I Know, I Know – It’s Been FOREVER Since the Last Blog!!

If you haven’t ever written a blog, you don’t really have an appreciation for how much time it takes…and when you are already busy. Many times I’ve thought of doing an update, but when it came down to my choices: Blog or Eat, Blog or Sleep, Blog or Earn a Paycheck….well, you get the picture. But thanks to a few recent “prods” from a couple of my faithful readers asking “WHEN THE HELL ARE YOU GOING TO UPDATE THE DARN BLOG?”, I decided it was time. So here’s the Clif notes version of what’s happened to and around the Nixon’s in the last 3 plus months….fasten your seatbelt, we’ve been busy!!

Since most of you have been suffering through one of the more miserable winters in recent memory, I won’t spend a lot of time bemoaning on the fact that the sun doesn’t always shine in paradise either. We actually had our own “cold” snap (it’s relative, remember). We actually had about 3 weeks where the sun rarely showed its face and it rained more often than not.

This may not sound all that bad to you poor souls freezing your rears off, but it did have some down sides. Like the fact that we don’t have an electric dryer – we use solar. It’s a little tough to dry clothes when it’s raining 24x7! And we did have to actually break out the long sleeved shirts and long pants! I didn’t think it would happen to us, but we were actually cool enough to warrant putting on something besides shorts, a t-shirt and flip flops!!

And there is such thing as too much moisture – especially when it can’t soak into the ground fast enough and instead runs into your swimming pool and makes it a disgusting color of green…not that we were going to be swimming in the rain, but it does then require quite an effort to get the pool back to normal once the rain stops…just another hassle.

There were also some upsides to the cooler temps. It makes for great sleeping, we don’t have to run fans, and it’s actually pleasant to work out in the mornings, not killer hot. To keep things in perspective I keep repeating…we don’t have to shovel rain.

So let’s see…what else has been going on around here?

You’ve heard our stories about how the electricity isn’t terribly reliable, right? Well, up until November, we’ve had pretty good luck with our water supply. We haven’t had to pay for water and so when our cistern (that’s a water storage tank underground in our backyard for those of you who aren’t familiar with the term/concept) was down a bit once and a while, we never worried about it much. And being from Denver, we were used to conserving water anyway, so that habit was pretty well ingrained.

Unfortunately due to some design issues with the water lines coming into our subdivision, coupled with the fact that Corraplata (the water company) doesn’t turn the pressure up enough to push sufficient water through the system, a couple of our neighbors (Al and Glenda) at the end of the water line and on top of a hill weren’t getting water more often than not.

Long story short – they complained enough that the water company came out and dug a trench across the road to put in a different line to their house. Oh – and to make that work, they have to turn off the valve going to the rest of the houses to force the water to Al & Glenda’s house. Mind you, Al & Glenda have a 15,000 gallon cistern. Ours is maybe 2,000. So how long do you think it takes to fill theirs…all while ours and everyone else in the neighborhood are not getting any water? AND to top it off, for this “improved” service, Corraplata has required that each house now have a contract with them and PAY for water! Needless to say, this has caused a huge rift in the neighborhood. And we are making our presence known at Corraplata every time our cistern level gets down by more than about a foot…if we’re paying for water, we want water! The fun goes on and on…

We are happy to report that we FINALLY sold our electric stove. Needless to say, in a country not known for having a reliable electrical system, having an electric stove has been somewhat of a challenge. Selling an electric stove in the same country was another!
Ironically, the person who bought it was a Dominican guy. We truly figured we’d end up selling it to someone who either didn’t know or didn’t care about the cost and unreliability of the electricity here. This guy, Phillipe, was a riot. He told us that he was buying the stove for his wife and it was going to save his marriage. He then told us that he wasn’t worried about it being electric because he steals his power anyway! So we loaded the stove up and were very happy to see it go on its merry little way.

Guess what we did the next day? Yup – stove shopping! Have you ever noticed that when you don’t want/need to buy something but are just seeing what your options are, you can find lots of choices – but then when you actually need to buy it, they are all gone? Well, that’s what happened to us. We ended up going to 7 different places before we found one that we liked AND fit into our budget. We finally found one – in a store that I’m not sure we would normally have ventured into…but we were getting desperate. Turned out they had a stove we liked AND it was within our budget. Plus they gave us a 10% discount for paying cash and would deliver it the next day. We paid and headed home…hoping we hadn’t just been duped! Fortunately, they came did show up as promised.

Everything was coming together…we had a large propane tank so all we needed was the plumber to come over and hook up the gas line and we’d be in business. Steve called Peter, the plumber. Peter was happy to come take care of it – but couldn’t come until the following week. We weren’t thrilled about waiting that long, so we talked to our neighbor, Tony, who had done the piping at his house, and decided that the guys would tackle it the next day. I’m happy to report that the stove is up and running very nicely – and we no longer have to worry about not having a way to cook when the power is out – whoo hoo!!!

We also have a new house being built in the neighborhood. There were three empty lots between us and the next house. The two lots closest to us are owned by the same person. Fortunately they are building on the middle lot, but they are using the one next to us to store materials – including having built a casita to keep tools, etc. locked up. It’s also outfitted with a small area for a living space and a couple of guys who also work onsite sleep there to make sure the materials don’t take a walk.

We met the architect and he assured us that they would do everything they could to keep the noise levels down and not bother us. Since they don’t use power tools for much, it really hasn’t been bad and the workers have been good about keeping their voices down, especially first thing in the morning when they get here. We’re not thrilled about having all of that activity next to us, but there’s not much we can do about it either.


Check out this picture of them pouring the roof. They did use a cement mixer and a lift – then wheeled the concrete across the eaves of the house to the other side and dumped it out. Then they hand finished it. Amazing process to watch! Oh - and that is the architect/builder with the umbrella supervising!

The guys that stay in the casita, Antonio and Leonardis, are really nice. We let them charge their cell phones using an outdoor outlet on our house and they make sure the trash on the job site gets picked up (after I took them trash bags and asked nicely). A couple of times when we’ve been doing yard work on a Sunday, Antonio has cleaned up weeds on the opposite side of our fence – even sweeping the dead leaves away from our yard!

