We had a scare last night with Paisley.  Although we don't know for sure what happened, our best guess is that she got bit by something (spider? ant? scorpion?) last night when I had her out for the last time, though she didn't yelp or show any signs of being bitten at the time.  A little later I put her to bed in her crate (at which point she appeared completely normal), then went to bed myself.  I was already drifting off to sleep when Barry came in holding Paisley and saying that something was wrong.  He had been watching sports on TV and was just about to hit the hay himself when he heard her banging around in her crate.  Turns out she was rubbing her face all over inside trying to scratch her incredibly itchy face, which by this time had swollen up like a balloon.  In addition to a swollen, red face, she had itchy, raised hives on other areas on her body, and a red rash on her chest.  

Yesterday during Paisley's late afternoon playtime, she found a small coconut that she quickly became obsessed with.  Barry got the idea to throw it into the ocean water to see if she'd retrieve it.  Um, yes.  Again and again and again.  The tide was out, so the water was even shallower than usual in this area, with a few deeper holes.  It was quite entertaining to watch her walk, then swim when she hit a hole, then walk again, in dogged (pardon the pun) pursuit of her latest obsession.  Once she had to dive fairly deep under water to get the coconut as it had floated into a deeper water area.  After several aborted attempts, she finally got it.  I couldn't believe it!  She even attracted an audience of the security guard and two guys working on the second floor of our building.

Here are a few photos of her retrieval efforts as well as a YouTube video showing the extent to which she'd go for that little coconut (and for the treat from Barry that came after!)  Needless to say, one little Boston Terrier was a very tired girl last night!

After the third rainy morning in a row, by lunchtime it was breezy, sunny and absolutely perfect.  High in the low 80s, a perfect day for a paddle.  Barry checked out one of the Grand Caribe kayaks and even persuaded Paisley to come along for the ride.  She's had pretty much experience in boats from our days of owning a sailboat and dinghy, so she managed just fine.  

Dinner was mystery fish fillets with jerk seasoning and fresh pineapple salsa on a bed of black beans and rice, accompanied by sauteed chayote squash (called "chow chow" here in Belize).  Not bad!  

This morning after our run, pool-down, and breakfast, we were getting ready to head to town on errands when we heard Bernie roll up in the tractor.  Fortunately, when you're retired and living on an island, dealing with slight changes or delays in plans is much easier than when you're on a tight schedule in the US and have to go to work each day.  So we put our errands on hold until afternoon, and Barry pitched in and helped with the sand moving and raking, while I observed and took photos.  The end result was a nice fluffy beach in front of Chico Caribe instead of hard-packed sand and rocks (ouchie on bare feet) from construction.  A really nice improvement!

After all that excitement, we headed to town on our bikes after lunch.  In addition to buying some fresh veggies and Belikin beer, we picked up our local checks (or "cheques" as they call them here) at the Belize Bank.  We'd ordered these several weeks ago, and they took a bit longer than originally promised, but at least they finally came in.  We also placed an order for some "business" cards at Gecko Graphics.  In our case (since we're not running a business), these are just personal cards with our contact information and this blog's address to share with people we meet here.  We'd spent some time yesterday designing them, which was quite fun, actually.  We added some palm trees and a bicycle with a basket graphic to them, to represent our lifestyle here.  They are supposed to be ready no later than Friday.  Fun!

Finally, we bought Paisley a new red leash at this cute shop as the clasp on the one I'd bought before we even brought her home from the breeder in 2008 had broken a couple of days ago.  Cost was $14.50 BZD ($7.25 US), not bad at all.

Today we spied what looks to be a lime tree near our pool, on the other side of the concrete wall.  The lot on that side is vacant and beautiful jungle at this point.  Perhaps all the limes aren't so high up as the ones we saw. This will require further investigation!  Also today, Barry learned how to crack open a coconut.  Since he doesn't have a machete, this took a bit of work, but he was rewarded for his efforts at last.  As there are many coconut palms around, this is a great new skill to have.  I drank most of the coconut water, and it was delicious.  He cut out all the coconut meat and grated some of it for our chicken and vegetable curry tonight for dinner.  Mmmmmmm!  Fresh grated coconut on top was truly the perfect touch. 

Here are a few "cute Paisley" photos.  She is really enjoying the beach here.  She goes into the water to cool off, plays in the sand, and pretty much wants to be outside all the time.  Most afternoons we have a fetch session, and she runs like the wind after her ball, getting herself completely sandy all the while.  We almost always have to dunk her in the water afterwards, and she really seems to enjoy being dried off on the dock.

