Finally! We have a mattress!

Got sunburned today, but, we finally got a mattress! Yes! Now to get Karl a little cot. I was thinking maybe get him a platform bed of his own, though, and get him one of those super-soft and super squishy mattresses that roll up. That way he could just roll it up and he'd have a small area to play on. But, he likes to keep his stuff in one spot and he'd have to move everything to lay down to go to sleep so I don't think it would work. A cot would be portable, too, so he could take it outside and take a nap when he wanted to.

Third Kitten

This one was on the roof. Karl took video of me getting it down the ladder. I had to carry it in my shirt. Gatita was so happy when I showed her. I think that's it. Very surprised it was alive after three downpours. I had to climb up the ladder and across the roof. Marco, who called me to let me know, was surprised I could do it. He kept telling Karl I was sure to fall off. I told Karl I've been on lots of roofs before. It wasn't very steep. I remember the first roof I was on, I don't know how the guys did all that work without rolling off, even with the treads and everything. This one, a piece of cake!

More Chickens!!!

Got Peep and another young hen that we thought was a rooster. They are so hard to tell apart when they are young, have the same mom but different dads. Peep was not happy having his feet tied up at all, but he sure was funny (after the fact, of course) trying to hop out of the bag that he was in to go get the other rooster that was laughing at him.

Then we went back over a couple of times at night and got the mama and her two chicks, and then came back again for two more. Marco was back, and he helped me get the other black hen out of the tree after I got Sylvia. We didn't tie their feet, but just stuck them in the bag and tied the bag instead. Then, when we got back home, I untied the bags, and the girls slept in the bags all night. I guess they liked them. This morning, Peep started in and woke a newborn who was absolutely terrified of him. I tried to get him to go out to the street but he refused and dodged me all the way around the yard several times.

When I went out to feed them, the landlord came over and said I couldn't have them here, so I have to take them across the street. It's actually very nice there! They are going to love it over there.

Now we have to go this afternoon and grab the other two that are left. Stinky is nowhere to be found. not sure if she died or if someone grabbed her. I guess that's the problem with taming birds.

Got a Kitten and Another Rooster Last Night

Well, we are in our new place, been here for 12 days now, things are finally getting put away more and more each day. Still have to go get more of our chickens, though. Last night, I went to the store and Lucia told me that there was a kitten at the old place. I went with her to go get it. Almost pure white, with calico patches on its head, and two or three dots on its back and side. Cute little thing, but dirty, oh wow. Took it home in my pocket, so tiny, still had the ubilical cord. She's sleeping now, and I don't know where Gatita is, but she knows her kitten is here now. When I was there, she saw one of the rosters was sleeping in the shed, so I grabbed him, too. Sprained my foot on the way there, so here I am, hobbling along with a kitten in one pocket, two bags of chips for Karl in the other, and trying to keep the rooster under my arm from stepping on the kitten's head. But now he's here with Brownie and three baby chicks.

Getting Up to Speed

We've gotten ourselves moved into our new place, with a great deal of help from some young missionaries. Karl is having a good time, for the most part, playing with one of the kids here. He's 8, only two years younger than Karl, and also has trouble reading. Karl is slowly getting better at it, though. We moved in over Carnaval weekend, so there were a lot of water fights and so on. I took a few videos. I thought he was going to be able to play with both of the two boys who live here, although I didn't know anything about the other two, who have turned out to be horrible little brats. Their parents are quite nice, though, and fairly patient with the two kids. These two boys scream like little girls, super-high pitched and shrill, and are constantly at it.

The other boy who I was hoping that Karl would be able to play with, and he did during Carnaval, has turned out to be an animal abuser. He was chasing one of the cats that I got as a gift from our new landlord's granddaughter. Chasing it with a stick, screaming that he was going to kill it. I asked him if he was crazy. I told Karl to not play with him anymore. When his dad came home, I told him what happened. Surprised to find out, the man loves cats! He went and spanked the kid, which got him an argument with his wife, and he slept outside on the concrete that night. The kid still had the stick in his hand when I told him about it, though, so he knew I was telling him the truth. He's tried to get Karl to play around his kid, and I'm really antsy about it. I don't want any kids around Karl who like to kill animals. This kid is only six, by the way.

Anyway, we are just really thankful and feeling blessed because we found a place that let us have all the cats and all the chickens. I still have to get most of the chickens over here, though, and that's proving harder than what I expected it to be. So far, I've only been successful getting Brownie and two more chicks here.

