Li'l Sally Dog R.I.P.

Sad day today. When I returned from a 3 pm doctor's appointment, I was flagged down by the neighbour's gardener who was gesturing emphatically to the body of l'il Sally dog. He explained to me that she had been killed by a speeding car. Early this morning we walked the beach and she romped and danced in the surf. Now it's just Gracie and me.

Sally will be missed. She had made herself very popular locally by accompanying me everywhere I went even coming up on stage when I sang at karaoke. I know lots of pictures were snapped us us on stage but I don't have one.

Sally enjoyed a good life. She was abandoned at my house one day when she was really tiny. I took her in and we bonded. I guess Sally would have been five this July. I will miss her terribly. My last command.....Rest in Peace, Sally.

High tide has kept me off the beach for a while. I took to walking the inside roads here in Surfside but it's not the same. I went back to the beach yesterday and again today and walked half of it in spite of the water still being too high. It makes for difficult walking. The sand is soft, the angle of the berm is steep and the waves keep chasing me up the berm to avoid getting my walking shoes wet. So walking half is like doing the whole walk with an 80-lb pack on.

Still, the dogs love it and it is much more interesting than walking through Surfside. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Got my Honda cuad serviced today. My neighbour on the next street is a motorcycle mechanic. So i dropped the cuad off at 7:30 this morning and he brought it back around noon...perfect. Otherwise I would have to have it transported to Huacas for service.

Pineapple Delight

I have been told for years that here in the rainforest, if you stick something in the ground, it will grow. Well, experience has taught me that this is simply not true. And it's not that I don't have a green thumb...I have been successful growing things in many different places I have lived, except Alaska, where I didn't try.

So, when I dressed (or perhaps undressed) a pineapple, I thought "what harm...... stick it in the ground and see if it grows". I have tried this in the past without success but my neighbours have done it. So I dug a hole in the nutrient-deprived soil in the back yard, plunked in the pineapple top and filled it in. In an attempt to increase my odds, I sprinkled fertilizer around and installed a wire-mesh enclosure to keep it safe from the critters. A week or so later, I repeated the performance with a second pineapple top.

Initially, I watered them a lot to get them going and neither showed signs of imminent death. This was encouraging. However, neither did they show signs of imminent growth. I thought perhaps they thought I was being over-attentive as young pineapples are wont to do so I just ignored them except for the weekly watering I give all the plants.

Imagine my surprise and delight when I discovered that pineapple number two was growing. The photo on the right shows new leaves extending higher than the mesh protective enclosure. This is exciting and I can't wait to see if pineapple number one launches itself into growth mode or if any future pineapple tops I decide to plant reward me in this way.

You never know in the rainforest.