Picking up Where I Left Off...NOT!

I'm not even going to try to make up for the past 6+ months. They're gone forever and I didn't blog about them. Too bad. No guilt. No shame. :)

I am, however, starting back today and will be trying to post more-or-less regularly. I've considered beginning to blog in Spanish here, and may do that someday. Google Translate is a poor substitute for an actual Spanish blog, and I do see more need for a Spanish blog than another English one in the blogosphere, but that's another topic for another day.

 For today, I wanted to share about our latest addition. My mom will laugh and say, "I'm not surprised!" Anyone else who knows me will agree.

 Seth just put this sign on my bathroom door:

So we open the door...

There she is (pretty sure it's a she. Who knows?) We don't always keep large reptiles in our bathroom, but we have a small space heater in there, and it's the safest place for her at this moment. Our friend, Esteban, came over this morning looking for Seth the Iguana Man. Apparently a guy in town found this poor creature and was about to kill her when Esteban stepped in and saved her life. Yay, Esteban!!! Yes, I'm an animal lover. Guilty. Anyway, she injured herself a little while the guy was trying to capture her, but I think she had been injured before because her wounds look a little old.

Made me sad to see her -- would you believe she was crying? Seriously!!! She had big, fat tears in both eyes! Gives new meaning to the term "Crocodile tears".

I'd be crying, too, if I looked like that. Ouch. So, we have a new resident in the bathroom for a few days while we let my herbal concoctions do their magic and see if we can return her to the wild in a week or so. I've actually missed having a green iguana around! This should be interesting!!!

A Bird in the Hand

In February I acquired a rooster. Although I didn't ask for him, and really could have lived without him, he was quite handsome and the hens seemed to generally appreciate his presence. He only had one small issue:

His clock was broken.

The dumb bird sang beautifully, but he sang any time the mood struck: three in the afternoon, two in the morning, it didn't really matter when.

We finally tired of his incessant crowing and found a replacement. His name is Thor. Cock fighting is a popular sport here (NO, we do not condone fighting roosters or gambling on the games), and Thor is a champion fighter. That really means nothing to me. The important thing to me is that in the 2 weeks we've had him, I've heard him crow exactly once.

It's a problem having two roosters, though, especially if both are bred to be fighters. Thor stayed in the pen with Mama Hen and her babies and Old Rooster roamed around the property with the other two hens. All was well until one day when the gate got left open and suddenly both roosters were in the pen.

That was the end of happiness on the chicken farm. The decision was made to catch Old Rooster and deliver him to his new home with our friend Ramon.

Have you ever tried to catch a wild rooster? It wasn't easy, but it certainly was funny!!! I only wish I'd had a video camera!

The boys started by hunting for the rooster. After about 15 minutes, they located him roosting in a tree behind our house. They shooed him out of the tree...and the chase was on. Caleb nearly caught him in the open stretch as the two flew (almost literally) across the front patio, over the garden box and around the pool. Rooster had his eye on another stand of mesquite trees and made it into the underbrush just as Caleb was about to grab him. With the rest of the brothers beating the bushes, they drove Rooster back into the open and across the road...into another stand of mesquite. At this point Mindy, our retired herd dog, caught on to the fact that we were trying to catch something (duh) and decided to get in on the fun.

Mindy dove into the mesquite briars and turned Old Rooster around -- straight toward Doug and I.

At this point, I made a grave error: I put down my camera to try to catch the bird. I should have known, from my years of experience with country life, that I had no chance of catching that terrified rooster. I could have, however, caught two amazing photos. One of Doug as he grasped at Old Red who streaked between his legs and one of Hunter as he dove, without thought of his own safety, on top of the bird. Neither attempt was successful, but both were so hilarious that everyone was shrieking with laughter. I'm sure the neighbors thought we were nuts.

I'm sure they already think we're nuts.

Anyway, the chase ended when Mindy cornered the rooster behind the cactus hedge and Hunter grabbed him.

Mindy was quite proud of herself and everyone else was still hooting with laughter at the craziness which is our family.

After we calmed him down a bit, I deposited Old Rooster into a cardboard box, and we delivered him to Ramon's house.

No more roosters singing at midnight. Yeah!!!
 