We’ve tried to do a few things for them as they have virtually nothing, including taking over a hot meal on Christmas day and an occasional tin of cookies or jar of peanuts. Antonio even made a point of introducing us to a woman we think is his daughter, Susie. She hugged us and thanked us profusely for taking care of Antonio. It is amazing how the little things we’ve done have been so appreciated! We’re pretty confident that we don’t have to worry about anything happening to our house while Antonio is around either!

Steve’s mom and dad came to visit us in early December. It was great to see them and to show them around our new island home. The weather wasn’t great – cloudy and a little cooler than normal most of the time – but I think they still enjoyed it and hopefully they will come back again soon!

The week prior to their arrival as well as the time they were here found us volunteering at the local animal shelter – AAAS. They had two vets in town who donated their services to do a spay/neuter clinic several days a week over 3 weeks. So we jumped right in and learned how to do intake – getting the pet and owner info, weighing the dogs/cats, getting them settled in a cage until they are pre-medicated for surgery, sitting with them after pre-med to keep them calm, as well as recovery, where you again stay with them and make sure they are coming out of the anesthesia ok. We learned a TON and met some great people who we have become good friends with.


And speaking of new friends…did you notice the third dog in this picture? Well, that’s our new addition – her name is Lexi. She was abandoned by some renters up the street and our original intent was to foster her until she could be spayed, then find her a home. We did get her spayed, but by that time she had grown attached to us…and us to here, so we decided we’d keep her. She was about 7 months old when we got her (late November) and still had (has) a lot of puppy energy and needed to learn some manners. We continue to work on both and she’s been a lot of fun – and good for the two older dogs as she coerces them into playing with her. Dusty and Sierra are also enjoying the more frequent walks/runs I take them on – trying to wear out Lexi!!

We have also expanded our DR-based property management business. We picked up a couple more units, luckily in the same complex. The owners were here in late December attending to the renovations that need to be done due to the lack of maintenance done by the previous managers. But once they left, we took on the oversight – and were incredibly busy for several weeks in January, making daily trips to Cabarete to check on progress, meet with workers, etc. etc. The condo finally went on the rental market a couple of weeks ago, so we don’t have to babysit it quite so much…unless of course there are renters in it.

Our time is also consumed by ongoing volunteering for AAAS. Steve has taken on keeping their adoption website updated – which is a feat in and of itself. On any given day, they may get 3-4 dogs/puppies in, adopt a couple out, someone comes to foster a dog - and depending on who is there when this all happens, we either get a little, a lot, or no information with which to work! So we go over a couple times a week and check the status, take pictures of any new dogs & give them names, and gather any info we can get to make the website updates.

Steve’s also volunteered to help Judy, the director of AAAS, do some renovations around the shelter as she received a donation for that purpose. He’s been doing the design work and will be helping her identify resources to do the labor. And I took on the pet photo contest fundraiser…of which you’ve all been notified (PLEASE go out and vote if you can – it’s for a wonderful cause down here!) Just copy this link and paste in your browser address bar to got see and vote for AAAS photos: http://photocontest.humanesociety.org/contest.html?page=viewIndex&contestId=3&orgId=89

Oh – then we almost had a 4th dog! One day when we went into Judy’s to get adoption updates, there was the cutest little black fuzzy puppy in a cage. She’d been brought in the day before and there were several dogs onsite who weren’t feeling well. Judy was worried about this little one since she was young and her immune system still developing. So we brought her home to foster her – for a few days. We named her Molly.


When we got her home, we took her to meet our neighbor, Linda. She had toyed with the idea of taking Lexi, but felt she was just too big for what she wanted. Well, she fell in love with Molly and now Archie, Linda and Tony’s West Highland terrier, has a new little sister! And Lexi is very happy because she and Molly are the best of buddies. They just play and play – and Lexi is so gentle with Molly – it is amazing! Here’s this 50 pound Rottweiler mix laying on the floor letting little Molly, who weighs maybe 5 pounds, crawl on her, bite her cheeks, even take away a bone!


Let’s see...what else? We’ve been to the beach a few times – a couple of surfing competitions that we went to watch and Steve and Richard trying to get back in the surfing routine after a couple of months off (Max and Richard went home to the UK and got married in December, then we were crazy busy in January). There are always beach dogs running around at the surfing beach, too.












Oh – another very recent development…they are building yet ANOTHER house in the estate. This one is further down past Tony & Linda’s house, but on our side of the street. They just started working on it this week and the traffic back and forth has picked up exponentially. It’s going to be interesting to watch as it seems like this crew is using more power equipment – like front end loaders to dig the footers, cistern, septic and pool. On the house next to us, they dug it all by hand!! Amazing how hard those guys work!

Now you are pretty much up to date…although I’m sure there are things that happened since October that I have either forgotten – or chosen not to include! Coming up soon – my mom is coming to visit for 2 weeks at the beginning of March. Although she’s traveled in the States, this will be the first time she’s been out of the country, so it will be a great adventure for her and fun for us to show her around. What she doesn’t know yet (but will when she reads this) is that there may be another spay/neuter clinic for us to volunteer at when she’s here – so she can either join us, or hang out with the granddogs for a few hours while we go. : )

We’re also looking forward to hearing when Dave and Sharon are coming back…they are checking options for April/May. And we hope to see Steve’s sister and brother-in-law, Paula and Dave, in late May/early June.

I’ll close with a few random pictures for you:

Here’s the Dominican artwork that I bought when Dave and Sharon were here – now gracing our dining room wall. The gecko came from the US with us…he was a natural blend with our new décor.











Talk about letting your buns hang out – we often see motos with the day’s fresh bread dangling off the sides…on its way to???









Who'd have guessed they have monster trucks in the DR??? Yep - we actually saw one on a big semi flatbed when we were in Cabarete one day. We have no clue where it was going, but we truly never thought we'd see something like that here!!



This is one of the plants we got from the neighbor. We’ve noticed several of them – trees – around the island. Not sure what it is but it has really neat flowers that look like fireworks – then they open in a bloom. Very pretty!!










Hope all is well wherever this blog may find you. I will try to be better about updating it more frequently…but no promises!! Take care and stay warm!

A Super Fun Visit from Our Bestest US Friends – and DR Driver’s Licenses!

