Collin in Tabacco Caye

How our week goes

Many have asked how our schedule is.
Monday and Tuesday we study, shop for groceries, go to immigration ( if needed) or schedue a trip somewhere.
Wednesday is door to door service in the morning and bible studies in the afternoon. We also have a Wednesday meeting.
Thursday is a long service day, Friday is a cycling day to the next village then to the Maya village in the afternoon.
Saturday is service local in Hopkins. Sunday service in the morning and then to the Meeting.

Sundays

Sundays at our house is a busy day. Since most of the group are new studies and single parents they need assistance with the many children that they have. Our family has 5 kids who are 9 years and older come to our house to do the WT. Before we did this the meetings were a little distracting. Halfway through the meeting the kids would get antsy and start talking. Mind you that we have probably 20 kids there.

Todd thought it would be good if we could get them all to participate. It worked!! Most of the WT is now answered by them. smile...

We study from 11 to 12:30 then they swim in the sea for a half hour, come in and eat, get dressed and off we go. Often times we had such a good day that they come back after the meeting to swim again.

Just to share a good experience. We visit a Mayan Vilage not far from Hopkins there I am blessed with calling on 6 different people. One named Adriana is about 60 years old. She has 14 children who most live with her. Her house is concrete with hammocks hung. The kitchen is the old fashioned hearth- she is fortunate to have her hearth in the house with a higher ceiling to let smoke out. Her husband is very involved with the Baptist church--BUT the Baptist have to share a preacher and service is not regular. Her husband agreed to let her study with us so that a regular bible study would happen.
The Mayan have strong faith. Are desperately concerned with current events and their meaning as well as where are the dead. Adriana speaks Mopan and cannot read english. She listens and asks questions. Her youngest daughter vanessa would come home from school and ask if her mom had her study. IF she did she would say " why can't she wait until I get home". She now has her own study. Adrianna, Vanessa and many grandchildren came to the memorial.
Yesterday when I went to the study she gave me a Mayan blouse. She wants a bible in Mopan or Cetchi? (not sure how it is spelled) She is just understanding what Gods kingdom is and a little confused how heaven fits in to what she already believed. Her older children come and ask questions often so the study is slow but very regular. Often I go twice a week.
Then there is Mellie. A 17 yr old with two children. Her family is Garifuna and strongly believes in Ancestor Worship. She however, not so sure. She does believe that if you dont go along with it the spirits harm you. She has had an Aunt killed by the spirits and her grandmother got very ill because she did not do what was expected of her.
She would often come by our house or call to me on the street. Of course, what do we do when that happens?-- she is now a very regular study. She wasnt sure if she believed the bible. She thought it was man's book. That has changed. Once she started studing regular the demons harrassed her for several days. She had a mans voice calling to her in her head until she got severe headaches and saw visions. I saw her cry three days straight. We went over the brochure Dead Spirits Can the Harm or Help us. She started attending some meetings. She hasnt come into the building yet. She doesnt want to be seen(very typical in Garifuna culture) Our building is an open aired thatched roof. She hides in the shadows. She came to Memorial and the demons have left her for now. She is also reading her Bible Teach to her uncle. Love this study

housing in Belize

Housing here is varied. We first lived in a Wood house on stilts--the draw back is that the village looses water at least twice a months for several days. Houses on stilts without a pump are first to have no water. The Wood houses have tin roofs and simple board walls. No interior extra paneling to make it nice Just the boards from outside. No glass in the windows-- just slats of wood that open and close.

We are now in a concrete house... nice painted walls and no tin on the roof---But we have scorpions. They like the damp concrete.... ugh! Our house is right on the sea and the view is increditable! I get up every morning at 5:30 and watch the sun rise over the Caribean Sea. I love the mornings.

We ride our bikes everywhere--our main mode of transportation. We all feel good physically from the extra exercise. Belizeans are all slim and healthy. They live a very simple life and love people.

Spear fishing

It has been three months in Belize and we are still having a great time. Clancy and Collin have spearguns and are learning to catch our food..... Some o

f the locals thought it funny to convince Clancy to catch the fish on the left. No meat on it at all!! But it was beautiful. Sad we killed it.... He had to free dive 35 FT down to the reef to get it. A big test to his lungs. He is a strong swimmer. We try to snorkle once a week so that the boys get some recreation.

