March 15
Life in the jungle: First thing I made patio stones and framed a form to make a ramp into Andy’s new dirt bike lean-to. I had to go to the village to pick up four broiler chicks. I (we) are going to start raising broiler chickens again. I feel somehow, I lost part of my afternoon, as before I started working on my next project it was already late afternoon. I continued working on the new chicken coop floor until I ran out of cement blocks. I think I finally have another chicken looking to sit on eggs. Justin (Andy’s friend) went back to Canada today. It’s been the last two weeks with multiple guests and now we don’t have any.
There ended up being 2 scorpions on this light this evening
March 16
Life in the jungle: I mixed and poured the cement for the dirt bike shed ramp. It ended up taking more than half a bag of cement so I ended up mixing a full bag this morning and still making some patio stones. After breakfast, I headed to the village to pay for cement blocks delivered this morning and borrow a saber saw for a 10 minute job. And then back to the village to return the saw. I spent the rest of the afternoon installing the chicken coop floor. I’m 3/4’s of the way completed the floor, and I’m exhausted.
Laying a cement block floor for the newest chicken coop. This way we can scrape the chicken waste and collect it for compost.
March 17
Life in the jungle: I started my morning by mixing cement and making my patio stones. Today is my day off and I had every intention of making it a day off. I took a short nap in the hammock and then proceeded to get caught up on writing my past due blog posts I wrote Belize blog posts Part 110, 111, 112, 113, and 114. Jamie showed up this afternoon for the usual weekend BBQ.
March 18
Life in the jungle: This morning, I slept in a bit, but I still made my dozen patio stones and built the greenhouse front entrance form for tomorrow’s cement mix. I was determined to spend the afternoon working on my blogs. After lunch, I posted Belize blog posts Part 67, 68, 69, and 70.
March 19
Life in the jungle: I mixed and poured the cement for the greenhouse’s front entrance. I ended up mixing a full bag of cement with enough cement for five patio stones. After lunch, I spent the rest of the afternoon finishing the new chicken coop floor. I had a few cement blocks left, so I started putting in the floor for the chicken coop area. I am going to lay cement blocks to build up a floor above the rainy season flooding and mud that the rainy season creates.
Finally, another hen wants to sit on eggs. I also collected 11 eggs. My new daily record. Andy finished painting the greenhouse today. Other than some trim painting of the apartment, we are ready to install an insect screen for the walls around the greenhouse.
The chicken coop floor is complete and now I am laying a floor in the chicken area to combat the yearly flood waters that run over the yard during the rainy season.
March 20
Life in the jungle: This morning I started laying the driveway patio stones. This is another project to solve muddy conditions due to the rainy season. After breakfast, Andy, and I spent the rest of the day installing the insect netting (walls) on the greenhouse. We basically got the job about half done.
Installing the insect netting around the greenhouse
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March 21
Life in the jungle: The entire day was spent working on installing the insect netting. The job is mostly done but not 100% finished.
Insect netting around the greenhouse complete
March 22
Life in the jungle: I spent the first part of the morning finishing the insect netting installation. Except for parts connected to the front entrance area, the insect netting installation is complete. After breakfast, I went to the village for groceries. Today was really hot. Getting home, I did some framing modifications to the front entrance windows to facilitate window screen installation at the greenhouse’s front entrance. Upon completion, what little time I had left in my day, I laid a few patio stones on the new driveway. Another long day in the sun.
March 23
Life in the jungle: Last night was the first night that I slept with a fan on for longer than I could recall. I spent the entire day laying patio stones for the new driveway. Jamie came over for the weekend BBQ.
March 24
Life in the jungle: This morning I made my last dozen patio stones for the foreseeable future. And then took a nap. After lunch, I posted Belize blog posts Parts 71, 72, and 73.
March 25
Life in the jungle: I spent the entire day laying patio stones for the new driveway.
