February 12
Life in the jungle: All day it was an overcast and cool day. After feeding the chickens I actually got back into bed to stay warm. Today is my Sabbath. I spent the first part of my day reading a book I bought a very long time ago (1999?) called The Year of the Turtle. If I recall I may have attempted to read this book once a long time ago. Anyway, after all these years, I would like to finally read it. After my Sunday nap, I transitioned to a book called The Language of God. This is kind of a hard book to follow as it looks at the scientific evidence to prove the existence of God. So, it’s pretty scientific.
The Year of the Turtle
This evening, I saw two agoutis in my yard. Every once in a while, I am lucky to see one in my yard or on my road. But I believe this is a first for me to see two at one time in my yard.
February 13
Life in the jungle: A cool and overcast day in the city. I went looking for a dentist. I have an appointment on Thursday morning. For some reason, my lower jaw has been sore for almost three weeks. I also picked up my bike from the bike shop. For my bike, I have to order a new cassette and chain via Amazon.
After getting home I had to walk back to the village to retrieve my second bike that I biked to the village on this morning to catch the bus. I saw my first Toucan in the village. Keel-billed Toucans are rare in the area for some reason.
A really bad photo of a toucan
February 14
Life in the jungle: There was a little rain last night. Normally, I would welcome sporadic rain showers. But I need my internet connected and that won’t happen with a wet road. Also, my priority job at this point is painting the greenhouse. I removed my two hens from their chick’s and they were pissed all day.
With last night’s rain, I sort of dragged my butt this morning but I eventually wrote my last 2,200 words for my US chapter, which is now complete. My Canadian and American book chapters’ first draft is complete at 83,000 words. I have now started Mexico and was able to finish my Mexico Baja chapter section at 5,200 words.
Originally, I was planning to chop this morning until it rained last night. And then I planned to chop later in the day. But I just kept writing. I am lazy, I guess. This evening before I bed, I wrote 1,500 words as part of the Copper Canyon section of the chapter.
February 15
Life in the jungle: I started my morning chopping at the river lot. It’s been a while since working at the river lot. I chopped until lunch. After lunch, I painted primer on the greenhouse. Late in the afternoon, I did some chainsaw work at the river lot. There were some large branches from the last hurricane to cut up where I chopped.
There are a lot of snapped limbs in my river lot
February 16
Life in the jungle: My visit to the dentist didn’t exactly get me any definite answers. I was prescribed a muscle relaxer to see if that would help me with a sore lower. The consultation was $25 USD. At least that part was cheap. [The medicine ended up working.]
February 17
Life in the jungle: This morning was all about timing. I went up to the village for groceries. I brought my chainsaw for Saul to look at. He wasn’t home so I left it at his place. On the way back I saw Saul was home. After he showed me how to fix the saw and I was preparing to leave, his sister-in-law came over because she came across a boa constrictor that had just caught an agouti. She wanted Saul to come over and kill the snake. Saul knew better and looked at me. I was already on my way to my bike to grab a pillowcase. The agouti was freshly dead. I bagged the snake with no problem for relocation.
A boa constrictor with a freshly killed agouti
I asked a local to cook the agouti so I could try agouti for the first time. [They never ended up sharing any with me.]
I had to return to the village after dropping off the snake and my groceries at home. I had a can of paint I left at Verna Mae’s yesterday. Returning home, I did some painting of the greenhouse until 4 PM. Then I headed to the ponds to water my papaya plants,
February 18
Life in the jungle: I accidentally fell back asleep this morning. After breakfast I did a photo shoot with the boa, I caught yesterday. There was the shortest of rainfalls this morning I thought it would screw up painting the greenhouse for the day. One of my brothers called me. That ate up two hours. I decided that the sun had been hot enough that I could paint. I painted for a few hours. The last part of my day was cutting grass. The internet guys were supposed to show up this afternoon. They never did. Very frustrating.
Boa Constrictor
February 19
Life in the jungle: Today was my reading day. I continued reading my Year of the Turtle book and The Language of God book.
The Language of God – a tough book to follow (very scientific)
February 20
Life in the jungle: I got another chunk of the river lot chopped this morning. After breakfast, I did my second photo shoot with the boa. The boa got nasty but I got my photos and then let her go. I then painted the greenhouse and did some caulking of the apartment. I also headed to the ponds to water my papayas and also did some chopping there.
February 21
Life in the jungle: I spent all day putting the cabbage palm on the exterior of the front of the greenhouse. It looks sharp. The remainder of my late afternoon was spent chopping in the river lot.
Cabbage palm lumber installed on the front of the greenhouse enterence
February 22
Life in the jungle: This morning I started chopping in the river lot. After breakfast, I headed to the village. On the road, I saw a deer. This is only the second deer I have ever seen here. I suspect this is the same deer I saw last year. After I got home, I ended up back working in the river lot. I needed to burn some kitchen garbage so I burned a brush pile and did some more chainsaw work.
Chopping the river lot and burning hurricane debris
