Fun and Games

Life has been complete fun out here this weekend. We've been hit with a lot of rain and for some strange reason, almost every time it starts to really pour the power goes off. My mother called the electric company and they gave her some cock and bull story. What this means is the power will go off and come on many times for the day. One day it did it seven times.

She also commented that every time the power comes back on the meter rolls forward a little. The person's suggestion for that was to turn off the central power to the property off and when we see power come back to turn it back on. That might be a solution if we lived in town and could see when the neighbors power came back on but since we live in the jungle, it's not really an option.

The constant on and off with the power is playing havoc with my stuff though. It's gotten to the point where I have almost everything in the house unplugged and only plug it in when I need it. I realize that is a good thing as far as the environment is concerned but it's a pain to have to crawl behind furniture every time I need to use something.

We also spent one day and two nights without water. I can live without power but I have the hardest time functioning without water. Somehow the main water supply got turned off so unknowingly we used all the water in our two vats which left them dry and the pumps running consequently the motor in one of the pumps burned out. $1800 and a new pump later we got water again.

And because the fun just never stops around here, now there appears to be a leak somewhere after the second vat and pump so that pump is constantly running. I'm sure the leak will be found tomorrow but in the meantime the pump has been turned off to keep it from burning out which means even though there is water I don't have access to it. Well, I can call my mother and she can turn the pump on so I can get water but then it's turned off again and all in all it's just been a fun weekend.

Thank God for Monday! :-D

Cheers :-)
- Rainforest Mommy

Jumbled Thoughts

• "Analness"
I'm really anal. I know this. I admit it. And more importantly, I embrace it!

My friend, Lisa, over at This, That And The Other Thing, can tell you stories about me. She'd likely tell you about the time, in college, I lined up all my thumbtacks, down the edge of my cork board, separated by color.

Each night I put all of Matthew's toys away. Each toy has it's own place. Matthew is getting really good at knowing where each toy belongs, much to my delight. This is what my fridge looks like when I am done each evening, and Matthew usually pulls off at least half these letters each day.


• Ants
Some days I really hate living here. Yesterday and today were two of those days. Wednesday evening, Matthew and I went outside to feed the dogs and do some light yard work. We were weeding a series of pots that I'm growing bougainvillea in when Matthew started screaming. He had stepped in an ants nest and the little, black, pests were swarming up his bare legs. I grabbed him up immediately and set him down a few feet away. I brushed off as many ants as I could and then stripped him naked and hosed him down.

Last night, Matthew woke up crying three hours after falling asleep. He was rubbing his hands and feet against the sheets and repeatedly getting doggy, his stuffed animal, to kiss the owies.

This is what my poor baby's feet looked like today. His hands aren't as bad but doggy is still on kissing duty.


• Brutus
Brutus is now two weeks and one day old. His eyes opened today and he weighs a pound and a half. He's a sweet little dog but I think he's lonely. He doesn't make half as much noise as he did when Monster was with him. I feel sorry for him but Matthew and I talk and play with him as much as we can.

• Bland Food
Ever since Matthew started eating solid foods he's clamped his mouth shut or turned his face if he thought something was too bland. I ended up throwing away a few bottles of Baby Mac and Cheese I had made for him because he just refused to eat it.

He's also a difficult eater. He's not overly picky but he takes forever to get through a meal. He chews EVERYTHING what feels like 100 times before he'll swallow it. And when I say everything, I really mean it. He recently chewed his soup before swallowing it.

But I've finally figured him out. I mean, I've always known about the bland issues, but Matthew is totally into being able to dip things. He refused to eat french fries for the longest time until he discovered a little over a month ago that fries dipped in plum sauce are amazing. (The plum sauce was really for his chicken fingers.) Then my mother introduced him to ketchup. And last night, he wolfed down his fish as he dipped it in Tzatziki Sauce.

• Really Fresh Fruit
One of the things I love most about living here is eating a fruit, planting the seed and watching the seedling grow. Some years ago I ate a sweet sop. Today, I ate the first sweet sop from the tree I started.