Wordless Wednesday -- All Natural Ingredients

Disclaimer: Contrary to what my kids may think and regardless of the taste, none of my herbal remedies contain horny toad.

Feeding Time at the Zoo

Had to share this...

I tried to post it on Facebook, but couldn't get the animation to work, so I'm posting it here. Adorable? Want one??? :^)

The waiting is the hardest part

How many days to germination, did you say?

No Place Like Home!

Well, we've arrived home from furlough safe and sound! Hurrah! It's so good to be home! I love exclamation points!!! ;^)

We cut our visit in Tucson short by a couple of days when we received a note from our pastor (who was watching our house for us) which sounded a bit...stressed. A lot happened while we were gone and, while I wouldn't presume to say the village fell apart without us, I think that Ricardo and Cristina were relieved to see us again.

All the animals are present and accounted for. That was quite a relief for Seth. This marks the first time that an iguana has survived a furlough. Thank you, Lord!!! Jessee's duck has confirmed our suspicion that he is a she. She began laying eggs while we were gone. Guess where -- inside the brick oven.

On a more serious note, two members of our church passsed away the week before we arrived home. Juben, husband of Sister Victoria, had battled prostate cancer for several years. During the past couple of months, he began to take eternity more seriously and spent many hours studying the Bible and praying with Doug and other brothers of the church. He was baptized about a month ago -- only a few weeks before he went to be with Jesus.

That's just the way life is, I suppose. As one of my friends said last night, death is our only certainty in this life. We need to be prepared for it.

The last leg of our trip was uneventful -- no blown tires, no overheating wheelbearings, only a small issue with the brakes, but my extremely mechanically gifted husband handled it with ease. On the way south, we passed through a town called Guaymas (pronounced GWHY-mas) which had been hit by hurricane Jimena. Once again we praised God for His protection from this storm. The flood waters which rushed down from the mountains wiped out two overpasses and made Interstate 15 impassable. We had to take the "scenic route" through the city.

I'd never traveled through Guaymas during the day. Very pretty city -- at least, it was before it was hit by Jimena. Workers were busily patching roads and working to repair the railroad which was wiped out by the ocean surge. Most of the homes we saw had fared pretty well, but the storm damage was evident in the broken trees and debris piled here and there. All traffic from Interstate 15 was being diverted through the heart of this sleepy little town, so the detour was a bit time-consuming.

We had a chance to meet Braulio and his family in Obregon, Sonora. His wife, Pily, was having a surgery to remove some polyps (sp?) in her sinuses and the doctors had bumped the date up unexpectedly. We really wanted to be able to see them and to encourage them. The timing was perfect and we were able to meet for dinner (a late dinner, but still...).

We pulled into our driveway at 3:30 a.m. on Tuesday. Once again we managed to stretch a 12 hour trip into 18 hours. We were tired, but happy to be home. I'll do a photo re-cap of our time in the States soon. Until then, que Dios les bendiga!!!

Sauris

From the Greek root "saurus" meaning lizard comes the latest addition to our family...

Sauris!

Here she is getting a bath in my turkey roaster just after Seth bought her.

I've just about lost count, but I think this is Seth's 4th iguana. His first, Felicita, was almost 4 feet long when we got her and she escaped while we were gone on furlough two years ago. Next was a young green iguana who didn't stick around long enough to be named. Then we lizard-sat an adult male iguana for Esteban for a few weeks -- after that, we decided that females were better and the young ones are nicer than the adults. A year and a half ago, Seth purchased Neo. Neo was a wonderful iguana and practically lived on Seth's shoulder...until he died. We have hard luck with pets when we go on furloughs!

Anyway, a year after Neo's demise, Sauris has come into the picture. And I'm beginning to think she's going to bankrupt Seth! I've never seen a lizard eat as much as this critter!!! We stumbled upon the fact that hibiscus and tulipan flowers are her favorite snack, so every once in a while we treat her to one. She snatches it out of your hand and tears it to shreads. If I thought I'd be able to upload the video in a reasonable amount of time, I'd do it. You'll just have to take my word for it. She's a hoot.

She's just about doubled in size in the past two months that Seth has had her. I'm glad she only eats vegetables!!! I'd have to start worrying about the cats soon if she was carnivorous!!! Sauris certainly does have personality. I never thought I'd say that about an iguana. (Please pray that she's still here when we get back from our furlough in September!!!)

