Days 19-21 Monsters, Barbed Wire, Fish On!, Art

I can't believe that five days have past since I wrote in the diary portion of this blog. That is a sure sign that life is normalizing. I have some catching up to do.

Day 19
2-21-14

Kyle and I decided to have our coffee by the pool this morning. When we sat down on the lounge chairs we saw a big pile of poop right next to the pool. I said "Do you think that is monkey poop?" and Kyle says, "I don't know, I've never seen monkey poop." Then the gardner comes by and Kyle points to the poop and says "No es mi perro." (that is not my dog's). The gardener, who speaks only spanish, rattles off a big story to Kyle. I can only understand bits and pieces of what he is saying. This is what I hear...very mean, big eyes, eats crabs, climbs trees, lots of them, here by your house, every night, it has fingers, holds him down, pulls the arms off.

As you can guess, my imagination was going wild. I am sure my mouth was wide open and my eyes were like saucers. You would fall out of your seat laughing if I even tried to describe what I saw in my mind's eye while I listenend. So the gardener finishes his story and he and Kyle laugh and the gardener leaves. I say to Kyle, "OMG, what on earth is it?!" Kyle says, "a raccoon". That is exactly what I said, "a raccoon?" Kyle explained...

Raccoons eat crabs. Crabs don't just live at the beach, they live all over the area, and we have lots of them right here around our house. So every night, lots of raccoons come here to eat crabs. Since raccoons have "fingers" they work as a team to get the crabs. One raccoon holds the crab down, while the other racoon pulls the crab's "arms" off.

Ryan and Kyle hiked the trail to the estuary today and Tristan and Elly went with me on a long run. Tristan rode the bike and Elly trotted along beside us. We took the road this time because the tide was too high to run on the beach. There are a few tico houses as you are heading away from our community - they are really just tin shacks. Most have chickens and there is barbed wire fencing along the road in front of their houses. At one spot along the way there was a gap in the fence and Elly went in. I tell her to come because I didn't want her to scare the chickens. Of course she listens to me immediately, but instead of coming out through the gap in the fence she went in through, she came right through the fence. I felt so bad for her. The only spot I could find that was bleeding was on the top of her head :-(  I washed her off with the garden hose when we got home and put neosporin on her head. I think she will be afraid of barbed wire fences and chickens from now on.

Day 20
2-22-14

Saturday was a fishing day for Kyle, so the kids and I started our day by helping Kyle get his boat and all of his gear down to the launch area. It is quite a bit of work and the boat is heavy, but we did it. Afterwards the kids and I went to the beach and swam in the pool and hung out together until Kyle's return. We helped him bring in the boat and gear and his catch for the day...2 jacks, 1 tuna, 2 red snapper and a mackeral. He had a call from people wanting to buy his fish before he even got home. That evening we had tuna for dinner :-)

Here is Kyle's facebook post about his fishing day...

By Kyle
Yesterday got up for fishing and thanks to the help from my family, we carried boat etc. piece by piece to the water's edge and then put it together. I was in luck, it was high tide so it made it a little easier to get out through the waves at the break line. Well once you are out there, it's just you and the ocean. Imagine that you are looking over the foreground and the background at the same time. If you are looking into the background you are watching the big swells that are coming to make sure that none of them want to break or get you wrong and cause you trouble. You also might see a playful marlin jumping, a school of fish, a ray doing flips, or a whale that has come close in to play. The closer eye watches for fish that are breaking in and even right under your boat. You will also see countless flying fish jumping from one wave and pass 2-3 and then land in the next. Cool site if you have never seen them. Now besides keeping your eye on the road, you have to make sure that both poles that you are holding are ready for a fast and hard pull. How hard is this? Well, yesterday I was trolling along and my pole went from relaxed to straight and with as much tension as a guitar string in a couple of seconds. If you aren't ready for this, the pole could leave the boat, never to be seen again. So I hold
one pole with my legs and set the end in the rowing holder for the oars, in a sense I am sitting on the pole. The other pole I'm holding in my hands. What if they get something on at the same time you ask? Yesterday I was trolling over the rocks in the shallower water, so my lines were just behind the boat 10-15 feet. Just as I was passing over the rocks to the deep side, there was a splash of 30-50 fish jumping towards me, 6 foot off the back of the boat and both poles start peeling line. I maintained the one with my legs as I tried to reel the other one in. Wow what a rush, one fish went toward the beach and the other went to the sea. The one I was holding was big and it made a fast turn and my 50 lb test line broke. Not good because that is the one I'm holding. So I switch to the other in hopes that it would stay on the line. I was in luck and the fight was still there Landed me a nice tuna!

Day 21
2-23-14
Sunday - we all slept in this morning - even Kyle and I. I think it was 9:00 before we were all out of bed. We had a very lazy day - enjoyed the beach and the pool and visited with some neighbors. Kyle finished this drawing that he intends to use as a pattern for a stained glass project.