January 2010

The Little House in the Jungle had kids for Christmas! The younger one didn't seem very enthusiastic, except for a fascination with the tree ornaments, but the other two were really getting into the season. Not positive about their parents, who for reasons of their own, kept saying, "We want to sit and talk with Bob & Judy now. Play with your toys." I sort of got the impression this was a young couple almost starved for adult conversation. I remember those days all too well though where we lived, there were adults who spoke our language all around us. I don't like to think how it would have been in a foreign country, where we didn't speak the language very well and... Wait a minute! That's where we were. Yes, now I remember. Germany! At any rate we were happy to have Arp and Teisha and their family with us for Christmas dinner. And by the way, take note of the freshly painted wall, no longer a pukey yellow, but a nice soft green with bright green trim. Both bathrooms got the treatment, too. The smaller one is the same green as the patio wall, the other one is a lovely shade of blue.

And speaking of kids, we had a big fight yesterday. No, not the two of us, but about six baby howler monkeys, screeching, yelling, stamping feet, pulling hair and cussing each other out. Not sure what the battle was over, I mean, they only eat leaves for heaven's sake, and the tree had lots of those, so it wasn't as if they were fighting over candy, but there sure was some kind of, er, leaf of contention. It must have gone on for about ten minutes when suddenly the great, roaring bellow of an adult cut through the racket, or at least drowned it out, and when its echoes faded, there wasn't so much as a squeak or a puppy whimper from those babies. Either the adult scared them to death, or made them take it elsewhere, but believe me, that big grownup monkey was not using his or her indoor voice. Probably wanted the babies to take a nap as the adults do in the heat of the afternoon.

Christmas Eve, we went to the beach because it was really, really hot on our patio. There, we found that the beach had lost a good ten feet in width and maybe three or four in depth. Where we used to just stroll from the picnic tables to the water's edge, we now have to scramble down a sheer, sandy bank.
There are a number of coconut palms uprooted and and more ready to let loose in the next big wind. The erosion is terrible and while the parks people are trying to stop it by planting new palms, I'm afraid they're fighting a losing battle. I fought one, too, with a newly bared coral reef. The loss of the sand put it much closer to the surface, and as I swam out toward the breakers,
I smashed the top of my left foot right onto it. Ouch! Lesson learned--keep feet off coral. Luckily, I'd brought some potassium permanganate with me, which Dad used to use for cuts and gouges from fishing gear, fish spines, and fish teeth, I imagine. The stuff looks really pretty when mixed with water--bright purple. But I soaked my foot in it and turned brown. It sure is good medicine, though. The stinging went away almost at once, and I'm now pretty much healed

In October, shortly after we returned, I planted a row of Kentucky Wonder beans in our hard, clay-like soil, and watched in anxiety for results. Wow, did we get results! Within only a few days, the seeds had sprouted. To keep curious birds from pulling them up, I covered them with palm fronds. Soon, they poked their little heads and new leaves out through the shelter, so I jammed in some bamboo poles for them to climb. And climb they did. Up and up and up. Then came the flowers. I was thrilled. Today, I went out and harvested my crop. Here it is on the left.

Year before last, my sister Joyce and her husband Bob visited us and a housewarming gift, brought me one of the most valued items I own--a pulley clotheline so I can stand on the back porch and hang up laundry without having to try to avoid those evil little fire-ants who sting so viciously as to make a person dance and swear as loudly as baby monkeys.
I think the following might be connected. Joyce collects frogs--big frogs, little frogs, frogs reading books, frogs in water, frogs out of water. But this one, I dedicate to her. The clothesline frog, which I'm pretty sure she doesn't have. Here it is, all hung up to dry.
And a few minutes later, disgusted (as you can tell by its expression) by camera flashing repeatedly, it managed to get itself upright and into position to jump.