The Duck Whisperer

For Christmas, my friend Shari gave me a hilarious book called Enslaved by Ducks. I haven't finished it yet, but the title intrigued me enough to start it right away.

While I don't generally feel like my animals have me wrapped around their little paws -- or webbed feet, I am most assuredly a sucker when it comes to a wounded animal or a baby of any species.

The day before we were planning to get rid of the last of the puppies, the very aggressive "play-all-the-time" female puppy decided to play with Cedrick the gander. Fortunately, we got to him quickly, but not before she managed to pull out a mouth full of tail feathers and remove a huge patch of skin on his back. Pobrecito!!! Poor thing!!!

The photo really doesn't do it justice. I'm pretty optimistic and not very squeamish, but this was gross and I warned all the kids that Cedrick was in bad shape and not to expect much. Silly me -- I forgot how much my kids pray for their animals!!!

Here I'll insert a commercial for my favorite first-aid item: Goldenseal. Google it. It's amazing. On small cuts, I sprinkle on a little goldenseal powder and call it good. Deeper cuts, sprinkle the wound and cover it. Missing large patches of skin -- make a strong infusion, cool it and bathe the wound 3 or 4 times a day until all danger of infection is passed.

I do have a little experience with maimed animals and goldenseal. About 7 years ago, one of our barn cats showed up with a gaping wound on her neck. She'd been shot, and the bullet, while missing the jugular, managed to lay the skin open halfway around her neck, exposing tendons and other things which really shouldn't be exposed. I took her to the vet (not my regular vet, BTW) who told me that she would need upwards of $300 worth of medical attention and then she might not survive.

I thought that was a little excessive for a barn cat who didn't really like people all that much and liked me less than most. I asked him to shave the wound and took her home. From that point on, he treated me like an abusive parent and did all but call me a murderer.

Well, I took Kitty home and did my "Goldenseal Therapy" on Kitty who then became a member of the family because she had to live in the bathroom for 3 weeks so she wouldn't reopen her wound.

At the end of 6 weeks, you couldn't tell where the wound had been. Cost of the vet visit: $40. Cost of a 3 week Goldenseal treatment: $5. Being able to say, "I told you so!" to the vet: priceless.

So, back to the ducks. In addition to dousing Cedrick with herbs everyday, we also needed to keep him clean and out of the yucky duck pond, so guess where he ended up...the bathroom. But ducks stink, so that didn't last long. Jessee borrowed Seth's iguana cage and we kept him outside on the roof most of the day.

At the end of 3 weeks, he still had a good-sized wound, but the flesh had begun to grow back and he was growing pinfeathers. Yeah!!! Now he's back in the general duck population and quacking merrily along...and the obnoxious, over-eager puppy is gone!

I wonder how many animals you have to treat to get an honorary veterinary degree?

Animal Farm

I do like animals. I've said that before. All my life I've had pets -- generally the normal cat/dog/rabbit/gerbil. Since we've moved to Mexico, we've expanded our horizons to include giant lizards, pythons, pelicans and Oyster Catchers.

At this moment, though, our animal collection is limited to 2 cats, 3 kittens, 2 dogs, 3 puppies, 4 ducks and 3 turtles. That's limited. A month ago we had 11 puppies and a giant iguana, too.

I like "free-range" animals best. Have you ever gone to a zoo and come home depressed at how miserable the animals looked? I never wanted my critters to have that sad, dejected look. I think I watched Charlotte's Web too many times as a child. We raised goats for some time when we lived in Oregon. Our first "family goat" was a black pygmy goat named Lucky. He was so funny! We just let him roam around loose and eat blackberry bushes.

There is one issue with free range animals: Poop.

I walked out the front door one morning a couple of weeks ago and this is what I saw...

Yes, the 4 ducks, 3 puppies and all 5 cats are eating from the same dishes. Those critters just have a way of making a mess, so I grabbed the hose and started taking care of what needed to be taken care of.

I heard a noise and turned around...

That one is not mine. The neighbor's pony had stopped by to say hello.

OK, horse. I am NOT cleaning up after you, too!!!

I think animals can just sense when someone is a pushover, don't you?

Sucker!!!