First, a follow-up.  In yesterday's entry (http://bebelize.weebly.com/1/post/2011/09/sunday-cycling-adventure-and-a-stormy-afternoon.html), I blogged about the horrible area of murky water on the road north that Barry rode through and cut his leg on a wire in, but I was too chicken to attempt.  I'm happy to report that his leg seems to be just fine, but he was determined to get back up to the scene of the crime to take some photos so everyone could see just how icky and non-navigable this area was.   So after our errand ride into town today, he continued riding north until he reached the other side of the area that he rode through on Sunday.  And here it is:

As you can see, with all the debris and swampiness on either side, there's really no way to go around it.  I'm still really glad I didn't attempt it as you can't possibly see either how deep it is or what evils might be lurking in it.  Would you have ridden through it?  

Now to today's activities.  We took Paisley on a nice long walk this morning, and she was accosted by a couple of dogs at El Pescador, a resort up the way a bit.  One brown dog was not very friendly towards her, but this young black one wanted to play.  Still, it intimidated Paisley a bit, so she kept escaping into the water.  She really has learned to love the sea here and goes in to cool down frequently when we walk.  

After the walk and breakfast, we rode into town for a couple of groceries and to pick up curtains I had hemmed and a window valance I had made.  On our way there, we stopped for a brief chat with our buddy Raphael, a security guard at The Phoenix, where we stayed for our 25th anniversary in May 2010.  Raphael is from El Salvador and doesn't speak a lot of English, so we try our our rudimentary Espanol on him, and he very generously encourages our meager efforts.  I'm currently going through the Pimsleur lessons on the computer, and Barry had already done quite a few of these lesson while in Chapel Hill.

After buying bread, OJ, and cereal, we headed over to Sew What to pick up my projects.  Barry decided that the valance would do best strapped across my handlebar basket rather than on his rear rack, so we covered it in trash bags and strapped it on.  I got a few funny looks, but really, you see folks carrying all sorts of stuff on their bikes here, but they are usually locals, and we still look like tourists to most people, I'm sure.

Fortunately, I got everything back to our place with no problems, though I did have to go through quite a few puddles on the road.  Not disgusting like the mega puddles farther north, though.  Yes, this is Belize in rainy season!

Finally, here are a couple of other miscellaneous shots from today...

Finally, a nearly all-dry day (just a very brief passing shower during breakfast), and great easterly breeze, whisking the mosquitoes away and giving us a chance to turn off the A/C and open up.  We started the day with a nice walk.  Paisley got to do a bit of swimming to cool off in the hot sun (she's a natural), and discovered coconut meat for the first time.

After a quick dip in the pool and breakfast, we rode our bikes into town, as usual.  We had a lot of places to go today, including the bank, GoNature health food store, Maria's fruit stand and Healthy Belize for produce, and Super Buy for a couple of other groceries.  I also dropped off our bedroom curtains to be hemmed (they interfere with the dresser), and commissioned a simple valance for our living room window from Sew What.

Unfortunately, with all those stops, a very long wait at the bank, and getting a late start, we were riding home right at noon, when all the workers up north ride their bikes back into town on their lunch hour.  In a few places, the sandy path along the beach is quite narrow, and I came upon a local going the other way on his bike in one of said places.  I veered a bit into the soft sand to give him room, lost traction and went down on my left side.  Fortunately, in the sand and at slow speed, this was a very minor spill.  My basket and front stem were a little wonky afterwards, but aside from my left side being covered in sand, my body felt okay.  It was only later in the day that my left knee started aching; I must have twisted it a bit or something.  It felt better after the application of ice, so hopefully the injury is superficial and won't prevent me from doing any of the things I want to do here.  

In the afternoon, I did some sweeping (lots of sand gets into the condo) and made a black bean, mango, and corn salad for our dinner.  The mangoes we have been getting lately are huge, juicy, and delicious, and appear to be the same variety my "Papa" grew on his tree in Ft. Myer's, Florida.  Major yum!  I also did a little yoga and Pilates, and some reading.  

Barry kept busy with home improvement projects.  He got a hasp and lock installed on the doors to a storage area where we can keep our bikes, which allowed us to move them (and all the sand they bring in) out of our condo.  This made me very happy!  He then started working on installing a handle and latch for our screen door.  Screen doors here do not come with this very essential part, as I guess they leave it up to the owner to install the hardware they prefer.  

Unfortunately, he dropped a part of the latching mechanism on the tile floor, and it shattered.  It was very poor quality.  It's difficult to get good hardware here, and the selection is quite limited.  There are hardware stores, but nothing like Home Depot or Lowe's back home, with their almost overwhelming array of choices.  Hopefully he can find some small piece of hardware that will complete the installation without re-buying the whole mechanism again.  Barry has got a good bit of McGuyver in him, so I'm betting on it!

After a full day, I'm too tired to write much but wanted to share these photos from the day.