It’s been almost three weeks since the last blog – and a lot has happened! We had a great time with our wonderful friends, Dave and Sharon, last week. It was so good to see them – and we had fun showing them around our new stomping grounds. On the way home from he airport, we started them off by picking up what we affectionately refer to as “roadkill” for lunch. This is actually roasted chicken with yucca that we get from one of the roadside stands. We’ve had it many times and we really like it – and I think they did too!

Dusty and Sierra were quite funny when we got home. Dave and Sharon were standing behind us as we opened the front door. They both started to run out to greet us as usual, then they realized there were other people behind us. Dusty did an about-face and started barking…until Dave and Sharon spoke to him and he knew who it was. Both he and Sierra went CRAZY – they were SO excited to see their “Aunt” Sharon and “Uncle” Dave. I think it took a good 20 minutes for them to finally settle down!

We spent the rest of their arrival day hanging around the casa – catching up, getting them settled, relaxing and unpacking the suitcase full of goodies they brought down for us. Have I mentioned that you cannot buy green chilies here? That was a mainstay in our pantry (and/or freezer) when we were in Colorado. It’s been quite an adjustment without them. I’m not sure if I was more excited about the cans of green chilies or the Mexican vanilla they brought! It will be nice to be able to cook some of our “old” favorites – like Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas – which we couldn’t do before. Yummy!!! Dusty and Sierra were thrilled at the super large package of bully bones that they got as well. They have been enjoying those and their special dog cookies.

On Sunday, we went into Puerto Plata. Since it’s a little less chaotic on Sundays, we figured that would be a good time to go. We showed Dave and Sharon “their” store – Casa Nelson, had breakfast on the Malecon, walked around the monument and showed them the infamous La Sirena. Later, we came back to the casa and relaxed around the pool.

We headed for the beach on Monday to do a little boogie boarding. We had planned to go to a place called Hideaway beach, then have lunch at Arsenio’s – only to find that Arsenio’s isn’t open on Mondays. So we headed to the same area where Steve surfs since Max and I had found a place up the beach a little way that has less coral and more sand. We played for a couple of hours, then left to get lunch.

We decided to try a little restaurant that sits on the beach – near where we’ve picnicked with Max & Richard – called Mendy’s. We were a little concerned when the first thing they told us was that they only had the items on the bottom half of the menu. But we were hungry and decided we’d give it a go. All four of us ordered the fried chicken. When I asked how much food there was (thinking perhaps Steve and I would just split it), the waitress said “es no mucho”. So we each ordered our own.

It did take quite some time for the food to come out – and the first plates she brought each had one or two pieces of chicken and 4 small slices of pepper. We were all thinking “wow – she wasn’t kidding!” THEN she brought the sides – a plate full of fried plantains, a plate of French fries, a plate of salad, a bowl of rice and a dish of beans. And that wasn’t all! A bit later, she brought out a plate of sliced fruit and a bowl of oranges. Needless to say, we didn’t go hungry! The food was decent – not sure that I’d make it a regular haunt – but it was definitely worth the experience!!

After we ate, we headed to Max & Richard’s house. We had stopped in earlier to borrow their boards and they asked us to come by so Dave and Sharon could meet Ziggy and Simon. As we were sitting on the patio visiting and petting the dogs, one of us noticed a bump on Simon. Upon further examination, we determined it was a tick. So we got it off and looked to see if he had any more…and he did – LOTS more! Poor little guy. I think we ended up getting close to 12 or 15 off of him. Ziggy had some too.

Once we were done with the tick harvest, us girls went up to the villa where the dogs live to see if they had anything we could put on them to repel the ticks. (We knew there were ticks here and we have been diligent in using a flea and tick medicine on our dogs. Fortunately, it seems to have worked – knock on wood!) The only thing we could find was some shampoo, so we took it down and gave the boys a bath. Sharon and Max had to drag Ziggy out from under the bed to give him his. He had seen us take Simon into the shower and promptly ran and hid!

We gave them each another review – finding a few more of those nasty little bugs. Max also gave Chris, their owner’s friend who watches after them, a call to let him know what we’d found so he could get them some of the same stuff we’ve been using. Poor Max and Richard – they felt horrible that our afternoon had turned into a tick harvest! With all of us being dog lovers & pet owners ourselves, we didn’t mind. We were just happy to get them off the dogs before they made them sick.

We came home and had a nice dinner. And just when we thought our day had already been jam-packed with fun and adventure, guess what happened next? Tony came to the door. He had just driven in and saw the cows at the far end of the neighborhood – heading our way! So we all headed out in the dark, with flashlights, to herd the cows back out. Tony joined in as did the guard who watches the house that’s under construction a few doors down.

Sharon and I went up to open the gate so when the guys got them moving up the road, they would just go out on the main street. We waited…and waited…and waited some more. We could see their flashlights dancing in the dark and heard an occasional whoop or holler, but it was pretty apparent that the cows were winning this game!

After a while we decided to head back down to see what was going on – hoping the cows didn’t decide to come running our way right then. Thankfully they didn’t! Turns out that even with the guard venturing out into the empty lots (overgrown fields) to help chase the cows, they were circling back around and refused to head up the road like we wanted them to. We checked the entire fence in the back, but could not determine where they’d come through. We think that the farmer unhooks the wire, lets the cows in, then hooks the wire back up!

So we gave up on trying to herd them out. Tony suggested that perhaps if we paid the guard a little bit, he could make sure they didn’t come up too far and make a meal out of our shrubs and flowers. So we each gave him 100 pesos ($3) and from what we could tell the next morning, he had done a good job. It’s always amazing to me how 25-30 head of cows can seemingly disappear before we all get up the next day. Houdini would be impressed!! Needless to say, our week with the Nelsons started off with a bang – and they quickly got confirmation that the stories we’ve told in the blogs are really true!

Unfortunately Dave wasn’t feeling well the next day, so we stayed close to home. As the day went on, his sinuses got worse and worse. Fortunately, you can buy antibiotics here without a prescription, so Sharon and I headed down to the farmacia to get him some. By the next morning he looked better and said he felt much better too.



We decided to go into Sosua that day and show them around the town. We walked on the beach & Sharon helped me pick out some “art work” for our dining room wall. Negotiating prices is expected here, so after a little bit of haggling, I settled on two pictures. The guy asked me if I wanted them wrapped to take back on the plane & I told him I lived here. He said “oh, then you get the ‘locals’ discount” and knocked off another $6! Who knew there was a local’s discount?! I may have to go back and see if there are any others that I like!!