I am, and always have been, a sucker for a puppy!!!

Izzy finally had her puppies. I've had several talks with her over the past few weeks to remind her that we want males and at the most 4...maybe 5. She didn't listen...

Our neighbor's dog had her pups, too, about a week ago. Hammer (Ernesto thought she was a he when he named her!) is a labrador/boxer cross and Caleb has been wanting one of her pups since Hammer was a baby! Turns out that the daddy of all the pups, both Izzy's and Hammer's, is an adorable and lovable purebred black lab named Benito.

How do we know this? Because they all look the same!!! The mamas had almost the same number of pups and all the same colors.

Yesterday morning, Izzy (who had been resting under the couch -- where we were SURE she would have her pups) disappeared into the bushes for several hours. When she reappeared, she was much skinnier! The kids tracked down her little nest and we transferred the 4 puppies from the nest in the sand to the front patio. By 3 o'clock she had 7 puppies. Then we got word from Esteban that Ernesto's dog was in trouble.

Apparently, a few days ago Hammer was bitten by a rattlesnake. The anti-venin they gave her dried up her milk, and Ernesto is now hand-feeding all 8 puppies. Well, as I said, I'm a sucker for a puppy!

Since Izzy only had 7, and had room for 10 I told Esteban to bring over 3 of them and Izz would nurse them. Ernesto was overjoyed!!! Although the 8 he had were eating, God just didn't intend for puppies (or anyone else, really) to drink cow's milk (that's another soapbox!). They weren't doing too well. Izzy accepted them without batting an eye (she's actually not the brightest crayon in the box, but she's a lover!) and so now she had 10. Thirty minutes after they all finished eating and fell asleep, Izzy had another pup. Now she had 11. Oops.

Well, they are all still doing fine -- 6 males, 5 females. We moved them into the shop last night because we (I) was worried about the mosquitos harming the babies and now Izzy has a comfy bed encircled by bricks to (hopefully) keep the pups from wandering (how do they move so far without being able to walk???) and her own personal fan. The kids keep giving her bowls of water and scraps of food. She's well-cared-for! (Read that "spoiled".)

She's so easy-going!!! I'm such a sucker!!! But they're so CUTE!!!!!

Don't Drink the Water!

One of several reasons why we buy drinking water...Edgar.

Edgar climbs into our cistern at every opportunity. How do we know it's Edgar? Simple. He has the black mask. We should have named him Zorro, but he just looked like an Edgar. Not to be confused with Bob or Tim. They don't usually hang out in the cistern. They frequent our shower. (Although we did fish Bob out of the cistern yesterday. I guess Edgar was being a bad example!)
So, when they say, "Don't drink the water!" There's a reason!

Cannon Ball!!!

As many of you know, we've had some rather odd pets during our 2+ years in Mexico. In addition to the normal cats, dogs and rabbits, we've also had a boa constrictor and hamsters (not a very good combination, I must say), turtles, a horse, a pelican named Bill (only for a short time -- Man! They stink!!!), a wonderful North American Oyster Catcher (bird) named Sam, a 4 foot long iguana named Felicita and a 10 inch long iguana named Neo. The kids in Boca, realizing that we like animals, brought us a couple of additions last week. Check out Sarah's blog to read more about these little critters.

Today, the kids were playing in the pool when they were suddenly joined by another swimmer. Apparently, a fledgling barn swallow heard the splashing water and thought he'd get a little drink. He did a nosedive into the pool and couldn't figure out how to get out. Andrew rescued the poor, bedragled thing and brought him in to me. I dried him a little and then put him into a tree to finish "fluffing". That didn't last long, because the dog noticed the little guy and tried to "play" with him. Again, Andrew rescued him, and we put him in a basket in the house to finish drying.

Later, Andrew took him behind the house (away from the cats and dogs) to set him free. Little Guy took off for the trees, swooped around in a big arc and...plowed back into the pool. OK. Back to the basket.

Hours pass. The bird is dry. The sun is setting and all the other swallows are coming out for their nightly feast of mosquitos. So we take our little Dodo bird out behind the house -- away from the pool -- to set him free...again.

Unfortunately, we hadn't put the cover on the pool yet. He didn't even swerve, but took a bee-line directly to the pool!!! Splash!!!