This is the year where things are really going to start happening for me in the fruit department. My sweet sop tree has born one fruit so far, my pomegranate tree has about 6 or 8 fruits on it in various stages of growth but none ripe yet, my orange tree has some small oranges on it and my otaheite apple tree is bearing for the third time.

There is something to be said for walking out the door and picking a fruit straight off the tree and eating it. Now if I can only convince the surinam cherry tree to produce more than two cherries at a time Matthew and I could have a fruit salad!

Cheers :-)
- Rainforest Mommy

Wordless Wednesday - Tropical Storm Alex's Destruction

Missed the stairs to my house by inches.

Two previous breaks to the same tree.

To see more Wordless Wednesday posts visit my other blog CoconutPalmDesigns or go to Wordless Wednesday.

Loss

Monster Fast Asleep_July 1, 2010

Today was a horrible day. The two rottweiler puppies I'm hand raising woke me at 5 a.m. I fed them their breakfast and settled them. I got back into bed hoping for a few more hours sleep but the little one, Monster, kept whining and whining. He hadn't really eaten anything so I started over with him to see if he was now ready for his milk. He again turned his face so I put him back in his bed and tried to go to my bed. He started whining again. So I scratched his ears and back. That settled him and he went to sleep. Less than five minutes later though, he started again. I scratched some more and offered him the bottle again.

This went on for nearly two hours. I tried everything I could think of to settle him down. I warmed his rice bag in the microwave. I gave him some gripe water. I repeatedly offered him the bottle. Nothing really worked but he eventually settled a little.

By 10 a.m. he was getting worse and worse so I took him to the vet. He thought he might have an infection because his tail hadn't dropped off yet. He cut it off, which I was very grateful for because that part just grosses me out, gave him an antibiotic and vitamin supplements and we came home. Throughout the afternoon he just got weaker and weaker. He tried sucking his milk but didn't have the strength. I tried the eye dropper that had worked before with him and I gave him his antibiotic. I even mixed up a new formula that I read about online but that didn't interest him either.

Monster died this evening.

Last week when his brother's and sisters died it was sad but I just buried them and moved on. This time it was so different because he was in the house, living beside my bed. I talked to him and rubbed him and played with him. This time it hurts.

Thank God there is one last puppy here to occupy my mind. Brutus is a fat, greedy, little boy.

Cheers :-(
- Rainforest Mommy

Yeah! My First Blog Award! - The Versatile Blogger Award

Lisa Day, from This, That and The Other Thing, has awarded me my first blog award for this blog. Thank you so much Lisa for this honour!

The rules that go along with this award are:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.
2. Share seven things about yourself.
3. Pass this award along to bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic for whatever reason.

1. Thanks Lisa. You've really made my week by giving me this award.

2. I always have a hard time thinking of things about myself but here goes...

- I am totally impulsive when it comes to moving. I moved from Canada to the Rainforest based on a split second decision. I move back to Canada from Jamaica without ever really making a firm decision.

- Among my many, many, many, animals my heart still belongs to Topanga, my cat. I got her when she was 8 weeks old from the Toronto Humane Society. She's now 12 years old and when I moved, she moved.

- I cry at sappy movies. Oh, who am I kidding, I cry at sappy commercials!

- I'm not married and I don't really want to be but I would definitely live with someone if I found him.

- My favorite food is white, cream, clam sauce. Yes, I realize it's a sauce but I'd eat it on bread if there was nothing else. Or better yet, I'd like just a big bowl of it plain.

- I love all four seasons which begs the question why I'd voluntarily live in a country that only has two, hot and rain.

- My favorite color is blue. I buy candy if it's blue just because it's blue. I eat the blue Smarties (the Canadian candy coated chocolate kind) last. If someone is giving me something, anything, and I have the choice, I'll choose the blue one. This begs another question, why did I choose to paint the outside of my house yellow?

3. Passing this award on to the following bloggers...

- Fourth Grade Nothing

- Pretty Shiny Things

- Monkey Butt Junction

- Living With Chronic Illness

- The Practical Mom Guide

Cheers :-)
- Rainforest Mommy

Wordless Wednesday - The Pussy Cat and the Parrot

To see more Wordless Wednesday posts visit my other blog CoconutPalmDesigns or go to Wordless Wednesday.