That evening we met Al and Glenda for dinner at a place called Ocean Village. We sat in one of the two cabanas at the edge of the infinity pool and right on the ocean (we’re in the one on the left in this picture) – what a great place to watch the sunset!


Thursday was 27 Charcos – 27 waterfalls. Tony and Linda had done this when their nieces came to visit and had a blast (ok, full disclosure, Linda did have fun but she said it was harder than she expected and was pretty tired when they got back). Basically you walk/swim and climb up the waterfalls – then slide back down. You have your choice of 7, 12, or all 27 – we decided to start small – figuring we could always go again next time they came.


Well - we also had a blast – it was very fun! First you walk about 20 minutes – crossing a river and some streams – to get to the bottom of the waterfalls. Here we are on the way up to the falls. Once you get to the bottom of the falls, you then wade into a crystal-clear pool of water to the bottom of the first fall…and begin the climb. We had two great guides – Wellington (left) and Berto (right). Berto spoke very good English and took lots of pictures and videos using Dave’s camera. In a couple of places, the guides had to literally pull us up from the top.





Before we knew it, we were at the 7th fall. Then it was time to start back down!
The first slide down was a little scary – but after that, it was really fun. Then we got to the last one…what? No slide? Nope – we had to jump off the rocks into the pool below. I have to admit I was a little hesitant (ok, very hesitant) but once I took the leap, there was no turning back! It was my turn then to cheer on the others – who also weren’t exactly excited about making that jump. But they all did and we started our hike back down to where we started.

There was a little restaurant there, serving a traditional Dominican lunch - arroz, frijoles, pollo y ensalda (rice, beans, chicken and salad) and pasta. So we had lunch there then headed back home. The drive to the falls is on the same route we take going into Santiago, so Dave and Sharon got to see some of the mountainous part of the island as well. It was a very fun day – and we’re looking forward to going again and tackling 12 falls next time, right Sharon?!

On Friday – yikes – it was already Friday – we headed into Cabarete. We walked on the beach and had drinks and a snack at one of the many restaurants along the way. How could we resist with this cute sign to encourage us? I need to find one for my backyard!!

Friday night we had dinner at El Choco – where they were celebrating Oktoberfest. We met Pam and Dennis there and Tony and Linda joined us as well. It was so loud where we were sitting that you could hardly talk to each other, so after dinner, we headed back to Tony and Linda’s house. It was much easier to chat then and Max and Richard joined us a little later. It was a nice way to wrap up the Nelson’s visit to our island and neighborhood.

It was very hard to say goodbye the next day when we dropped Dave and Sharon off at the airport. We truly enjoyed their visit and hope they can come back again very soon! Fortunately we don’t have long to wait for our next visitors. Steve’s folks are coming down in early December. We’re looking forward to seeing them as well – but I think we’ll skip the falls! : )

Since then, we’ve been busy as usual. And on Thursday, we got our Dominican driver’s licenses – yet another “official” step taken! After going through that process, we now understand why everyone here drives like a lunatic!!!

It is possible, as is true with all things here, to do this by yourself, but we had heard stories from people whose command on Spanish is much better than ours, and they had a very difficult time. So we decided to go a different route – pay someone to help us. Fortunately Pam knew someone and made arrangements for us.

We arrived in Puerto Plata at the Departmente de Transport (or something like that) at 10 to meet T-Paul, a Haitian guy who was going to guide us through the process. Tony and Linda went too, since they hadn’t gotten their DLs yet either. We all hand over our cedulas (Dominican IDs) and some money and T-Paul tells us to take a seat. Then he heads out the door to go to the Justice Center to get our letters of good conduct (didn’t know we had those here?). Pam and Dennis had some errands to do so they headed out. And we waited and watched as people came in, sat, left – and hoped that Pam and Dennis would get back before T-Paul since Pam speaks much more Spanish than any of us.

Fortunately they did because when T-Paul returned, he told us that he wasn’t able to get the letters for Steve and me because our cedulas were too new (we’ve had them since July??). He was going to have to go to Santiago to get what was needed and we’d have to go back on Monday. Pam asked how much it would cost for the extra work – 1000 pesos (a little less than $30), so we paid him and resigned ourselves to returning on Monday. We figured we’d at least have the advantage of watching what Tony & Linda had to do so we’d know more then. A short time later, T-Paul came out of a room and motioned for Steve and me to follow him. We’re not sure who he paid or how much, but lo and behold, we were going to be able to get our licenses after all!

So after getting our blood typed (why??) and providing our fingerprints, we waited some more. Then each of us was called, individually, into a very small room where we had to take “the test”. It was a video test where you were shown a scenario, then asked something in Spanish and you had to answer si o no (yes or no) by pushing the correct answer on the screen. Fortunately, we didn’t REALLY have to take the test – the “proctor” who was in the room with us helped us by answering all of the questions for us. Good thing too because in many cases what she put as the right answer was not the one we would have guessed based on the video! Finally after 3 hours, we were all proud owners of our temporary Dominican driver’s licenses…we have to go back in 45 days to get the permanent ones. From what we understand, that is much less time consuming! We wrapped up the afternoon by having lunch on the malecon.

Last night we had a very nice dinner at Tony and Linda’s. They invited us and Max and Richard to join them for Chinese! They fixed 5 different dishes, plus fried rice – it was really good! Steve and I brought desert – a flourless chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream made with the Mexican vanilla that Dave and Sharon brought us. It is amazing how different the vanilla flavors are – and I have to say, I do prefer the Mexican over the Dominican.

Those are the highlights from here. We’re doing well and enjoying life. Hope you are too!! Buenos noches!

6 Months in the DR!

Yep – on October 5th, we will have been here for six months. In some ways it seems like we just got here and yet, it feels like home, so that’s good! We’ve definitely had some wild and wacky experiences – and learned a lot along the way. We have no delusions that the craziness is behind us or that our lessons have stopped. But what kind of adventure would it be without all of that – right!?

