"Does that Blue Moon Ever Shine on You"

That verse is from one of my favorite songs. I forget now who sings it but Yahoo told me that the reason it is called a blue moon is because it is the second full moon of the month. I didn't know that. I've always heard the expression "once in a blue moon". That's tonight.
Read about Blue Moon here.

It has been a sad couple of days, very sad. It feels longer but yesterday afternoon, I learned my friend's young son was killed by a reckless, speeding driver while he riding his bike in front of his house on their dead-end street. It is so tragic, I can't begin to express my sorrow for them and their family. My middle sister's son was killed when he was only eight years old on a four wheeler. I saw, first hand, the despair of a mother. One can only pray.

From ever on, when I hear of a blue moon,
I will always remember those beautiful souls that were taken,
too soon.

LIFE LE$$ONS

This is much too heavy a topic to explore on my lunch break but I wanted to stop a moment and regroup, consider that lessons learned are "wisdom" and it is to be treasured and passed on.
My gift to you for this new year is.....
"attitude is the key to your survival".

My favorite is "change or be changed" but that's another blog...

Attitude - It has been a trying half day Tuuuuesday, so far. I painted my heart out yesterday on those bars with red primer only to find out that it is water based and it HAS TO BE oil based. Jose worked hours and hours sanding off all the rust. The bars are about four years old and not primed properly in the first place.

Here's a photo of Jose sanding off the newly painted bars with a "good attitude". For me, it's been one mishap after another this morning. I learned AGAIN, check everything when you go for supplies, half my order was wrong and I had to backtrack. Never trust anything, the bottom on the box opened and two gallons of paint fell out, one opened and terracotta paint was spilt everywhere.
Thank God only one opened.
Lesson Numero Uno: CHECK YOUR STUFF.
I came home and did a gratitude list of all the things to be thankful for. Like, water, I have water so Jose can do all this wet sanding. "I have a house by the sea and feel closer to Thee."
I'm getting things done, finally. We do the bars in the shade in the morning and the fence in the shade in the afternoon. It works. The sun in brutal when you are working. I did take a couple of hours Saturday and thoroughly enjoyed sunning on the beach in my beautiful beach chair!!

Happy New Year EVERYONE and keep a good attitude.
It can always be worse.

Published Again

I'm always thrilled to see my photos published. The Christmas issue of El Chunche for Jaco and surrounding areas has my photos from the No Pro Surf in Esterillos this month for the orphanage in San Jose! Check it out!!

Here is a link to some photos I took from a tope (horse parade) that were published:
http://www.costarica.com/blog/2009/12/national-horse-parade-the-zapote-parties/
The BIG PARADE of horses will be in San Jose the day after Christmas.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE Everyone!!

I joke this is a "chain (link) gang" of one. Pobricito Jose!!

It's not beginning to feel a lot like Christmas because I have been totally focused on getting the fence painted and other odd jobs done around my house since Jose's arrival. I tried putting up my tree and got it half strung with lights. It occurred to me that I do this every year, cloak my house with Christmas decor, and this year, I didn't want to expend the time and energy with so many other things to do. So, I gave my tree and decorations to Jose and his family to use. I learned that they have never had a tree to decorate (or decorations) their entire lives! That felt good and I was happy to load it all in my car and take it to their home. Their little girl (8 years) was so tickled!!
This is what I've been doing,,, getting the fence ready for paint. Here, near the beach, if you don't paint your chain link, it will dissolve with the salt air. My fence has had a hedge beside it for years which has been a source of continuous work, keeping it trimmed. FINALLY, it is now GONE!
We are painting it with Jose on one side and me on the other. The fence seems to be getting longer as we paint. First, it was with brushes and now we have resorted back to using sponges as we did the first time it was painted five years ago. I end up with green paint from head to toe!!
So, keeping this in mind, please pardon my not blogging much. I think of blogging everyday, I just don't get to it.
I wish everyone a very special Merry Christmas and hope all you wishes come true!!

Surfice Dog

Please take a moment to watch this. It is inspirational and heartwarming.
Thanks to Carol for sending to me.

A Christmas Miracle

This is Jose working at a friend's place to get their septic up and running again. He took a two day break from my house to help out. Maybe to most, Jose and his family returning to CR doesn't seem like a "Christmas Miracle" but to me, it is the best present I could ever hope for. Jose worked for me for two years after I purchased my house some seven years ago. We got the rennovations completed and he went on to work at a surf shop down the road. He would come and help me out a half day on Saturdays, on his time off from his other job. Then, he went back to Nicarauga and then to live in Miami for two years, working for a landscaping company, learning to drive a truck and trailer on I-95. Needless to say, Jose returned here with a new perspective of how things are done in the States.

The real miracle is that his family is able to live in the same house behind my house that they lived in four years ago. I trust Jose completely and feel safe knowing he is now in shouting distance. So many projects are finally getting done around here. I've waited for Jose to return to help me for years and now, he has finally arrived and we are working on my house everyday. Thank You God.

So it goes...

I thought I'd post a photo and say it's all going well. This was a bit tramatic when the tree came down. In the photo, the palm has already been trimmed at the top. I love(d) this tree and it was the nesting place for many birds. It has left a void in my yard that many birds still circle around, looking for their spot.
And so it goes....
My computer is fixed, I think. I go get it today. Jose continues to work everyday, deligently accomplishing tons of projects I have saved in the hopes he would one day return to Costa Rica. (Jose helped me for two years when I was renovating my newly purchased house, seven years ago). Jose returned on Thanksgiving, with his family.
This has been a real blessing for me.

PA-LEEZE, no jokes or FWD:

Note to readers:
After publishing this, I received many helpful tools from the Blogbloke.com to fix my computer problems. It had already gone into the shop and I was not able to try any of these but these computer remedies are posted on the "comments". Thank you Bloke for all your efforts to get me up and running.

As I have mentioned, Jose returned and I am busy all day doing projects with him. He only speaks Spanish so I have to think and talk in Spanish all day. Yes, I should know it by now but I don't and it wears my brain out, plus the exhaustion from working. I can hardly put a sentence together in both English and Spanish at the end of the day.

It is amazing how quickly my emails pile-up with jokes and stuff that gets passed around. Most don't understand about our firewall protection here is not adequate. I have an antivirus program I use regularly but for some reason, after opening up such emails, my computer freezes up. This is a HUGE pain because at present, no one is in Jaco, that I know of, to fix this. So please, don't send me jokes, cutsey stuff, or forward anything someone has forwarded to you. Maybe this seems extreme but you would understand it if you lived my life here.

I am knocked off my computer with the photos and all my stuff so I am limping along right now and getting further behind on my blogging.

One more thing, I have to now monitor any comments you may make because the spammers are targeting me. If you leave a message, please wait for me to approve it and it will be posted. I do enjoy getting feedback, it fuels this blog.

OH WELL, Vote for Cesar - The Dog Whisperer every time you think of it!!

Forgiving

Please pardon me for not blogging. I am so far behind, I don't know where to start. And I don't know where to find the time to begin. It's all good and 'lots is gettin done 'round chere'. Bear with me. I'll be back.

In the meantime, please look over to the right side bar (or below or both) and vote for Cesar! He's like family around this house. We (me and the dogs) watch him and learn so much EVERY TIME!
Please vote DOG WHISPERER! Vote again and again.
I will forever be indebted to his program, El Encantador del Perros(The Dog Whisperer), books he has written with Melissa Peltier and the training DVDs. I have a couple of the books and DVDs and they ALL help change my life living with my four red zone dogs.
A Special Thank You from us to Melissa Jo.

This is my choice for:

Favorite Animal Show

Dog Whisperer