Misc pics...again!

Chuck mowing, I use the push mower!









Smoky haze from a fire aways off

Our plowed horse pasture, getting ready to plant Tanzania

The bees were a swarm that was moving through, I was taking cloud pics when I heard them, then realized they were only about 5 feet over my head. I yelled for Chuck, they dropped two feet, so I shut up and didnt move and they went on into the big orchard next door. Wooooo, that was a little scarey.

Assorted nest in and around LRF

Just random pictures

Random views, so often the storms roll right past us.

Cannon balls. No one knew what to do with them, wish we had opened them two weeks earlier, looked like the fruit would of been great!

MAJOR CRAPPY DAY!

Ok those who know me know I am not one to complain alot. But I gotta vent!!! First, I knew Quincy was distressed this a.m., I think he got to cold last night. NO I did not get up in the middle of the night with him. He wasnt very hungry and he has been a chow hound for 4 days, so, I made sure I took a fresh batch of his mix and stuck him in my cleavage for the 2.5 hr drive to Orange Walk for the horse race.

Off we go in the pouring rain, but who knows if 2.5 hrs away is raining or not, and we have seen them race in the rain before, so since we had missed the Easter race, we felt we should go and keep the business momentum going. Yeah, how'd that work for me? NOT!!! NO RACE, too much rain. So after a $100.00 BZ in gas and a whole day wasted, we came home.

I put Quincy on a warm water bag while I unloaded groceries, prepped his next bottle and unwrapped my lil guy. What a sad night. He had died in the past 10 minutes and I felt so bad that I wasnt holding him. I could not find the Esbilac that was recommended and tried my own concoction, that had seemed to be doing great. I was worried he hadnt peed, then this morning he peed a river. NOTE: you are to stimulate baby squirrels after every feeding to urinate. Uh oh, sorry Quincy. Did not know that. DANG IT!

So my lil baby Quincy...Rest In Peace lil dude, we will miss you.

Ok so now to top off the night, we are really concerned that we will not be moving the Wicked in the next two weeks as the rain has come in with a true vengeance. It is still meant to be the dry season. NOT!!! It has rained every day for 4 days and POURED today. So...unless we get a dry spell, we could be here for 3 more months. Jeepers, what a mess. The farm is so amazing and we have been so excited to make the move, never knowing we would have serious rain hit so early. And whats funny, is I can ask 6 dif Bz's if they think the rainy season is really here to stay this early or is it a tease, and 3 will say 'oh no, we will still have more dry' and the next 3 will say 'oh yes, we are here, in the rains now'. SO.... who knows.

Good part, we love the hollow, just a bummer to not get to our own place when we planned. Ruben, Im pretty sure, is moving into the 1 level house this week. He is our Guatemala worker from El Progresso and is becoming our caretaker. All though he speaks very little english and understands even less and ya ll know we speak zippo spanish, we seem to be able to make it work. Now, when the royal palms are chopped instead of the weeds, then we will know we maybe didnt make it work as well as we thought we had. Lordy lets hope that never happens. He is an amazing worker and we trust him completely. So at least he will be there.

Having left Blancaneaux has been such a blessing. No of course not financially, but in every other way. I feel like I am part of the team at LRF now and can get just as dirty and grimy as the guys. So much to be done yet, but feeling like we are making headway. Gutters go on next weekend and then we have rain catch for Ruben and us. Still need to make him a shower, but he's 'bucketing' for the time being and is a good sport. He actually has a bigger house now with only half use, then the one he shared in El Progresso. And I think he is happy to have his 'own' house, kinda sorta.

So when you get a baby squirrel, please make sure you rub his little genitalia area and have him pee after all 5-6 feedings a day. If any one comes to visit you have to bring me Esbilac so I have it on hand.

Have a great end of May. My lil Emilia Reutimann has her first Walk Trot class at a QH show in TN this next weekend and I can not wait to find out how she does! Good luck Emi and Amigo!

