Almost Perfect

“Almost perfect” is a phrase my dad uses from time to time. Whenever he’s said this, I’ve written it off as perfect. After all, there is always room for improvement. “Almost perfect” is perfect for now, but maybe not yesterday, perhaps not even tomorrow.

This phrase has been top of mind since it made a debut appearance yesterday in Douglas’ cabana. I had come to the orchard to visit the boys, and after our visit I took TJ up to Doug’s house for a visit. Doug was not living there, but we had recently arranged the sticks and it was almost ready for her to move in.

I set Tetra on the floor, and she began playing independently with a few small sticks that were lying around. I thought it was a good opportunity to sweep, and so I did. When I was done sweeping, she was still occupied, so I decided to stretch.

The following day, Douglas joined us. Tetra and Lucy took a nap while Matt searched for a good data signal.

It was then that I heard the phrase “almost perfect.” As a child, I dreamed of assembling an airport tower that we had lying around in Ava to be a dance space. The tower is still there, and the dream never faded. Sometime in the past couple of years, I had a dream that seemed to be in another world/dimension. I was atop a wooden floor high in the sky. The ground was far, there were no walls. There were two voices of encouragement, telling me to dance, and so I did.

My moment in Doug’s casa brought me back to those dreams. I realized I was living them. I tried to write the file to memory, as I stretched, and watch Tetra explore her environment. “I never pictured this with a charming little daughter in front of me,” I thought. “But, how happy am I that she’s here!”

The house is moving along. The posts for the veranda have been set, and the beams for the 2^nd floor and veranda are being hoisted. We’re eager for it’s completion.

Two of the posts were leaning slightly. Here, they work on putting up the natural stick for the veranda railing, but you can also see the ropes from efforts to move the poles to a more vertical position.

Now, I see a new dream – one that I’ve been painting in my head for a while. I am in the new house – on the deck, or in the big space. Everything we need is within reach. Visitors in the form of guests or friends/family visit occasionally. Tetra has a natural environment to explore and learn from. Matt and I also take advantage of this optimal learning environment. He develops skills to work the land, and continues with his experimental noise. I grow as a professional and as an artist. Douglas is the happiest she’s ever been. Lucy feels friendship and freedom every day, and Jack is loved. And now the chickens have joined in.

Matt is dedicated to his carrots. Today he weeded for an hour.

When Matt and Luciano came home yesterday, he kept telling me about this surprise he had. “Guess! Guess what it is!” he said. “Cake! Cake! It must be Cake!” I declared. “Guess again!”

He brought me up to the rover and told me to look in the passenger window. I peeked in and jumped back in shock. It was a clump of red feathers! “Dead chicken?” I looked again, and actually the rooster and hen were sitting next to each other in opposite directions. The rooster had his wing over the hen. They seemed frightened, and he was protective.

Today is their first day with the rest of the hens. They all seem to be getting along fine. When we move out to the orchard, we’ll bring them all to a new coop under Doug’s casa.

So, it’s all coming together, and I hope it keeps coming.

The guests continue to bring new ideas and company. One of our most recent guests told me about how useful clay was for fighting infection and more. I learned that the darker clay is more for molding and the lighter clay is more medicinal. The white, white clay she said, can be diluted with water 10:1(ish). You can drink the water to cleanse out your digestive system.

The road is dry and bumpy. The weather is overcast and probably in the low-mid 70s. Perhaps 50% humidity.

Well, that’s the news from Honey Camp. You can log on at www.honeycampranch.com

Three Day Delivery

Every day brings a new adventure for those boys. Today, I got to share in the excitement as the lumber was finally delivered to our place.

It all began last weekend, when Matt told the lumber company that the road was very bad. They didn’t trust themselves to deliver the wood, so they returned the delivery fee. It was up to Matt and Luciano to come up with plans A, B and C.

So, they hired a guy with a big British army truck to make the delivery. That afternoon, the Rover followed the army truck down Honey Camp Road. They watched, as about 5 miles into the trip, the truck veered off the road and into soft ground.

This heavy load could not escape it’s fate.

The boys left the truck to find one of the few tractors on Honey Camp, but the driver was too drunk to help. And on their way out of the long road to inquire, they got the Rover stuck! That ensued a whole new train of complications, which they eventually freed themselves of and returned to the truck.

They began unloading the “small stuff” into the Rover and driving it to HCR. They got all the floor delivered that night. It was getting dark, and after many attempts to get out using only 4-wd, the driver decided to stay the night with his truck and the lumber.

The next day, Luciano had found a man in town who had a tractor. The tractor didn’t help and the truck remained grounded.

