Category Archives: Pets and Animals

Flashback to Puerto Rico: August 17, 2005

Observations of the Island, Trip to Ceiba and Survivalism in Guanica

In PR

This is the 7th Part in the Honeymoon Flashback Series. I would like to finish sharing this whole journal that we wrote on our honeymoon in 2005 before we leave to start our new Puerto Rico life adventure this fall 2013. Go here for Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and Part 6.
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Today we got up around 9, hung out a  little and then went down to breakfast. Unfortunately we were a little late since we found out they closed breakfast at 10 and we got there around 10:30am. But they went ahead and served us. It was a good home-cooked style meal with fresh fruit for only about $8 for the two of us! And because we had been eating so much fried food here on this island, it was a much needed health booster.

Even though the US has an obesity problem, it seems that Puerto Rico has it even worse. I think it is for sure worse than Colorado which I believe is the leanest state. There is so much fried food everywhere, especially fried chicken, pollo frito!, places everywhere and many of the people look like they enjoy it a little too much!

Even the Chinese food places serve fried chicken instead of grilled chicken in the chicken and vegetable dishes, but the kicker was that they served it with both white rice AND French fries of all things which we thought was so weird. They also don’t have unsweetened iced tea. All the drinks are super sweet here. It’s also hard to get just a cup of iced tap water like we usually do when we eat-out in Colorado.

Anyhow, back to the trip. We spent some more time down at the thermal pool which is nice and relaxing. Then we packed up and headed out.

Today was a day of driving. We drove up the mountains, down the mountains, to the ocean and back again. We drove the ruta panoramica (Panoramic Route) and Highway 53, we took toll roads and back roads. We were definitely tourists taking lots of pictures everywhere we went.

plantation

We saw farmland -what looked like bananas or plantains and maybe coffee growing on the sides of steep green hills. There are some interesting plants and flowers on this side (eastern) of the island.

We went through Humacao and found a Chili’s very easily and were able to finally use our gift card! We also saw another lighthouse -we have made a little side game of trying to see and photograph all the lighthouses on the island.

100_1919 100_1862 100_1859 100_1838 100_1873 100_1779

Finally we arrived here at the Ceiba Country Inn and are trying to rest -again for the second time. Our first room was infested with some sort of biting bugs. So the owners moved us into another bugless room -thank goodness! The owners are nice Americans from Rhode Island. They have adopted like 3 dogs, all former strays. Poor things. Dogs and cats run around stray all over the place here and the females seem to all be pregnant or nursing.

Ceiba
The view from the place we stayed in Ceiba

Well, off to Vieques tomorrow!

Oh, I forgot, on the day we traveled to Guanica, when we also stopped by the Guanica Dryland Forest, we went for a hike because we saw a sign for the old Fort Capron ruins. So we decided to walk the 5 kilometers it said it was from where we could park. We got REALLY hot though and Britton took off his shirt and gave it to me to wear on my head as a type of hat. Then we kept walking and walking and hiking and walking but still we didn’t see any ruins.

Spiky plant and hat
Watch out for those spikes!

Finally we decided to turn around about an hour later when we saw thunder clouds and lightning. We tried to hustle to avoid the rain and I had to watch my feet to avoid tripping over the rocks. So as I was looking down I ran smack into a thorny tree branch and poked my eye. My eyelid started bleeding but at least my eyes had been closed at the time of impact!

Termite hive
Termite hive?

We also saw a huge nest of some sort that we can only imagine must be a termite hive. Britton developed some blisters on his shoulders from the sun and sweat. By the end of the hike we were super happy to the see the car (with A/C and water) once more.

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The Way of the Lazy Gardener and Our Last Colorado Garden

This summer will be our last one here in Colorado for the foreseeable future and with it, our last Colorado garden. After a two year’s wait, we finally harvested our asparagus and it was delicious! This marks a final step in our philosophy toward gardens and life in general: set it and forget it AKA the way of the lazy gardener. Sometimes the rewards take time to mature, but they are worth the wait!

Asparagus in the garden
Purple asparagus looks so primordial in the perennial vegetable garden

Britton and I have joked that once we finally figure out what we like to grow and what grows well here in Colorado, we go and move to Puerto Rico where we will have to start gardening (and our life) from scratch. But it will not be completely starting from scratch. We have learned a lot from our Colorado garden and how it is an expression of our philosophy in general.

What is the way of the lazy gardener? This is a philosophy where we do some work on the front end, but it will continue producing with some, but very little, input thereafter. Like recurring income investments, we prefer perennial vegetables and fruits that come back as opposed to annuals that you have to plant every year.This is the way of the lazy gardener.

Specifically in reference to plants, the lazy Colorado gardener’s plants should include things like a peach tree, fruit cocktail tree, apple trees, berry (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries) patch, potatoes, garlic, mint, asparagus and horseradish. If we were staying I also would plant rhubarb and a 5-in-1 pear tree. Even the “annual” plants are recurring. For example, every year we have cherry tomatoes and lettuces that self-seed.

We are lazy gardeners because we prefer not to fight against things that don’t want to grow and would rather just plant stuff that wants to be there. Same thing with other aspects of life. Why fight to have something difficult and time or energy consuming when you can have it easy and get the same outcome?

We will probably still throw out some seeds and try new projects, but we don’t baby them. If they grow, they grow. Even the chickens are a perfect example of our hands-off approach. We do very little and they provide us with lots of delicious eggs and fertilizer for the lawn and garden. It is a cycle in which an input and an output are part of the same circle.

Britton threw out a variety of seeds into the greenhouse and we grew what we think is arugula. It is delicious, nutty, spicy and succulent, so whatever it is, it likes to grow and we like to eat it. It made a nice side for a dinner one night. I am sure we will throw out a variety of random things and some of them will grow into delicious projects. It is not all easy. There are always weeds to contend with and the occasional bug. But overall the way of the lazy gardener is a refreshing approach compared with the hands-on, single use, disposable way that most of us are used to. I dare you to try it out for yourself!

Asparagus and Arugala
Asparagus and arugula(?) for a chicken dinner (not those pictured -ha!)

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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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Kitty is Afraid of the Doorbell

We have a lot of neighbor kids who come by and ring the doorbell at our house. Kitty is smart to avoid kids as sometimes kids are not too gentle with critters. So Kitty has developed a coping mechanism whereby he climbs under the covers whenever he hears the doorbell or knocking. It’s hilarious! We weren’t sure we could get it on film, but sure enough, it worked! Check it out for a good chuckle. Silly Kitty!

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