Feeding time

Our newest addition

Meet Quincy! Our 4-5 week old gray squirrel. He had fallen out of the nest three nights ago and we were sure he would be eaten by a cat or a snake as he was very LOUD about how unhappy he was. We were very surprised for two day Bela hadnt gotten him. Then...this morning we hear him and see him as he goes up a tree just about 12 ft away from the Wicked. He climbed like 25-30 ft. We thought he was home free.

Then 4 hrs later he had hit the ground again, screaming like a banshee. BELA HEARD...then SAW him! Wholly Mohlly, we both took off but of course she got there first, oh yeay he was climbing a dif tree, but cruising right up and she jumped and missed him by a half inch. Ok, well good, he got a way. NOT! He was too weak and let go and plopped from 15' right in front of her! Needless to say she snagged him, him screaming, me screaming, Chuck screaming...(enough that Tom came to see what was up).

She released on the oust command, but had him about 8-10 seconds. He was shocked, dazed and out of breath, but she had not hurt him at all. So we now have a baby squirrel eating from a tiny syringe and so far seems to be doing well. he is so dang cute! Not only did we save him from Bela but from the Hawk who had heard him and came to get lunch.

Keep your fingers crossed we keep him healthy and can turn him out in a week or two.

Please do not believe all horses are scrawny in BZ

HAHAHa take a look at these two! Tied with their necks at the side of the road every day...Obviously no starvation here!!!

Belize info

After the first few entries of this blog is some pretty good info regarding out trip through Mex and getting here and just good info. We now have property on the sea in Corozal District, up in Waree Bight, as well as a farm in Cayo, on the Mountain Pine Ridge Rd. Title took two years for the ocean property because it had been a lease then a death of husband so it went through probate and then the Govt considered taking it back, but our two 'Lands' Guys did a great job for us and got it done! Mark Mahmuhd from San Ignacio and Marcello Cowo in Progresso.

Farm had to be 'extracted' from Mennonites property and so that has taken months but is in the works. You have to have patience here, for everything, but certainly for anything to do with the Lands Department.

Beth Roberson of Holdfast, Ltd is a wonderful realtor to deal with. She has been here over 30 yrs and is soooo honest. I had declared I WOULD NEVER use a realtor here. Then we found Beth. She is also a magazine/paper producer. She started and designed the Belize Agriculture Report, with the help of her good friend John Carr. He is an amazing man and has had Banana Bank here for many many years and is a large farmer and horseman. The magazine has taken off well but always in hopes of making a profit. Someday Im sure, its too good a information mag to let it stop. Oh yeah, I happen to write a monthly article for it.

Mr. Cardonna in Belmopan is a terrific lawyer if you are in need. Lets see... the other thing in Belmopan is that is where the American Embassay is and where you go for all lands and passport-residency issues. Not much to the town really, but it is the hub of the necesary things to get done.

Found a great mechanic in San Ignacio, total mess of a shop, if you can think of it as a shop, but amazing mechanics.

If you need a great Tour guide service, we recommend Maya Walk in San Ignacio. Chimmy's son Aaron can even save you from poisonous snakes. And Moonracer thinks 'Gonzo' is the best around. Lets see, favorite restaurants in San Ig is Rolsons, Serendibs and Mr. Greedys too. For Veterinarians, here in Cayo, Dr. Edwardo Tesecum, Dr. Depaz and everyones favorite, Dr. Burns.

Both the Community Hospital and the Seventh Day Loma Luz are decent. The Community is free and Loma L is cheap. But for xrays or ultrasounds, you have to go Loma Luz.

When travelling along the highway and need a stop for food and beer, stop at Cheers at Mile 31 1/4 on the Western Highway. 2.5 miles West of the BEST ZOO IN THE WORLD! The Belize Zoo.
Chrissy and Anita do a great job at Cheers! And the food is fab!