Let's see...what's happened since our last blog? Steve and Richard have been surfing a few more times, but that will now be on hold for a while. Richard had an accident on his moto last week. Fortunately he was wearing a helmet, so had no head injuries, but he has road rash all down one side – from his shoulder to his toes. Speaking of toes – let me give you a tip here – DON'T WEAR FLIP FLOPS WHEN RIDING A MOTORCYCLE!!! Richard is now one toenail short. As if it wasn’t bad enough that it was torn when he crashed, they had to remove what was left of it at the hospital – OUCH!! He’s in a temporary cast – not sure if his ankle is sprained or broken – and on crutches. Needless to say, it will be a while before he’ll be hanging 10 (with or without that toenail)!!

We’ve also been getting the casa ready for our first visitors from the States. Dave and Sharon are coming to see us – WHOO HOO!! They will be here Saturday and stay for a week. That’s been a good incentive for us to finish up some of those “little” projects that hang out there – like doing the touch-up paint around where the iron work was installed, washing windows, power-washing the area around the pool and painting the pool perimeter. Our weekends have been busy!

When Sharon told us they had booked their flights – but it was 9 weeks away – it seemed like forever. It’s amazing how quickly time has gone by. We’re just hoping that time won’t go as quickly while they are here. We’ve made up a list of some of the things we’ve talked about doing here – maybe we’ll check some of those out with them!! Steve’s folks are also coming to visit in early December, so we have that to look forward to as well. It will be fun to show them all around our new island home!

Bamboo update. Remember Bamboo – our neighborhood watchdog? Well his mom and dad went back to France for 5 weeks. Bamboo is staying with our next door neighbor, Christiane. Up until yesterday, he continued to enjoy his freedom to run about the neighborhood. Unfortunately, there are some renters in the house next to Al & Glenda, and they have three dogs – two Dobermans and another one that I’m not sure what it is, but it is a little smaller than Sierra. Well, those dogs have been roaming around the neighborhood as well. Bamboo, who sometimes doesn’t realize he’s just a little guy, barks and carries on when they are around – and so far, they have either ignored or run from him. I think that Christiane is worried about that and so she’s taken steps to block all escape routes from her yard. It’s been weird not having him come in first thing in the morning – all wiggly and happy to see us. But it is safer for him – and the dogs just need to be content with seeing each other through the fence for now. He did escape once today – and guess where he came!? Yep – beelined it to our house. Dusty and Sierra were ecstatic – and the three of them romped around, whining and carrying on, acting like they hadn't seen him for months! Goofy mutts!

Other than that, it’s been the usual stuff around here – a little work, a little play, and enjoying life. Before I close, I wanted to share the pictures of the bananas growing on a tree in Tony and Linda’s yard. It’s quite fascinating – check out the flower at the bottom – and how the bananas grow upwards (picture at top of blog). Apparently once the flower falls off, they will start ripening. The bad news is that they will all ripen at the same time. The good news is that generally means we’ll get some yummy super-fresh bananas! There’s also some baby banana trees growing next to this big one. Tony’s going to dig one up for us to plant in our yard. Cool!!

It’s interesting…we can tell the seasons are changing here because the sun has shifted (slightly) lower and the days are (slightly) cooler – ok, but not that much cooler (mid to high 80s as compared to high 80s/low 90s). We are happy that we do not have to break out any heavy clothes this year!! Hope you are all doing well – enjoy your fall weather.

New career? Dog grooming! You be the judge....

As promised, here are before and after pictures of Ziggy (the black terrier mix) and Simon (white poodle) - the two little dogs that Max and I tried to groom. Honestly, I think they look better and they both FEEL 100% better, so that's all that counts.









And heck, we're in the DR, land of tranquillo. No problemo aqui! If they had gone to the one groomer we know of here, they would have come back bald as ping pong balls...and susceptible to sunburn. Plus we give lots of loves and cuddles while we work on the haircuts. Much nicer for the dogs!!

Wow - Wild Waves!!

As has been the case with virtually everything here, we have encountered yet another learning experience. Steve and Richard decided that the surf forecast looked good last Friday - calling for 10-11 foot waves. Up until now, the biggest they had surfed on were more like 5-6 foot and one day, hardly any waves - so obviously bigger is better, right? Take a look at these two pictures. They were taken from almost the same vantage point - one week apart. The first one was the "no wave" Friday; the next one was on "wild wave" Friday. You can see the white water on the crest of the waves out in the distance.

Needless to say, after a couple of hours of getting abused (their words) by wave after wave, they decided that maybe they need to rethink their strategy! Steve's done some more research and now thinks he's pinpointed a better factor - wave energy - to base their "surf/no surf" decision upon. Let's hope it works!!

Max and I again met the guys for lunch after spending the morning up at a villa they've been housesitting (check out this view). We were grooming the little dogs that live there - Simon and Ziggy. Once I get the after pictures from Max, I will post the before/after for you to see my handiwork! But back to the beach....

So we set up our blankets/towels in about the same spot as before. As I was setting up the portable yard, Steve and Max took the three dogs (Sierra, Dusty and Archie) for a walk on the beach near the water. Luckily I had picked up my camera to take the first picture below...and was able to capture the aftermath of a rouge wave that drenched all of them!!


Poor Archie got the brunt of it. He was literally submerged - and since they were all on retractable leads, there was no way for Steve to lift him out of the water since the lead just kept getting longer as he raised his arm up in an attempt to help Archie. Everyone was fine (although Archie may be permanently traumatized!) as you can see from the pictures after the wave receeded.




Archie looked like a drowned rat and Steve and Max were in hysterics.


















We got the dogs settled and had a nice lunch...with a few waves getting teasingly close once or twice - just barely splashing us. Fortunately we had finished lunch and put our things away because a few minutes later, another rogue wave - and this time it drenched us all the way up where we thought we were safe! The blanket and towels were soaked as were we - everyone covered with sand as well. Needless to say, our picnic came to an abrupt end. We rinsed off, packed up, and headed home.

Lessons learned: 1) wave height is not the only factor to consider when picking a good surfing day and 2) on the wild wave days, don't set your picnic up too close to the water or you may have some extra ingredients (sand, water, seaweed?) in your lunch!

Adios for now from the DR. Hope you all are well!

Finally! Livin' the life!!