Belize trip

Well, it is finally happening. We are going to Belize... Yahoo.... It has taken several months to collect funds and make the contacts needed to have a safe and rewarding trip.

We fly from Pittsburg to Houston then to Belize City. Once in Belize City we have 45 mins to get through customs and on the next flight. We are told that this is not a nice place to be as a foreigner. Petty crime is very high and not controlled by the police. The best adivce we got is dont be there long. We were given several phone numbers of local brothers if a problem should arise. We then get on a very small plane to Dangriga Town where a nice couple will pick us up for the 45 min ride to Hopkins. There we have reserved a private cabana on the beach to unwind.

This cabana is on stilts has one large room with a porch that over looks the carribean. Doesn't sound bad, HUH? We will be there for three days, after that we have to move to a house on the beach--- darn?! ; ) then we will have a kitchen to cook. Apparently the only time this place is busy is the middle of January! Divers come to dive on the barrier reef and bird watchers come this time also. It is right after the hurricane season and all is very calm here. AND>>> it is cold and snowy in the States driving sun lobers to the south. SOOO, after 6 days of rental houses we were invited to house sit for a couple. Their house is AGAIN on the BEACH!! but now we will have internet. The best part is that we get all the bible studies this couple has for two weeks!! Field service is from their house-- nice since we will have to travel on bicycles. They told us we will have a true Belizean experience-- one to remember

I truely hope that Clancy and Collin see another side to life. A simple one. One that can lead them to serve Jehovah and feel the peace and freeness that whole souled service can give. The blessings are sure to be piled high and we will all feel refreshed when we return.

this and that

It has been awhile! My chickens are up to 18 eggs a day and I have ordered 50 more. I hope to sell the eggs! I learned that if I have $1000 of farm income/expenses then I get a 60% discount on my land tax. Since we have 185acres that will be a considerable discount.

I ordered a periwinkle bird! Three of them. Lots of others too, but those will be my favorites. My dogs, boston terriers, are now herding dogs. They find it quite amusing to keep them off the porch and in the proper areas.

We have now sold the camper. Our trip to Belize is coming together. The boys are excited and I am a little nervous about a foreign poor country. It should prove to be educational for all of us.

E I E I O and on this farm she had a....

Chicken--- My chickens are now laying eggs! We are up to 9 a day. Kinda neat! Collin wakes up early every morning to see how many we got. The other day he was putting them in his pockets so that he could ride the 4-wheeler back up the hill and they broke...smile

Dogs-- Chili is still my funniest dog. The other day he was left out of the crate when we left. He goes on mischievous travels when we do this. When we came home he had totally destroyed these table trinkets I had. While I was picking them up I had to laugh because when I looked at the end table he left me his bone. He must have been carrying his bone and traded.

Bunnies- Now that I am allergic to them we have two running free in the yard. That way I do not have to clean the cage nor get close to them--sort of... I get up really early, earlier than anyone in the family. I buy vanilla wafers from the dollar store and train the animals with them. The dogs hear the box and sit all around me now the bunnies come looking for me in the morning for a treat. It is very satisfying being needed for a cookie.

By the way did I tell you how proud I am of my boys?? Collin was in service with a 25yr old who was afraid to talk to some hunter guys at a camp. That boy trompped right up there and had a good ole boy conversation with them. The 25yr old was shocked. Clancy --- he is a real gentleman. I couldn't be prouder of my 15 yr old.

Campers

We got a really nice camper from someone who wanted out of thier payment. Needless to say they did not use it much and it is in perfect condition on the inside. They parked it up against the woods and the back side got black and streaky. I did not think that was a big deal and I could simply clean it off.

It is year two and I am still cleaning. The camper is 40 ft long and it takes forever to clean. Needless to say I started last year but didn't finish by waxing it so this year I have to start all over again. It doesn't sound like a big deal but 40ft of scrubbing black streaks is like cleaning the rims of your tires and scrubbing white walls. There is a lot of effort involved.

Then I finally got smart. I have two boys!! I didn't use them last year because Todd had them helping him build the house everyday. This year they really didn't want to but with much convincing it is getting done. In two hours my boys and their friend Justin washed and mostly waxed it so that they could go to a swimming party. WOW!! They were really sweaty--smile-- I bet they got big muscles too!