Of course when it comes to lodging, there is a huge variety in this area. Depends on what you want. Want water, Table Rock is stunning and on a huge stretch of the river. http://www.tablerockbelize.com/ In the jungle, our favorite is Moonracer Farm http://www.moonreacerfarm.com/ Both facilities serve meals and are quiet. Can do laundry and tours and extras. For the Northern area, we love Pristine Point in Progresso, http://www.belizelandoffice.com/ Linda and Phil can also help you buy property here in Belize and are very trustworthy. If it were not for them, we would not have gotten our sea property. And Cheers on the Western highway has some cute cabanas as well if you are on the way somewhere, but need a stopover.

Keep in mind when traveling, to get gas when you can, stations are only in the bigger cities, and you will ocassionally have a police check point, especially around Belmopan, the capital. Gas was $8.17-8.30 in September, now it is $9.89 or $4.95 US a gal. OUCH!

We have a few people that we would recommend you stay away from for real estate and building-construction, so if u need to know, email me.

So...hope this helps anyone surfing looking for info for our area. You can always e me and ask specifics.

Puppy loves to 'hang out' with daddy Chuck!

She landed on his boxers and rode there for close to 15 mins while Chuck toweled Killah after a bath

This is what our roads can do to you

2 Friends who lost control on our road we are on every day. You think you r good then just WHAM! We drive on the average 30 mph here, but spots are 12 mph to 20. They were going a little too fast, duh, but they are both ok.

More of our bounty!

Mango clusters


















Noni fruit for the Noni Juice












Isn't Bertha Beautiful? She is a Mango tree

New "Wicked" site

This will be out the kitchen window










This will be our bedroom view










My honey pick axing-guess his collarbone is healed huh?

Out the front windows

Fruits!

Do not have real name for these yet, we call em pink pears. They are a lil like a granny Smith in taste but shaped more like a pear and two trees are loaded! Click on pic to see how pretty the fruits are.

Sour Sap good when gutted and frozen, like sherbert. This one is about 8" long and not quite ready.

Back to LRF Cayo

So...where to take off. Ok so like I just saw a picture of my adorable husband, who I think has a great body now, back in like 1996-98, WHOLLY FRIGGIN WOW!!! 0 % body fat, could bench 300 lbs, had friggin arms the size of my legs, only with definition, and I love his shoulders now, gawd allmighty, you shud of seen him then, lalallalla my tongue is out!

Ok, back to reality. Sigh

The farm is becoming amazing again. So much work it is a little overwhelming, but also so worth it. We are having as much paid work done as we can afford, but thats limited.

Blancaneaux lost 2/3rds of my $2100.00 fence from the US for three weeks, but I kept after them and low and behold, the two anal folks that had checked it in had lost it! BUT I have it back so thank you lord!

Oh yeah, by the way, I quit Blancaneaux, best decision I have made in the past 10 months here. WILL NOT lower my standard of care and returning manager and I just did not see eye to eye, or nose to nose or hip to hip. You get the idea. I thank Anne Wood for being an amazing manager and truly an amazing woman. I hope she has a great new life back in the states.

So now, I took over lessons at the Belize Equestrian Academy and am planning for a very busy summer. Trey Roberson was all ready a friend of mine, (he is who got me into the Belize City Carriage gig) and he is like a lil brother. He owns the school and is so geeked I'm there. We are gonna have a great time making the Academy grow into what it could be. Thanks Trey for the opportunity!

Wow so much to tell ya. Bela took the BEST IN SHOW at the Belize Agriculture Fair Dog Show, sponsored by ALICAN DOG FOOD! I have no decent pics as Chuck stinks as a camera man. She was an amazing girl. Did an obedience demo, a bite demo with Bark 9, her bench class, another bite demo and then her obedience ALL IN 102* heat. Her obedience was not as good as it could of been, but she was fabulous all day. And took it all in the end!

I only wish I could afford to have Richard come back down.

I will add more LRF pics as soon as I have time to sit throgh downloads. I took yesterday to do nothing but computer stuff and articles and ads and my whole satellite system was wacked and super slow, so no downloads. Maybe tonight.

The baby jiggle talk

Killah Bean with the Daddy, pic is bad but turn up volume and listen, I laughed till I cried. Ya gotta get about 20-30 sec in, before you here more then playing, then you'll hear Killah do his jiggle growl and again towards the end.