My most current project is recently framing a building a small cabana on the farm.
April 22
Life in the jungle: First thing, I moved cement mix for the greenhouse floor expansion as I was waiting for a dump truck load of gravel. Usually, I get cement mix (sand/gravel). But I have a few projects that require gravel.
The greenhouse is about 1,000 square feet, and we soon discovered that 50% shade cloth is too much shade for hot peppers. So, I am building a 1,600 square foot cement block floor to grow the hot peppers outside the greenhouse. I call that my “greenhouse expansion floor.” I use cement mix as my base material and lay cement blocks on their sides as flooring material.
After the gravel was delivered, Andy and I headed to the city. We needed to track down an excavator operator. There was an operator that has been stringing me along for over a month, which was a huge loss of time during a very short dry season. So we are trying a new operator. [This operator would also string us along.] We also picked up some primer paint for the new cabana.
After getting home, I spent the remainder of the afternoon moving gravel, patching our driveway area.
The greenhouse expansion floor
April 23
Life in the jungle: I spent the morning moving gravel. Moving gravel by shovel is sort of a hard job. After lunch, Andy and I painted the interior a coat of primer in the new cabana. It didn’t take long before the can was used up. I spent the remainder of the afternoon moving gravel.
I am basically halfway done moving the dump truck load. About 20% of the load will be left on the ground as a floor base for future loads of material, which doesn’t leave much gravel left anymore. I will have to order another load of gravel by next week. This will be my fourth dump truck load of materials in two months.
Gravel pile – yesterday & then today
April 24
Life in the jungle: I pretty much spent the whole day moving sand/gravel material with a shovel and wheelbarrow. The materials moved today and yesterday have been split between the greenhouse expansion floor and filling in any overflow ditch that I had dug out a long time ago, to possibly hold turtles. The overflow ditch was never used, and at the rate I keep building out infrastructure on the farm, the area is needed to enlarge the compost material mixing area. I feel like this ditch will require about 3/4 of a dump truck load of materials to fill. After yesterday and today, the ditch is about 80% filled in now.
I waited all day for someone from the excavator company to come and assess my needs. He was supposed to come yesterday morning already. This is likely the beginning of being strung along by this company for who knows how long.
April 25
Life in the jungle: First thing, I moved some gravel, and then Andy and I headed to the city for more paint. Returning home, I did some painting of the new cabana. For some reason, I was completely exhausted to the point of going to bed at 7:30 PM before I even had supper.
Andy showed me this weird community in Boom called Blackberry Estates.
I had never heard of it, and it was kind of isolated in the middle of nowhere.
April 26
Life in the jungle: This morning, I mixed cement and poured five of the six footings for the ATV shed. Last week, I dug footing holes for a future ATV shed. I have no idea when the shed will be built, only that someday we will have ATVs. I want to build the floor now so I can use it to raise seedlings on until the shed needs to be built.
After lunch, Andy and I finished the coat of primer painting of the interior of the new cabana. The last part of the day, I moved gravel/sand mix.
I discovered (the hard way) that a Mexican Masked tree frog made its way into my boot.
April 27
Life in the jungle: First thing, I mixed half a bag of cement. I poured the last footing for the ATV shed and also made six patio stones.
Yesterday, Andy mentioned we needed to be able to soak down the compost we are making in the compost chicken coop. Apparently, the vegetation is too dry to break down and compost during the dry season. This morning, I ran a PVC waterline into the coop. I will let Andy figure out how he wants to soak everything. But the plan will be to automatically sprinkle the compost material down when and while I feed the chickens in the morning and late afternoon. [This system would end up working great.]
We had a few badly needed rain showers this morning. Before a late lunch, I got in my mandatory Sunday in the hammock.
In the afternoon, I wrote Belize blog Part 160. While I was feeding the chickens, I lost water. Andy seems certain that we probably have a leak underground. This is about as bad news as can be for the water situation. I guess we will see if this can get figured out tomorrow. [Fortunately, it turned out not to be an underground leak.]
Getting back indoors, my brother called me, preventing me from writing Belize Part 161.
