Merry Xmas!

Our first Christmas in Belize, and oh oh oh how jolly it is.

It's dark, and has been for awhile. But, since Matt traded the Trooper engine (and body) for a canoe and a rooster, the guys are here now trying to hook up the Trooper to the Land Rover to tow it to it's new home. No, they didn't bring flashlights.

look at those xmas buns!

Of course, this was not the original plan.

The plan was to drive the trooper away. But when they got here at sunset, they determined that it was impossible to drive away. So now, as I type, a motorcycle follows the Trooper, being towed by the Rover as it jerks and clanks up and down our dead end road towards a long night crawl down Honey Camp Road. I don't know who's driving or when they'll be back. At some point, I must back out of the negotiations. For this one, I backed out 3 days ago.

I have plenty of other things to occupy myself with. Tetra is doing great. She has 4 teeth coming through top and center. They are awful cute, and I adore watching her as she proudly chomps a banana.

Work is always there, and something I'm always trying to improve my practice with. As soon as I get a routine figured out, it seems that something goes and mucks it up. Most recently it was the stomach flu (which is not the flu at all, but an evil virus that rips your intestines out for at least a week).

I like it when Matt and TJ can time their naps together. I can get a lot done then.

My big accomplishment for today was saving our "pet" frog that lives in our bathroom. His (or her) name is Charlie. I hadn't seen her most of the day because I was keeping my eye on a green vine snake who snuck her way into our baño. About the 3 or 4th time that I came up to see if she had left yet, I saw her tail poking out of the shower. I opened the shower curtain and was aghast at the site of our sweet frog in the jaws of someone I thought to be harmless.

here, you can see part of the snake. she was really quite long. her body is all curled up behind the toilet.

I was pissed, and so was TJ! I grabbed that snake with my free hand and hurled her 15 feet across the yard. She dropped our sweet frog, who hopped to safety under the RV after regaining her senses. The snake–let's call her Snakey–slithered over to the chicken coop, where I'm sure she's set up camp to calculate her next murder. Lucy watched it all this happen, and considered taking advantage of Charlie in his weakened state... but thankfully, she did not.

It's xmas eve, and today I will try to string some popcorn for just a touch of xmas spirit. I think it would be so cool if the birds (and only the birds) come and eat the popcorn!

Love and Hugs to all our loved ones.