Nana came to visit a few weeks ago, bringing tutus and fairy wings and lots and lots of chocolate.

We went to visit friends who live deep in the jungle, where a family of howler monkeys came to observe us as the babies splashed in the jungle stream.

Mom was convinced the monkeys would pee on her head, but she escaped unscathed.  Our friends say they are fascinated by children, and come to watch every time the kids swim.

On the farm, it's baby goat time.

In one of the crazier things that has ever happened in our goat experience, we discovered a brand new baby goat deep in an ant nest tunnel.  The mama goat delivered a set of twins on a leaf cutter ant nest, which is a nice clear sandy mound and must have seemed like a good choice.... until one of the babies fell into a hole.

Fortunately we found him quickly, but we had a crazy time getting him out.  The tunnels can go 10-15 feet down, and the little guy was stuck in a bend about a foot from the surface.  The good news was that part of the nest was abandoned by the ants, so they didn't swarm and kill him.  The bad news was other unsavory things like to move into abandoned nests.  This fact didn't occur to me until I had both arms past the elbows squeezed in the tunnel trying to basically deliver a baby goat out a small dirt hole, and Daniel warned me not to put my hands all the way under the goat.  That was the point when I really got motivated.  It was a tight squeeze getting him out, but we managed with only a few scrapes and he is just fine.

His twin sister is 1/3 his size, and the tiniest baby goat we have ever had.

Which makes her the perfect size for the girls to play with.  And by play I mean practice being "gentle" while repeatedly pointing out "EARS!!!"  A baby goat with long ears is very exciting when you have just discovered ears.

Finally, Lu's teeth have started to come in... but only the canines on the top, not the front teeth.

We love her adorable baby vampire look :)

River Walk

Saturday afternoon we took a walk down to the river.  One of the workers on the farm has built a fish trap, which is a complete work of art.  The concept is that when the river level rises- as it does frequently during the rainy season- the fish are forced into the chute of the trap.  The worker has been catching fish with it for months now.  The entire thing is build without a single nail or screw.

One of the nearby resorts got permission to build a large deck near the river beach.  They bring guests for fancy picnics.  The babies love it for running around; it has a more square footage then our entire downstairs and nothing to bang into or trip over.  Perfection.

life in pictures

1. Lu got baptized.  Father John allowed us to have it during teacher's mass (every week all the Mount Carmel teachers go to Mass on Thursdays after school) and it was just perfect.  Such a wonderful community celebration.  And after, we had Dona Betty make her famous pizzas, and everyone feasted on pizza and homemade fresh ice cream and cupcakes.  Welcome little Lu!

2. RASPBERRIES.  They are not something you find in Belize anywhere.  Last year we were surprised to find a Mennonite nursery selling a tropical variety, and got a couple of bushes.  This seems to be the time of year for berries.  I'm only getting a handful at a time, but I'm freezing them so maybe in a year or two I'll have enough to make some jam :)

3.  Miss M has a problem with that other baby getting a bottle when she does not.  She is also fascinated by Lu's eyelashes, which has resulted in several unfortunate eye-poking encounters.  

4. Don't worry, Lu's fine. Those eyelashes are pretty tempting though.

5.  Morning view, with guinea hen

6. This is some kind of toucannette (Daniel told me but I am horrible with bird names). This pair apparently loves papaya, and spent several mornings devouring the fruit which was conveniently located just a few feet from my window.  They are just glorious to watch.  

7. Bonus toucan shot.  Isn't he a gorgeous fellow?

linking up with Jen for 7 quick takes today.

we interrupt this blog silence for a public service message: Snakes can climb stairs

Yesterday morning I was in the middle of the usual late-for-mass scramble when my husband came up to me holding a plastic bag.

him: how long has this been on the stairway?
[we have a tiny house, but a large landing on our stairs, so sometimes things without a place linger there]
me: I don't know, a while?
him: but how long exactly?
me: (thinking this is a bad time to be picking on my housekeeping skills) Maybe a month?  Why?
him: cause there was a snakeskin on it.
me: *zzzzzrghSPLAT* (the sound of MY BRAIN EXPLODING IN HORROR)

A bit more deduction established that the stairway had been recently cleaned, and it was very unlikely that a snakeskin had been hanging out, unnoticed, on the stairway.  Which meant that a snake had recently moved in and was somewhere in the house.

Then we had to leave for mass.  (We made it before the second reading this week! Yay!)

On our way home we discussed the strategy for the great snake hunt of 2013, which would involve coordinating baby removal with furniture displacement, etc.   My husband ran upstairs to change, and after a minute I heard a funny "urp" sound and then-- "FOUND IT!"  The snake was hanging out by my husband's dresser.

"Great!" I shouted, "need any help?" and by this time I had grabbed one baby under each arm and was already outside and halfway to the car.  It's the thought that counts.

Fortunately my husband keeps a machete close to hand (this is the tropics) and a few loud whacks later had dispensed the snake.  It was a common grass variety, about 2 feet long, and non poisonous we are pretty sure (because I can't even look at pictures of snakes, so I've never been able to look it up and confirm that).

But here is the really disturbing part.  We don't know how the snake got into the house, but let's say it took the easy way and came in one of the doors.  It then had to climb up 5 open-tread stairs to the landing, and 6 more stairs to our upstairs.  This means that NO WHERE is safe from snakes.

I shall now move to Ireland.