Farming

I found out Wednesday that I can cut my property taxes by 2/3 if I register as a Farm. This means that I have to have some kind of farming that had livestock or crops worth $1000 a year on it.

So, I asked lots of questions about what constitutes a farm. Now this is great, since I tried goats and invested $500 in them but only had them for four days I can qualify them for last year. We also stocked our fish pond for another $250 worth of fish. Which the heron ate. Then I got chickens!!! 20 of them I gave away and Rabbits, now we ate most of them ! chickens are worth $200-- it doesn't matter if I paid for them, it is their worth. The Rabbits, well they made themselves. So looky here!! I am a farm. The best part is that I sat with the assessor and told him all of this and he said it didn't matter as long as they ate and slept on my property for any time.

I like this stupid tax thing!

I am not so happy about my garden. Two years in a row I only have enough to get from the garden what I want to eat that day. Now that I am a real farmer ( hee hee) I have the in with other farmers and they are going to give me manure and all the suggestions to help. It is kinda nice.

Next year we are going to raise two beef cows. If anyone wants to pay for the butchering they are welcome to have beef. One half for me and three halves to share. One half of a beef will feed a family of 4 for a year. That is if you eat other kinds of meat as well. This way instead of paying the tax man I am going to feed my family with the money.

Good news about my lungs

I went to the Lung specialist. I apparently have a calcified lymph and left center lung. Not a biggie since I have 98 percent oxygen when I breathe. All it ment was that at some point in my life I had a huge assult to my lungs and my Lymph gland saved my life and petered out. It could decide to change at some point but for now it is very dormant. This is the kind of stuff that your body sometimes gets tired of having around. Mine is very fine with it right now. YEA!

I imagine it was when I was 15 and worked at the dog kennel. ( I should have never scooped poop hee hee hee)

This year has been exceptionally wet and that is a horrible thing for people with allergies. Hence my awful attack. So-- in order to prevent any further assults on my poor body I now take wonderful drugs to ward off extra mucus and these attacks of sensitivity to everything under the sun. If I am good and remember that I NEED to be drugged every day in order to stay somewhat healthy I should breathe easily. It was no fun choking everyday.

need of new system

I had allergies that would not clear up in May. Coughed until July and found out that I had broncitius. Not a big deal in itself, however since it was so bad they took a chest xray and found that I have had too many assults to my lungs. I have developed calcuim deposits in my left lung.

Allergies are funny. One year I might have a runny nose then the next I get hives or something bigger like chronic broncitius. This year I have developed an asthma like scare. It feels like I am choking and need to dry cough. I called the American Lung Assoc. they confirmed that in later years those with not so good allergies can develope asthma like symptoms. I seem to exasperate my system with cleaning chemicals. That sounds not so bad until you realize that chemicals are everywhere. We went to look at a new truck. The NEW Truck smell made me not breath so easy. Washing clothes the soap bothered me. urghhh.

All and all I have a appointment with the pulmonary specialist to see how damaged my lungs are and to try to get a handle on this new development. Hopefully they will give me a magic shot and make it all go away. smile....

Lookin forward to the new system when aliments are not a worry.

Oil

The term "Free" sometimes comes with a price. We have "free" natural gas for our use on our property however we are now experiencing our second oil spill. Two years ago we had a devasting 90 barrels go down our hollow. This time it is only one barrel, however that is still 55 gallons.

Money and greed tend to make people less responsible. It is a good thing that my house is up on a knob and my well away from any stream. The gas/oil lines are starting to deteriorate and developing pin holes. It is not like in MD where a whole area would be evacuated for saftey. Here the gas and oil just continues to spill until someone says something. Usually it can go on for weeks before it is noticed. There is the EPA but, if you notifiy them your local well tender will develop an attitude and make your life almost unbearable. It is in everyones best interest to work with them on a clean up first.

Our last three days have been watching them sop up oil with these rags that look like floor tiles. My creek looks like a nicely laid white floor with fluffy pillows every so often. We are much more agressive this time since last time they took too many short cuts and left us with a continual mess. These "tiles" do not absorb water, only oil. Once full they squeeze them out into a bucket and relay them down. Most of the oil in the water will come up it is the oil that seeps into the soil that causes a problem. The soil over time will slowly release the oil causing the mess. We are going to push for them to clean the soil around our pond. I do not think they will be very happy.