Exhaustion Has Set In

When I decided to hand raise Mia's remain two puppies I knew it was going to mean being woken in the middle of the night for feedings but after just three days and three nights I am completely wiped. I don't know how I am going to manage to keep doing this for the next however many weeks before they start eating on their own. I did read online though that after a few weeks, two I think it was, they might start sleeping through the middle of the night feeding. I live in hope!

It doesn't help that Matthew and I are continuing with out nightly battles for sleep. Friday night/Saturday morning the puppies woke me at 3:30. I fed them and went back to sleep only to have Matthew wake me at 4 a.m. That was the end of sleep for that night.

They are really cute though. (I have pictures but I'll have to post them tomorrow since I haven't downloaded them yet.) My mother named the larger one Brutus and I named the smaller one Monster. I have every intention of selling them once they are old enough but I figured I had to call them something in the mean time.

Well, I am going to go to bed and try to get a few hours of sleep before we start again.

Cheers :-)
- Rainforest Mommy

Mia

It's been a good and a bad week. I posted that Sadie, my mastiff cross, had six puppies on Monday. All six are doing well and getting big and fat.

Mia, my rottweiler, also had six puppies. Hers were born on Wednesday. Three girls and three boys. By Wednesday night, one of them was dead. As of this posting, she is down to only two still alive.

Mia came to me by way of my brother. His other female kept beating up on her and she was spending all her time at my house. She'd only go home in time for dinner and even then not always. Finally, I just bought her. I felt so sorry for her because she was always covered in cuts. She is much happier here, I think.

She's never been an overly healthy dog, though. Every single thing going by catches her. First it was a swarm of bees. The poor girl was nearly stung to death but we pulled through. Then it was ants. We kept spraying for them but somehow they just kept coming back and attacking her feet. It took about a week but we finally got rid of them. It took another week for her poor feet to heal. Then it was fleas, then fleas again and right now we are at the beginning of another flea attack. I tried everything on the market to get rid of them and in the end soap and water was the best thing. And no matter how much I feed her or what I feed her she cannot put on weight and keep it on.

This is Mia's second litter. The first time she looked like she was going to have one or two puppies and she ended up having ten. Within days all ten were dead. I waited over a year and really tried to build her up before breeding her again. This time she looked good. She was a good size and everything went smoothly but in the end she's just not a good mother. She doesn't seem to be taking care of them. They are dirty and when I try to get her to clean them she just turns her head. She lays still and lets them eat though and has stayed with them except for dinnertime.

I won't be breeding her again after this. Tomorrow, if any of them are still alive, I'm going to get a baby bottle and some puppy milk and try raising them myself.

Cheers :-)
- Rainforest Mommy

Wordless Wednesday - Don't Ask... I Just Like The Composition

To see more Wordless Wednesday posts visit my other blog CoconutPalmDesigns or go to Wordless Wednesday.

New Loves

Yesterday, one of my dogs, Sadie, had six puppies. I didn't think one of them was going to still be alive this morning because he seemed very weak and she didn't seem interested in him but he's still there this morning. We'll see.

Sadie is a mastiff crossed with mutt. She looks like a mastiff and has the temperament of one but she's small. I think out of all my dogs I love her the best but that's likely because she is the calmest of the lot. She rarely barks. She doesn't jump and bounce at dinner time. And she tends to lay still and watch the world go by. A casual observer would think she is the dog least likely to cause trouble if they walked into my yard. That is so not the case.

When someone comes into the yard she is the one I grab first because she truly believes no one should be allowed to get near me. One night, some time ago, the police came out in the middle of the night - there was someone walking around on the property setting off all the dogs so we called the police. I went outside and while my other dogs circled the police car so no one could get out of it, Sadie sat by my side with this almost inaudible growl and a look that said, "I dare you to get near my person."

On a side note: Matthew has a new word... dis. I think he picked it up from his cousin but for the last two days he has walked around saying, dis, dis, dis, and pointing at things. It's very cute.