Easter fun

So.  I sewed my Easter dress this year.  I was super proud of myself, and I think the dress is lovely in real life... but it just doesn't photograph well.  Mom wants to see pictures though, so here it is.  You will have adjust the picture in your mind.  The skirt is a flowy, shimmery coral-color silk (the camera can't handle that color for some reason and it just looks red), and the top looks much nicer when I'm not awkwardly posing.  Also there was a finger print on the lens that I didn't notice all day.  Behold:

Also for your enjoyment, I present a rooster photo-bomb:

I have a series of about 20 pictures where I am figuring out how to use my camera remote, and he is in every one of them.

While I was vainly photographing myself, the babes slaved away as official gate man:

The number one reason why I want children is so they can take over my job as farm gate opener and closer.  He is showing remarkable aptitude in this area, thank goodness, else we'd have to send him back :)

Linking up with Grace for the Easter outfit party....

Have a lovely Easter week!

farm definitions

1.  Play group

2. All-terrain stroller

3.  Field trip

a chicken story

So here is the situation.  My husband loves chickens, and I do not (this has been well documented here).  Somehow he brings home "just a couple" of chickens, and before I know it there are 30 chickens running around the yard.  Our rabbits don't even multiply this fast.

Our latest bunch of chicks are a few months old, and every day Daniel runs out of time before leaving for work, and asks me to feed them.  So at various times during the day, I open the door and throw out rice or bread scraps or whatever is on hand.  Rather predictably, I have conditioned these chickens to come running at the sound of an opening door.  Sadly, these chickens also think it is their right to walk in the house-- perhaps to browse the pantry?

Add to this equation one active toddler who loves opening doors and chasing things.  We can see where this is going....

Yesterday I was occupied with something, when the screen door popped open and a flood of chickens raced in, followed by the babes, who was chasing them using a belt as a whip and yelling "SHHH, SHHH!"  (a noise they use here to herd animals).  This was followed by 20 minutes of me racing around the kitchen, trying to catch scattered running chickens (before they left me any 'presents' on the floor), while being 'helped' by a belt-wielding toddler.   Fun times here on the farm.

And that basically sums up why I have not been blogging as frequently :)

december is done... and we're still here

Well sadly for all those who attended the fancy (and super expensive) end of the world party at the Mayan ruin of Caracol, nothing exciting happened.  The Mayan community sent an editorial into the paper saying that even though the world didn't end, people still should seek to learn from the ancient wisdom of the Mayans.  Hopefully this does not include how to DIY jade tooth inlays... blech.

Meanwhile, we have been mostly doing not much here.  I made 75 chocolate truffles for christmas presents, and baked the world's tastiest ham (orange juice, honey and cloves, sooo good), but the sum total of our decorations was the felt Christmas tree my mom guilted me into completing while she was visiting.  It turned out nice, but had to be kept well out of the grabby reach of the babes.

Daniel is off for Christmas break, and we've been taking some walks, teaching the babes how to herd various animals.  My work will be done when we've taught him how to open and close gates.  Then I can retire from farm work.

In random news, we are baby-sitting my brother-in-law's agouti.  Here is the  not very informative wikipedia link if you don't know what one is. Basically it's a nocturnal rodent, about the size of a cat, and people like to eat them.  Also, it has a very scary growl and teeth, which is why the picture is blurry.

And finally, a few weeks ago the end of the rainbow was in my back yard.  Still haven't found that pot of gold....

odds and ends

1.  For all those wishing to avoid the electronic babysitter (or, as in my case, about to claw their eyes out if one more second of Dora echoes through the house) may I suggest chickens?  This is our routine:  scatter some rice for the chickens, close screen door, plop baby in front of screen door.  Guaranteed 10-20 minutes of baby entertainment.

2. This is not only a huge tarantula in my bathroom, it is evidence that I am not the same person I was four years ago.  When I yelled to Daniel that there was a tarantula as big as a baby's head in the bathroom, he said, "Well chase it out."  And I did. By myself, with a broom and no shrieking.  Who am I?

3.  And here we have much cuteness.  The babes was supervising Daniel in watering our corn.  We're quite sure he will grow up to be a farmer.

spirals

Rainy season: lots of flowers/ ants in the house. It's a trade off.

making hay while the sun shines

Farming, man.  It's stressful.
This year we decided for the first time to cut and bale hay.  The thing with this process is the hay needs to be cut, allowed to dry on the ground for a few days, and then baled.  And the thing with living in the tropics, and this being the rainy, hurricane season, is that it rarely goes for more than a few days without raining.

This is the day we cut the grass-- notice, the nice, sunny blue skies.

Adding to the stress is that the farm does not own baling or mowing equipment, so we had to hire them... and Belizeans as a whole are quite relaxed about getting places on time. We spend a lot of time on the phone begging the operators to come RIGHT NOW because clouds were gathering on the horizon, and oh by the way a HURRICANE is supposed to hit tomorrow.  

And here is the baling, under grey skies....

After much worry and prayers to St Isadore (patron saint of farmers) we got all our hay baled and moved under shelter.  The weather held-- it didn't rain for three whole days-- and lucky for us the hurricane decided to go north.  Overall,  I now have much more respect for farmers who do this all the time.

oh hello

We got a new puppy.  His name is Corozal.

Corozal has very expressive eyebrows.

He is quite the interactive eater.  Multiple body parts must be in contact with the puppy chow during dinner.

Corozal is a 6 week old mastiff mix... which means he will be this size for approximately another 2 seconds before he becomes a 100 pound slobbery pile of muscle.  So we are fitting in as many naps on my lap as we can.   Anyone have any puppy training tips or can recommend some good books?

Evening walk