It is amazing what people will do when not monitored by someone in authority. Out here we are so rural that it is impossible to know all of the devasting things that can take place and simply not enough money to monitor. It is a shame. I long for the time when people will simply look for the best interest of his fellow man and not money.

Bunnies

Ok, I've heard of survival of the fitest but never seen it in action. Yesterday my girl bunny that is due any day was ripping the hair out of her sisters for a bed. Smart girl, she didn't use her own. I needed to separate them but my boy bunnies are in the other cages.

Clancy got the job of killing the boys and packing them for the freezer. He put them down on the ground and our buck "Honda" the breader man, came and started biting the poor guy. Next thing we noticed is that he castrated him!!! URGHHH It was a good thing he didnt have to endure long. Isn't that awful?? It is a shame that Honda is so nice?? I don't want to eat him because he is a great stud.


On another note.....

Collin is quite the inventor. He took remote control cars and pulled the engines. He went to radio shack and bought switches and wire and junk. We did not encourage nor help him in this project, except for the ride to the store. He has now made with popcicle sticks and glue a remote controlled boat. It can go all over the pond. Smart little guy.!!

CHILI-- He is so funny. He likes to fish with Clancy. The other day Clancy said that he wanted a fish so bad he swam out 6 feet from shore and dove down in the water to try to catch a fish. Boston Terriers are not known for water play. I was just looking at him in the crate. He collects dishes. He has the birds bowl, cat bowl and an ice cream tub that I gave to pete last night beside him as he sleeps

Rabbits and Chickens OH MY!!

A sister called us one afternoon, mind you that I ignored her call untill the next day, to let us know that her neighbor ran over a nest of rabbits and needed someone to care for them. Wild ones at that. Since Collin talks about his rabbits at the hall we were the choice that came to mind to care for them.

Collin fed them every two hours on our Mama bunny however she didn't have enough milk for them and her babies. Needless to say 4 of the 6 babies died. I got milk replacer and had to nurse the two remaining babies back to life every hour for two days. That ment all night long we got up and fed them one teaspoon of milk that took 20 mins to do. They got up to a tablespoon by day three. Now we are at 8 days and they are fat plump bunnies. The wild side is showing so they must be feeling good.

CHICKENS____ I ordered 27 mail order chicks. I really went overboard and ordered a bunch with the intent to give a few away. The morning came and I picked them up from the post office and quickly got them home into the brooding box. Very proudly I gave them food and water. I didn't count them because 27 was going to look like a lot. That evening a Brother came by and told me that I had over 50!! Aparently I got someone elses order. NOW WHAT!! My homesteader/ organic eggs are now overwhelming .

I have bunnies out the wazoo and chicks ---oh my--- if 40 of them lay eggs that is 40 a day times 7 oh myyyyyyy gooodddnesss what am I to do??

I went to mtg and a brother is going to take 10 of them. I still have way too many.

Garden

Todd moved our garden yesterday. We found out why it didn't flourish last year. We had a black walnut tree over one end of it. Nothing grows in the soil that the nuts drop in very well. Too much acid.

Now it is on top of the hill where I can get to it easy. Todd cut down 5 really big trees so that the sun will shine nicely. He even put up the electric fence to keep out deer. Terry and Lois brought us compost to help our soil out. We seem to have clay and not much topsoil where the sun shines. There is plenty of topsoil in the hard to reach areas in the shade.

I am planting ( I hope it isn't too late because it was supposed to be planted in April) lettuce, broccoli, potatoes, red onions, carrots, snap peas, bush beans, cucumbers, yellow and green squash, lots of tomatoes, maybe corn..

We also planted some large shrubs that a sister got for us from a remodel. They are 6 yr old ones. NICE!!

We are starting to look like a home and not a construction site.

Seneca rocks

We went to Seneca Rocks this past weekend. It is so beautiful there. The boys climbed the rock as far as you could without climbing gear. The water was very high at the bottom and made pretty pictures. Chili went too. He has no fear at all. Even crossed the creek up to his neck in water.