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!