So, he's in the basket. In the morning, we'll try again. This time, the pool will be covered!!! Just what we need -- another neurotic, eccentric pet.

UPDATE: (Thursday, June 19, 2008) Well, Little Swallow rested well through the night and apparently out-grew his unhealthy fixation with swimming pools. When Seth took him outside yesterday morning, Swallow shook his tail feathers and flew, well, like a bird. Kind of sad to see him go...I feel like we shared some good times. ;^)

Kitchen Supervisor

Lately I've had a little help preparing meals. It really doesn't bother me, except when I'm working with things like tomato, onion or papaya. Those foods just smell too good to my little observer and he has to come down and beg scraps...and if I'm not looking, he snags pieces!!! Can you see him? Look at the curtain.



Can you see him now? Meet Neo. He's Seth's iguana. Can't wait till he's 3 feet long! Something tells me he won't be hanging out on my curtain then!!!

(practically) Wordless Wednesday

Ya think it's time to clean out my closet?

Seriously, this guy was NOT there this morning, and when I went to hang up my shirt, there he was...but he is no longer.

New Babies at Our House

Our mama kitty obliged us with four beautiful babies on Monday. Everybody say, "AWWWW!"

More Mexican Wildlife Stories

One of my favorite animals here in Mexico is the pelican. I used to stand on our balcony (in the house we rented last year) and watch the birds soar in formation 30 feet above the ocean's surface and then suddenly plummet to the water in search of food. Sometimes as many as 30 of these creatures would fly by in an evenly spaced line -- spectacular!

Unfortunately, not everyone here appreciates these powerful, fish-loving birds as much as I do. To the local fishermen, they are in the same category as rats and stray dogs. Several times during the year, we find wounded or dead pelicans on the beach. Most of the time the best thing we can do is end things mercifully.

We actually tried to help a pelican with a broken wing last summer. The kids affectionately named him Bill, and we did what we could. I did learn several things in the pursuit of medical attention for Bill. First of all, if you have a broken wing (or more likely, a broken arm, leg or finger) and you are seeking first aid, you need to go get an x-ray. Neither the urgent care clinic nor the veterinary office has this equipment. I know now where the rayos-x laboratory is. A good thing to know with our crew, I think! Secondly, I learned that there are organizations in the States who are willing to pour thousands of dollars into the "Save the Pelican" cause. I was willing to transport Bill to the vet, give him antibiotics, set and bind the bone, and hunt fish for him, but when the majority of children in our area survive on less than $5 per day for food and necessities, I couldn't bring myself to allow an organization -- even a really neat, honest organization with lots of money -- to dump 5 grand into air lifting a brown pelican from Los Mochis to Florida for specialized medical care. I guess I'm just not that much of a bleeding heart afterall. I got him comfortable, treated the infection and sent him on his merry way. I heard later that he had ended up at Esteban's mom's house begging fish and then adopted a restaurant down the beach and hung out there for scraps. Quite the oppotunist!

But, as I said, I'm willing to do what I can. Not all the injured pelicans we find on the beach are mortally wounded and not all are cause by mean people. A couple of weeks ago, Sarah and I were walking on the beach when we found two pelicans in distress. Apparently they had been fighting and the younger of the two had most definitely lost the battle. (Graphic description follows -- PG13) The young brown's neck was obviously broken and he was very dead. The older, white-headed pelican was, however, very much alive. The problem was that the young, dead pelican's long neck was hopelessly entangled in the live pelican's beak pouch. There was no way that the live pelican would survive long with a dead pelican attached to him. Already, the stray dogs had begun to circle. He looked a little perplexed, to say the least. My experience with pelicans has been that they are a bit surly. Sarah says I'm not being fair, because every one I've dealt with has been injured in one way or another, so of course they would be grumpy. All I know is that their beak packs a powerful WHOMP. And they have quite a reach! So, my mission was to disentangle a dead pelican from the live pelican without causing further damage to his already torn pouch (or to myself!) in the process. Shortening a long story: I went to the hotel (near where we were) and borrowed a machete. Then I threw my jacket over the live pelican and had Sarah hold him down while I removed the dead bird's head -- necessary, believe me.

I wish I had another photo of him untangled, he was definitely a beautiful fellow! But he took off the instant he was free.

