pizza made with garbanzo bean flour, eggs from our chickens and a variety of veggies

Building a coop
Constructing a coop at a friend’s house in Greeley

And today is Mother’s Day, so we are off to lunch! Hope your weekend was as fun and eventful as ours!

UPDATE: We went out to lunch at the new Greeley seafood restaurant Lucky Fins and had a great time with our mamas.

Lucky Fin Lunch

 

 

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Clearing Space and Filling It

These next few months will be all about clearing out our space in order to move into a new one (even more than we have in previous purges). And I don’t just mean physically, but also figuratively. Physically we have to sell, give away, donate, pack or toss almost all of our belongings. But as we do this, we are also figuratively making space for new things to move into it.

I think we all know the feeling of clearing off a table only for more things -keys, coins, papers, etc- to “magically” creep onto it again. We have to constantly keep a check on our space to make sure it holds what we want it to. In the same way, we must do that with our lives and what we bring in it: people, money, jobs, hobbies, our thoughts, our dreams, our purpose! Nothing stays a void very long. We are constantly filling and refilling. Creating and re-creating.

Often our physical artifacts are representations of our thought realm. When we aren’t careful and selective, it can be become cluttered -a mess. We must be careful what we bring into our lives- our home, our mind, our body – so that it will be a true reflection of what you want to see, to be.

And so in this way, it has been a real re-awakening to what is important to us, especially when we got new carpet and had to move everything that had been in every room. Most of our “stuff” really is just stuff. They are representations of things that were once important to us, and some of what still is. But most of it is not necessary in our transition to what we really want, and where we really want to be: which is 3000 miles away on four jungled acres in a tucked away surf town on a Caribbean isle.

I think we are coming close to a point where we will be looking more at what we want/need to take with us instead of what needs to be discarded. For instance, this is the list of things we will take so far:

Kumquat and Mexicola
The two plants I’d like to take

Clothing– we will need a little clothing to get us started. And most of my jewelry because it is small, easy to take and a lot have meaning (like our wedding rings for example).
Sentimental items– some physical photographs/albums, journals, small gifts, small wall decor items
Computer/lap top– for our music, files, blog, and digital photos
Paperwork-like licenses, titles, taxes, identification
Kitty- We have chosen to take Kitty. It will be a mini-adventure for sure to take our cat with us. And through his eyes we will see our reactions somewhat mirrored
A couple of houseplants– I would like to take our Mexicola avocado plant that I grew from seed and a kumquat tree.
Bikes -We are not sure on this one. I love my beach cruiser and it would be perfect in Rincon, but is it worth shipping? Same thing with Britton’s mtn bike. It is old but reliable.
Guitar/bass- We will probably be using a lot more acoustic instruments like bongo drums and acoustic guitars, but this perhaps will be a sentimental item for BK to bring. He is selling his amp, however, which will literally clear a lot of space.

Marshall Vintage
Amp for sale!

I think these are good representations for what we are bringing into this new space that we will be creating. Our knowledge, history and experiences. Responsibility. Living things. Love. Music. Hobbies and interests. Health.

In 7 short months, we will be walking into a new space and filling it with the building blocks of a new, exciting adventure. And we are thrilled!

Rincon House Fish Eye
Thanks to Linda for capturing this fish-eye picture of our place in Rincon!

 

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