Getting unpacked has been a lot easier than packing up and we've found a couple of things we had forgotten about, but now, I can't find my debit card, and I only have about a hundred on me in cash. I need to keep looking. I know it's in here, and I haven't allowed anyone to come in, plus I changed the padlock, so I know nobody has been in here. I just have placed it somewhere safe, mainly so that I wouldn't lose it, and now, like usual, I can't find it. At least I have my Viva card and can hopefully get the numbers off it for the new phone. But it's been easier unpacking partially because I went and bought two big bookshelves that have storage underneath, with three shelves that hold taller books, and a little nightstand for Karl that he picked out.

The bookshelves look sort of like this except these don't have the legs, and they are a bit darker. Each one was under $50, so I am really happy to have somewhere for all our books and papers and stuff. I have them placed side by side at the door, making that area closest to the door like the kitchen, and also keeping the heat from entering into where we sleep and use the computer.

Oh, and I got another fan after giving up trying to find someone who was skilled enough to open the other one up and clean it so that it works again. It's a Daymared Air Circulator with Japanese Technology, lol. Anything to sell to the public, I guess. A fan is a fan is a fan, I always thought. But I told her I didn't need the stand and left that part there. Then I got home and realized, I had already given the old stand to Karl for a flag pole holder. Ouch! But he said he would rather have a fan than a flag pole holder and he will just find another way to put his flag up outside.

But now I have the time to work on my own books, my own blogs, and my own websites. I am really having trouble with the websites, though. The FTP software programs I've downloaded don't seem to want to work well, and the online editor they offer doesn't seem to like me, either. I'm working on an adult coloring book, and I go to Amazon for inspiration to see all the other books available. Sometimes, though, I feel like mine won't ever measure up, some of these books have fantastic drawings.

I saw one where she is getting great reviews, but she also has a bachelors in illustration, so she not only knows how to draw and has years of practice at it, but she also has all the tools. I look at her one single 1-star rating and it turns out, someone can't get the pages to print out. I've had similar problems with some books I've had where they wouldn't come up on my Kindle. The one I left negative feedback for made a comment that he would send me the file through email, which he did, and I changed my rating from 1-star to 5-stars.

This author made the comment that she would send the files by email, too. Sadly, the customer never changed the rating. So with my books, I'm definitely saving the files. I don't have a scanner, so I need to take pictures and then put them in black and white, then clean them up, and then add them to a document, and when final, save as a PDF file. Then, I get to upload it! Yay! But each one takes time, and I only have about 12 drawings so far. I'm also working on a maze book. Some are easy, some are super hard. One of the mazes is so difficult, I needed the answer key to finish it!

But now we are here and settled, almost, so I can start churning out stuff for my own blogs and websites. I have been writing all sorts of things for clients from gardening and lawn care to car crashes to health care warnings, pre-surgery guides, and health and beauty articles, plus exercise tips and everything else. Now I am going to take those ideas and write them how I wanted to, without someone else directing my writing skills. I'm going to post them on my blogs and on my websites, and hopefully, you, a member of my slowly-growing audience, will share with your friends what you think will benefit them.

Looking forward to reading your comments, suggestions, questions, and even your complaints – interaction is a wonderful thing!

Releasing Mikoh

We released Mikoh Sunday in the late afternoon.

This is where we went to release him. They are adding trees here, and trees are not allowed to be cut down, which means Mikoh, who loves trees, won't have to worry about his tree, whichever one he happens to be in at the time, will be cut down.

Karl saying bye bye to little Mikoh. He will get bigger, but not by much.

And there he goes, bye bye Mikoh! Eat lots of snails and slugs and get bigger!

Karlitos and I on our way to the reforestation area. Trees are forbidden to be cut down here and the neighbors police the area. The only saws you ever hear over here are when people are cutting lumber to build their houses.

The area where we released Mikoh at. Karl was worried the monkeys would come get him.

Letting Mikoh out of the bag ended up in me gently dumping him out. He didn't want to come out! Then he was okay with being in the jungle again, and this is a lot bigger area for him than where he was from.

We Found a Baby Snake!

We think it's a baby anaconda, which if I remember right, isn't poisonous. Karl wants to keep him, but we are no where near being set up to keep a snake. Not yet. Hopefully soon, though. Going to release him outside in a bit, which Karl most likely will be upset about. But, he can't stay in here, lol.