Not even a nod and a thank you! What cheek! :^)

Just Another Wednesday...or NOT!

So -- I'm sitting at the kitchen table sorting through photos on my laptop. Lunch is over, the kids are out and about, Doug and Esteban have gone to Guasave to get some building supplies; overall, the house is calm and peaceful. It never lasts long.

I heard a "pop" sound. My first thought was, "Hm. That air rifle is as loud as a 22." My second was, "Who asked permission to use the air rifles?" Just as my brain formulated that brilliant question, there was a second "crack", because it really was a CRACK rather than a POP. We moms of boys can tell the difference, eh? The second pop/crack got me out of my seat so that I could look out the front window. What I saw headed me out the front door.

The police were parked in front of the house and there was a huddle of guys (including some red-headed boys) all around a big brush pile across the street. As soon as I saw Caleb with his air rifle and the policeman with his 22 handgun, I knew what was up. It's something we keep our eyes open for, since we live where we live. We have snakes. We have really big snakes. Some of those snakes are poisonous, but even the non-poisonous ones are hunted down and killed when they pass 4 or 5 feet long. I trotted over to the brush pile (of course, my camera batteries were charging, bummer) to see what was up. Sure enough, they had cornered the second largest rattlesnake I've ever seen.

Apparantly the officers were doing their normal drive-by when they saw a big snake slithering across the road in front of our house. He tried to swerve to hit it, but it got away and headed for the bushes. The guys jumped from their truck and shot twice with their 22s. (That was the CRACK I heard!) Then Caleb had come running with his air rifle and pegged it. Finally, Ramon reached in and whacked its head with Andrew's machete. Definitely a group effort, but Caleb was really excited about the prospect of a rattlesnake hide to tan.

Turns out, rattlesnakes are extremely easy to skin. I even prefer them to fish -- once we took the head off. Sorry, I know that once they're dead, they're dead, but the suckers move for ages even with the head OFF. I just couldn't handle it with the head still on. (Side note: there is a slight danger from a dead rattlesnake. The mouth holds some venom, so it really is better to behead it.) So, Caleb cut off the rattle and the head, I skinned the snake and then I was left holding the...snake. Pretty gross, but in all honesty I expected it to be...um, grosser (is that a word? It is now.)

A couple of the boys wanted to cook it up for supper. I actually decided that I didn't want to deal with it, so I chucked it into the brush. Wouldn't you know, it got caught, so we had a dead, skinless-headless-tailless rattler hanging from the top of a brushpile right beside the house. No way that was going to fly. The boys said that they would reclaim the critter from the tree, so I headed in to check the internet to see what I should do with the leftover snake. [Editor's note: After reading this to the crew, Jessee corrected me. They did not offer to reclaim the snake from the tree. They were told to. We must be precise, eh?] I found a couple of great sites. "Everything you wanted to know about...the Western Diamondback but Were Afraid to Ask" -- very helpful site which I figure I'll be visiting often, our family being what it is! I think I'll have to keep it off-limits from the boys, though, because it has information about hunting and capturing rattlesnakes. I'm not sure I want them to have that much information at this time. What is that saying? "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing"? 'Nuff said.

By the time I had gleaned what I needed from the net, the boys had pulled Snakey down from the treetops. I was now prepared to clean and freeze him. Once again, I was surprised at how easily the cleaning went. I had to hose him off well to get the sand off of him (that's what I get for tossing it up in the tree -- what goes up, must come down, you know.

Meanwhile, Caleb was trying his hand at scraping the snake hide. (I found the instructions at "Brazos River Rattlesnake Ranch") After about half an hour, he had completed about 6 inches. Slow going. I gave my "anything worth doing..." speech, but Caleb has heard it a few times. His concern was that his friend Mike was over, and they wanted to play Mech Warriors. So, we have a green snake skin in the freezer; right next to a plastic container labeled "Rattle snake". Now that's something I've never had in my freezer!

Doug just messaged over saying that they were on the way home. I asked him to pick up a couple of kilos of carne asada. It would be the equivalent of ordering out for pizza -- but significantly cheaper -- after a rather tough day on the homefront. The only meat I have in the freezer right now is rattlesnake. I can kill one, skin one, clean one and freeze one, but I don't think I can eat one today!