March 26
Life in the jungle: I was exhausted before I even got out of bed. I dropped three things within 30 minutes of getting out of bed because of how tired I was. After feeding the chickens, I just lay in my hammock until 11 AM. It is record hot today with “feels like” 45°C or 113°F with NO breeze. After a late breakfast, I decided this was a bad day for laying and cutting patio stones
I decided to work on my computer. I posted Belize blog Parts 74, 75, 76, and 77. I am finally officially only 11 months behind on my Belize blog posts instead of 12 months.
A hot one today
March 27
Life in the jungle: This morning, I started by chopping at the ponds. I chopped around almost half of all my seedlings. While chopping the first mound, I got a glimpse of a medium-sized Morelets crocodile. It’s only the second crocodile I have seen at the ponds since my arrival here in Belize. While chopping the front of the first pond, I also saw one of the baby crocs that was recently relocated from the village and released at the ponds.
Today was hot like yesterday with no breeze. I did a little bit of house cleaning and then headed to the village for some groceries, somehow, that was the end of my day, and I was completely exhausted from it.
A baby Morelets crocodile we released in the pond the other month
March 28
Life in the jungle: The temperatures dropped a few degrees and some of the breezes returned. I spent the entire day working on the driveway. I was so tired I went to bed at 8:30 PM. My life jacket and canoe seat arrived today. I am planning a 300 km canoe trip down the Belize River with Jamie in May.
Getting excited about an upcoming 300 km canoe trip down the Belize River
March 29
Life in the jungle: Today’s temperatures were quite reasonable, almost cool compared to temperatures from earlier this week. I got the driveway job finished before breakfast. In the end, the driveway used about 300 patio stones. After lunch, I did some painting to the greenhouse’s front entrance and apartment. At the end of the day, I got back to work on the cement block floor for the chicken coop area. Today we ran out of drinking water. My drinking water is collected rainwater off a section of my house roof. At full capacity, I have about 300 gallons of drinking water, and today we ran out because it’s been that long since it’s rained.
I now have a driveway in the jungle
Belize Part 114 (March 3 to 14)
Belize Part 113 (Feb 20 to March 2)
Of Note: At this time I am currently 8 months behind in posting my Belize blog posts due to having no internet for the first 18 months of living in Belize.
Glossary of Terms
Glossary of words or people that may or may not be part of this blog post. This glossary will be at the bottom of every blog post for Belize.
Wayne – He is the son of the original owners of the farm (both owners are deceased). The original farm was two – 30 acre parcels minus two – ¾ acre parcels for my house. In 2017 Wayne sold me 40 acres of land from the original 60 acres (one 30 acre parcel plus 10 acres from the second parcel). Wayne lives in his parent’s house and has a few cows on his remaining 18 acres of land.
The ponds – I have two large (300ft long x 50ft wide x 10ft deep) ponds on my 30 acre parcel of land which is basically a jungle. I have about 60 coconut trees (mostly mature) around the ponds. In my first two years of living in Belize, I also planted about 250 assort fruit tree seedlings (Lime, jackfruit, custard apple, pomegranate, and avocado).
The coconut field – I have about 400 coconut trees planted (various growth states) on about 3 acres of cleared land of my 10 acre parcel. I have planted about 350 assorted fruit trees (lemon, starfruit, mango, soursop, cashew, lime, orange) all raised from seed since my arrival in Belize in 2021.
The river lot – my house sits on an ¾ acre lot. I have a second joining ¾ acre lot that allows me river frontage on the Belize River. I call that my river lot.
The dry – Belize has two main seasons. The rainy season and the dry (no rain). The wet is obviously the rainy season.
Chopping – using my machete to clear brush, vines, weeds, and unwanted trees. Generally, when I chop I am removing unwanted vegetation around my baby fruit trees.
Andy – A fellow Canadian who rode his dirt bike from Canada to Belize. When I offered him the use of an apartment that I recently built and the use of my greenhouse Andy decided to stay in Belize permanently and start a hot sauce company here.