On Facebook, I posted
A desperate plea from me.
On my hands and knees, begging. Please vote Conservative tomorrow. Every conservative vote sends a message that we will not be ruled by corruption, fear, and division.
As someone who is almost 52, it is very apparent that this is the most important federal election in my lifetime. Never in my lifetime has so much been at stake.
I believe in a multi-party government. But the liberal party of Canada is a cancer of the worst kind. It needs to be 100% eliminated before they can rebuild.
The liberal party has systematically destroyed Canada on every front. Canada is no longer the country I was born and raised in.
Carney is bought and owned by China. Trudeau’s financial advisor, who has literally promised more financial hardships ahead. My goodness, think of your children’s future!!! Do they even have a chance in Canada anymore?
The NDP is completely useless, complicit in Canada’s downfall, and only interested in their pensions.
To my liberal friends, the good news about voting Conservative is that nothing will change for you. In fact, Canada will be freer for you to be, just you. But for your friends, family, and fellow Canadians, your conservative vote will give them hope, freedom, and a future. Isn’t that reason enough to vote Conservative?
I am begging you, please put Canada first, and on track to be the greatest and freest country in the world again. 🙏 🙏🙏🙏🙏
My Canada
This is likely my last political post. I am very depressed at the possibility that a Conservative majority government is slim to none. Canada has been systematically destroyed in the last nine years by the liberal government. Without a majority government, Canada will only spiral further. It would simply be best to emotionally disconnect myself from Canada and further spiral into the toilet.
April 28
Life in the jungle: I started my morning mixing cement for patio stones, and then pulling off the ATV shed form molds.
After lunch, the second dump truck load of gravel, or my fourth dump truck load of materials this dry season, was delivered.
I spent most of the afternoon painting in the new cabana. The last part of the afternoon was moving gravel.
Today was the first day with noticeable smoke from forest fires in the area. Unfortunately, this is a very regular issue at this time of the year.
Andy spent pretty much the whole day working on the water pump. It looks like the issue was the intake valve in the river (and not an underground leak). This is a huge relief, but still frustrating, as pumping water is the farm’s biggest regular problem, and I live right on the Belize River.
Today was the Canadian Federal election. It was nothing short of being hugely disappointing, but at the same time, it was very liberating. My interpretation is that there is no turning back (in my lifetime) from the damage that the liberal party has done during the last nine years, and the people asked for more. You reap what you sow, so in one sense I am not in the least bit surprised. That being said, I officially separate myself emotionally from Canada, and just as importantly, I separate myself from all things political.
Galatians 6:7 (NIV) “Do not be deceived: God can not be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”
I think my most memorable (and not in a good way) moment of this election will be that 43.5% of Canadians voted for a political party that put tampon machines in the men’s bathrooms at the parliament buildings. After 158 years of history, this is how smart Canadians are.
The consensus is that Trump was a leading factor in the election. If that doesn’t show how weak Canadians are, that their vote was fear-based, nothing ever will.
The good news, I am officially done with all political posts. I am extremely lucky at my age, living in a country that is not left or woke (yet). I am equally thankful for (almost) being 52 and not 22.
My Dutchman Pipe vine is doing good.
The right side photo is its first bloom, coming in June.
April 29
Life in the jungle: First thing, I mixed half a bag of cement for patio stones. Before lunch, I started painting the cabana. After lunch, I continued painting. The last part of the afternoon, I moved some cement mix. I did a quick measurement of the greenhouse expansion floor area – 20×80 ft or 1,600 square feet.
I mentioned to Andy that I felt like I had broken up with Canada, but the breakup was mutual. I have only had two breakups in my life, and they were pretty devastating (for me). But this breakup was mutual, and I really didn’t care. The crazy thing was that Andy said he felt exactly the same way.
My Bougainvillea is in full bloom
Belize Part 162 (April 14 to 21)
Belize Part 161 (April 5 to 13)
Glossary of Terms
Glossary of words or people that may or may not be part of this particular 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 assorted 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 a 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 season (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 at the end of 2023. When I offered Andy 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.