A week ago Tuesday was surfing lesson day for me and Max. While the guys went out with another bunch of people who were surfing, Max and I stayed behind to get our “onshore” lesson first. Then off we went to try our luck in the water. Neither of us were able to stand up on the boards…we seemed to get stuck on our knees (hmmm…knee surfing – new sport??). But we kept trying until finally we were both tired and called it quits. I was sore for a couple days, plus I scraped my shin on a coral ledge as I was coming out of the water...just not a ton of fun. I can’t say that either of us loved it, so it’s not likely we’ll be trying again. I think we’ll stick to boogie boarding for now!

We had decided to take a picnic lunch that day, so after the guys were finished with their surfing, we found a spot down the beach and had a nice relaxing lunch. The guys had a good time and were already planning their next outing. Max and I weren’t sure what we would do while they were surfing, but were pretty sure we could find a way to have some fun as well.

On Wednesday, we joined a group of people for dinner at a restaurant just up the road from us. It’s called Pickerings (you may recall that where we went with Pam and Dennis for her birthday lunch). This dinner was also coordinated by Pam – and was primarily people from the UK – with a few Americans thrown in for good measure. There were a couple of people we had met before, but we got to meet and visit with several others that we didn’t know. So we’ve expanded our network here a bit more.

We also got to experience a traditional British meal – complete with Yorkshire pudding and sage & onion dressing. Just for the record, Yorkshire pudding isn’t pudding as we know it in the States. It’s actually like a bread/pastry that you eat with gravy. The meal was very good and we capped it off with a chocolate/cherry cake that Rona, the owner of Pickerings, had baked that day. It was really a fun evening - good food and good company.

I had my first experience driving to Puerto Plata on Thursday. Since I’d been driving around Sosua for a while, I decided I was ready to face the roads on a grander scale. It really wasn’t bad and all went well. Wouldn’t you know it, though, that the one time we see a new and very impressive moto load, Steve (who should have been the trip photographer as the passenger) didn’t have his camera out. We were quite bummed because this was one you really had to see to believe. This guy had what appeared to be an entertainment center/set of shelves – probably 5 or 6 feet wide and about that tall too – perched on the back of his moto! He should have had a “wide load” sign on the back of that moto. Wow!!

We decided to stop at Hidelisa, the furniture store where we bought our living room set, to see if they had any new dining room sets. They didn’t have anything new that we liked, but we went back to one that we had seen before and liked, but it was priced much higher than we had budgeted. It had 6 chairs then, but now only had 4 – and the price was lower. With a little negotiating to get a discount, based on paying cash, we got the price down to something we could live with. We, of course, don’t carry that much cash around as a rule, but I did have some and offered to put down a deposit. They said that it wasn’t necessary – we could just pay the full amount when it was delivered.

They told us they would deliver the set for us. It would be free if they could wait until another delivery to Sosua – and they didn’t know when that would be but likely in the next few days. Or we could pay for delivery if we wanted it sooner. Since we’d waited this long, we decided we would just wait until they came to Sosua next.

So after all this, we walked out of the store as the owners of the table…or at least we were pretty sure. Since we hadn’t put a deposit down or anything, we didn’t get a factura (invoice/receipt) – just a business card with the salesman’s name and phone number for the store.

We then finished up our errands in POP and headed home. Not long after we got home, we got a call from Hidelisa. They were going to be delivering in Sosua that evening and would bring our table and chairs around 5:30. So I ran to the bank to get the pesos we would need to pay for it.

Five-thirty came….and went. We weren’t too concerned as we’ve learned to accept the concept of Dominican time. Then it was 6 o’clock…then 6:15. Now we were starting to wonder if they really were going to show up. I decided to try calling the store – figuring that it would be closed – but worth a shot. And they were still there! Apparently the driver had been delayed and they were just in the process of getting the truck loaded to head our way. We were still a bit skeptical that they’d show up, but made sure our dining room was ready in case they actually did.
A little before 7, we heard a truck coming down the street. Yep – it was them. They went down and turned around…and almost drove past us before Steve hollered at them! Fortunately they heard him and stopped. Long story short – we now have a dining room table and chairs – yay!!! It’s so nice to being one step closer to having our house feel even more like our home. Now we just need a few pictures to put up on the wall above the table and we’ll be set!!






On Friday, the guys went surfing again. Max and I decided to take the dogs (Sierra, Dusty and Archie) down to the beach. This would be Dusty and Sierra’s first outing to the beach since we got here. (I know, we’re bad doggie parents. But heck, it took us almost as long to get to the beach ourselves!)

Before we went, though, we stopped by Ken and Sandy’s – one of the couples from dinner on Wed. – to get some plants from their garden since they were leaving to visit family in the States for a couple of months. We left with mint (think mojitos), rosemary and thyme (no parsley or sage…for those of you who might wonder). So far my mint plant is hanging in there, so we’ll see if it survives and hopefully spreads.

After we took our plants back home and got them tucked into some dirt, we loaded up the fur kids and headed for the beach. Here are some pictures from that outing. This one is Max with Archie and our two on the left.


Sierra and Dusty were initially a little uncertain about the waves coming in.

Mind you, until now the biggest body of water they’d ever been around was Green Mountain Reservoir in Colorado – so the Atlantic Ocean is quite a leap up in size from that!! Once they had studied the waves for a minute, they decided it would be quite fun to run in – and they did.


They had a good time playing in the water and sand as Max and I walked down toward where the guys were surfing. Next thing we knew, the dogs from the surf shop came out on the beach. We had seen them interact nicely with other dogs the last time we were down there, but I wasn’t sure how my two would do (especially Dusty, who thinks he’s a BIG dog and talks a lot of smack). Not wanting to risk a dog fight, we decided to head back to our picnic area.

We brought our portable dog yard with us – got it set up and settled the dogs in. Sierra enjoyed digging in the sand – getting it nice and cool to lay in for a siesta.










After lunch, we headed up to Lomas Mironas – which is where Max and Richard’s villa is. They bought it 3 years ago but haven’t lived in it yet! They’ve hopefully found a renter for their ocean front condo and will be able to enjoy their villa now. They’ve also been house-sitting for our neighbors as well as one of their neighbors. They took us to see that villa as well. Wow was it nice! Sitting up on a hill, it has a gorgeous view of the ocean. We sat on the patio and enjoyed the breeze while watching the dogs – now including two more – Ziggy and Simone, who live at this villa – run around and play. Unfortunately we all had things we needed to do still that afternoon, so we called it a day and headed home.

Saturday was another “work our butts off” day. First I had to do some trimming so I could get back behind the casita to paint the back two walls. Since I was already in the trimming mode, I continued along the back of the yard where the hibiscus and palms were starting to get out of control. As I was tossing the trimmings into a pile, I got thinking…hmmm…wonder if I just stick the hibiscus in the ground, would they grow? I figured I’d give it a try – nothing to lose, right?

So I took three of them and planted them outside our fence back by the cistern where there isn’t much foliage. Keep your fingers crossed…we’ll see how this experiment goes!

While I painted the casita, Steve mowed the lawn and worked on a list of honey-do’s I’d given him. I also got the wall where the batteries used to hang painted…then decided to “touch up” a couple more walls that had faded pretty badly due to the sun. Steve jokingly suggested that I just keep going – and I’d have the whole house done. But since it was already almost 6, we decided it probably wasn’t going to happen – and we were both pooped! But it felt good to get some more of the items marked off our list of to-dos.

We awoke Sunday to a cloudy, grey, rainy day…which was just fine with us. I wasn’t feeling great anyway, so it was a good excuse to have a laze around the house day.

It’s nice that our days have started to settle into more of a “typical” routine and we don’t have the daily drama we had to contend with for the last several months. To that end, it feels like this is a good time to transition this blog…from a weekly recap to a more random “you’ll never guess what happened now” or “check out this wild moto picture”.

I hope you have enjoyed our stories – and will continue to follow the blog (yes, I’ll email when there’s an update). Please do stay in touch (sandkadventure@gmail.com) as we do enjoy hearing about what’s going on back stateside as well!

Signing off for now…Steve and Kelli – your Caribbean connection!!

Hurricane Earl – Fortunately a No Show!

We were very glad that Hurricane Earl passed by with only a whisper of impact on us…a little bit of rain, some wind, and that’s about it. Whew – dodged that one! Thanks to all who sent emails to check on us. It was a good “practice” run and we feel pretty confident that we’re prepared should another storm come by our area soon. Of course we check the NOAA site daily to keep apprised of any new developments!

Early in the week, we had stopped by the puertos y ventanas shop (doors and windows) to ask Senor Rodriquez about having a screen door made for the door in the back bedroom, which also serves as our home office. He came out Tuesday to measure and give us a price. Again – very reasonable and he told us he’d be back later in the day to install it – but called later to reschedule for Wednesday. (Heck, we were impressed that he called…that seems to be a problem here – just don’t show up when you say you will and then show up when it’s convenient).

Wednesday was another sunny, warm day, so we were glad to have the new screen door. Now we can open it and get more air and light into our work area. Sierra likes to be able to lay by the door and survey the backyard from the office as well!

We also found a workbench on what is the DR equivalent of craigslist (on a very small scale!). Since we had planned on building one anyway, we were happy to find one that was priced reasonably in the area. We’d talked about getting some pegboard to hang on the wall – and this tool bench actually had that too! So we went and bought it…one more step closer to getting the casita organized.


On Thursday, we headed to Encuentro Beach with Max and Richard. The guys were scheduled to take a surfing lesson. That's Max standing in front of the surf school – a bunch of fun little shacks in the trees right on the beach.













We watched the guys take their “land lesson” and took a few pictures, then walked along the beach and visited.

I spotted this little sand crab as we were walking. In the first picture, if you look to the left, that is a dog’s paw print – which gives you a perspective of the crab’s size.


He let me take a couple of pictures, then decided to make a run for it. Isn’t he cute?!






And yes, both Steve and Richard got up on their boards – several times. See – even pictures to prove it! I’m guessing that with more practice, their form will get better and we can give them more style points…but for only the 2nd time out ever for both of them, I’m impressed that they are even standing up!










Antonio, the instructor, said they did great - even for a couple of “old” guys (not sure that thrilled either of them) and remarked that they were both in great shape which made a big difference (that made them feel better). They agreed that they were hooked and wanted to come back again. Antonio told them about a “locals” deal that they offer – a fixed price that includes 30 days of surfing with use of all of the equipment plus 5 or 6 lessons. It’s basically like a punch card and they can use the days over any period of time – they don’t expire.

Then Max and I asked Antonio why it seemed like the women in the class had easier time. He wasn’t sure why, but said that it’s very typical. He asked us if we had surfed – which neither of us have. He told us if the guys decided to do the package deal, he’d throw in a free lesson for both of us. Then we could try it – and if we didn’t like it, no worries…and if we did, then we could decide if we wanted to do more. We decided we couldn’t pass up that offer – and of course the guys are psyched about doing more surfing as well. So we’re set to go again next Tuesday!

The guys took their boards back and Max and I grabbed the boogie boards. We played around in the waves for a while, then we decided it was time for lunch! We headed to a place called Arsenio’s at Hideaway Beach and had a nice lunch and enjoyed visiting with Max and Richard some more. We’re glad to have found another couple around our ages who are interested in doing many of the same things we are. And we’re set to go surfing again – next Tuesday.

Unfortunately we had to get home and get cleaned up so we could meet a potential client that afternoon. When we got home, the power was out…which means our water pump doesn’t work. So we had to make do with what I affectionately call “bucket showers”…where we bring buckets of water in from the cistern and use a cup to rinse off. Amazing how creative you can get down here!!

The client we were meeting was looking for an apartment to rent in Sosua – for 6 to 12 months. I had done some research and found a few options for him – but none of the property owners wanted to pay a commission. Carl, the client, agreed that if we would make arrangements to see the places and he rented one, he would pay us a flat rate fee – and since the places I had found were renting for considerably less than what he said his maximum budget was, it wasn’t a bad deal for him. We told him we’d try to get things set up for 2 p.m. on Saturday and we’d confirm as soon as everything was set.

On Friday, we had made plans to go volunteer at AAA Sosua – which is the local animal shelter. It’s run by an American woman, Judy, who also runs Judy’s Pet Lodge – which offers pet boarding and grooming. She is the one who helped us get Sierra and Dusty through customs when we arrived – and delivered them right to our door. Judy is a US-trained vet tech who has dedicated her life to helping the 4-legged residents of the DR lead better lives.

She is always looking for vets from other countries who are interested in volunteering some time (perhaps while on vacation?) to assist with spay and neuter clinics. She will even provide or make arrangements for low or no-cost living quarters for the vets while they are here. If you know of any veterinarians who might be interested in donating some time, please spread the word. Of course, they can always use donations for supplies, food, vaccines, etc. as well. Check out their website if you get a chance: http://www.aaasosua.com/index.html.

We arrived a little after 10:30 and Judy quickly put us to “work” – playing with a bunch of puppies! Making sure the dogs get socialized is very important to helping get them adopted, so we settled in and had a great time petting, tussling and loving all of them. At times we had 4 or 5 of them vying for our attention. They also had 6 little kittens – but they were sleeping, so we didn’t play with them. But we did get a picture of 4 of the 6:


She had told us that the shelter was in need of publicity – so we offered to take pictures of the puppies and work on getting some ads out on the local websites as well as assist with fliers and anything else that might help them find good homes. Here are just a few of the pictures we took:














There were also two very small puppies who had been rescued just that morning from a dumpster. A woman had heard them crying, got them out and brought them to AAA. They were in pretty good health although one of them had several bites on its tummy – presumably from ants. Hopefully with some nursing and support, they will survive and be ready for adoption in the next few weeks. It’s very sad to think that anyone could dump two sweet babies who look like this:

And for those of you who are wondering…no, we did not bring any of them home – although it was tempting! Of course our two puppies were very curious about who we had been to see when we did get home full of “other dog” smells. We tried to explain that we were trying to help puppies who aren’t nearly as lucky as them – not sure they understood, but they didn’t seem too upset!

Friday afternoon, I confirmed the arrangements with Carl. We were set to meet him on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the local grocery store and he would follow us to the apartment to take a look. So we were set…or so we thought!

Friday evening – cows again! Sierra and Dusty were having a fit on the front porch, so we went to investigate. There were about 10 cows in the lot across from us – just munching away at the grass – and down past Tony and Linda’s, another 20 or so. We grabbed some dried palm branches (they get brown and drop off regularly) and started herding them down toward where they had broken in the last time. Richard and Max came out to help as well. We sure didn’t want them eating or trampling our newly planted shrubs in the front yard!!

We got them down to the end of the development, but this time they stopped rather than heading for any opening in the fence. Steve walked along the fence where they’d gotten in before, but it was intact. So we were at a loss as to where they had come in. About that time, two guys who we assume are the “farmers” that take care of the cows came to the fence in another area – and magically found the opening (we think they intentionally let them in, then pulled the barbed wire back across). They brought their dog and got them herded back into the pasture where they belonged. We walked back up to the house – and saw that there were 3 escapees – who must have been hiding behind some of the taller grass. I ran back down to the end of the street and got the farmer’s attention. He came back with me and with the assistance of the dog, got the stragglers out too. If the darn things wouldn’t eat our flowers and shrubs, none of us would mind them being in here to get the grass in the empty lots mowed down, but they aren’t that well-behaved.
That was our excitement for Friday night.

We had planned to do some work on the casita Saturday – me painting and Steve cutting a hole in the wall for an air intake for the generator. But it rained Friday night (after the cattle drive) and was wet enough Saturday a.m. still that I was able to make a good excuse not to paint. I really have to be in the right frame of mind to paint…and wasn’t…so I was happy that the rain took care of that for me! I WILL get the painting finished – someday!

Steve had set to work on cutting an 8” x 8” hole through the concrete wall. The casita was built with cinder block – but we weren’t sure if Raphael had filled in the blocks and how much rebar was used, so we didn’t know exactly what we were up against. Also, the only power tools we had that we could use to do the job were a 4” angle grinder and a drill with a 12” masonry bit. We also had our masonry chisel and hammers. It took some doing, with both of us taking turns running the grinder and pounding away with the hammer, but we got it done! Of course we needed about 20 minutes more to finish up when it was time to get cleaned up to go meet Carl & see the apartment. Luckily this time the electricity WAS on because we both had so much cement dust on us that it would have taken about 10 buckets each to get it all off – and we didn’t have that much time!

We got to Playero, the grocery store, with about 3 minutes to spare. We waited, and waited, and finally about 5 minutes before 2, we headed for the apartment. Just because Carl stood us up, we weren’t going to do the same with the apartment owner! It’s too bad he didn’t show (or call!) because the place was very nice – clean, roomy, and well within his budget and had almost everything he was looking for. Needless to say, if Carl even has the guts to call us at this point, he’s been officially fired as our client. We can’t afford to spend any more time to have him flake out on us again.

Since we were at Playero already, we went in and did our shopping, then headed back home to finish up the casita project. We got the vent installed and all of the dust and chunks of concrete cleaned up – then got busy organizing. The workbench fits perfectly between the two ventanas and the shelves we bought in Santiago provide great storage. We emptied out the spare bedroom closet and the dining room – which to this point had served as our tool shed! Finally at about 6:45, we decided we would call it a day. We were both starving since we hadn’t stopped for lunch – eating only a snack after we returned from the store. Steve cooked a nice dinner and we relaxed on the patio for what was left of the evening.

Today we slept in – until rumbles of thunder and rain woke us up around 8. It was a cool, cloudy morning. We hadn’t planned to do much other than putting a few more things out in the casita, but had talked about swimming. We were glad when the sun started peeking out later. But about the time we were ready to swim, the clouds had moved in again, so we canceled our swimming plans. We were also wondering if the BBQ we Pam and Dennis invited us to would be rained out.

Fortunately the weather held for the BBQ. Pam and Dennis had asked if we could come a little early to help set up – so we did. We moved furniture, helped prepare food, etc. We had a nice time – meeting several people we hadn’t met before and visiting with a few we did know already. The crowd was dwindling around 6:30, so we helped with some of the clean up and headed home. Al and Glenda were out for a walk when we got home so we visited with them for a few minutes. And now it’s about time to call it a day!

And the good news…it doesn’t look like we need to worry about any hurricanes – for the next few days at least! Hopefully everyone is having a nice, safe Labor Day weekend. Take care and enjoy the rest of it!