The driver was spent. He was ready to go home. He and his passenger began unloading lumber. Claudio was left behind to guard it, as Matt and Luciano went into town to borrow Neto’s trailer. With the trailer in tow, they worked all day moving the 2x4s to HCR.

Sometime around midnight (just after they finished moving the 2x4s) the truck driver did get out. I hear that he had to jack up the truck and put stones under the tires.

Earlier that day, Luciano did get ahold of Mr. Bull—another man with a tractor. He was already busy for the day, but said he could be out first thing in the morning to move the remaining lumber to HCR.

Matt woke early the next day. They had left the heaviest and most expensive lumber in the road… and he was hearing things. He jumped into the Rover while it was still dawn (perhaps 5:30) and went to check on the lumber.

After confirming that it was still there, he returned. But it was no wasted trip! Matt collected the rocks from the truck escapade and brought them back to help repair our dead end road. He also dug a trench to drain the water from a small lake at the entrance of our road. And all that before breakfast! After eating, the boys called Mr. Bull, who said he would meet them at the site.

I was left once again with a ton of work to do, and a sweet charming baby. I had been here before—for the last two days, and I wasn’t hopeful.

A couple hours passed when I heard the Rover coming up the road. I braced myself for another tragic detour.

I walked out to the road, and saw not the Rover, but a tractor climbing the horizon!

I was overjoyed. If I wasn’t so busy taking pictures, I would have been dancing.

It took Mr. Bull and his crew of 2; and the Rover, carrying Matt, Luciano and Claudio 3 trips to carry the remaining 8x8 lumber. 

When they were through, it was 11:58am, and I was beside myself. It was one of the greatest mornings ever at Honey Camp Ranch. Mr. Bull is indeed a bull. He’s larger than life and a king upon his throne.

time is never wasted

There's quite a bit to say, so I'll just leave you with some photos and a poem.

Venus and Jupiter are so bright

And when I saw the moon, she was smiling

The waves roll in, or not at all

And the clouds, sometimes trace the skyline

My days are filled with the sounds of life

And the quiet tapping of my keyboard

As I assure myself

Time is never wasted

in a place like Honey Camp

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.

Updates!

Tetra

TJ is doing good. She's overcome her cold, and so there is no longer snot all over my boob, which is a major win. She's standing more. She likes to just pull herself into a standing position and play with whatever is in front of her. She still crawls... particularly to the edge of the concrete
in the palapa. She knows the risk, and she mostly goes only to the South side, where the water is very shallow. She talks, and laughs. What she is saying is still a bit unclear, but she doesn't mind, and neither do we. 

I'm constantly getting told how to bathe her, or dress her, or feed her, etc. It's a blessing and a curse. I try very hard to take the suggestions to heart, and to overcome any feelings of offense. It can be hard when I'm the only one caring for her all day. Then, someone wants to drop in and tell me to put socks on my baby... It's well intended, and often a good suggestion. It's just hard to hear after running solo all day.

And, it's not every day that it's just me. Matt does help a lot when he is around, and so do the other boys. But, when they go to town, I prefer to stay. I get much more work done when I don't have to socialize, even with TJ around. 

She's eating solids, but not as much as I would like. I get drained quite easily on only 3 adult meals a day. But, she'll take rice and beans, eggs, bananas, bread, tortilla or fry jack. Getting soft veggies without spices is kind of a challenge right now. I would have to cook them myself, and I've not quite got that worked into the routine yet.

Routine

There are some pieces of the routine coming together. Before breakfast, I wash and soak her cloth diapers from the day before. After breakfast, I finish with a light wash, a rinse and then hang to dry. I'll mind T for a bit, if Matt needs to do some stuff. Then she goes back to her dad so that I can get 2-3 hours of work in.

By then, it's time for lunch! And, am I ever starving by then. After lunch, I play with T for quite a bit, and do a few more chores. I reconnect with any outstanding work from the morning. I could be at the computer anywhere from .5-2 hours in the afternoon.

Dinner comes quick. We usually hang out for a while after dinner, then I find myself back in the RV with T around 6:30 or 7:00. I nurse her to sleep and work until about 10.

Guests

It's a ball having guests. I love meeting the new people; hearing their stories and sharing our own. They come wanting to be happy, wanting to enjoy their vacation, so they are always chipper. It brings new life and new perspective to our little ranch.

Before we came here, I was worried that T would not get enough socialization out here in the jungle. But, I didn't account for all the guests! We are booked for December, and I can't believe it's nearly half way over. We have guests on both ends of January, but we blocked the rest out for building.

Come February, we will hopefully be in our new home, and perhaps have visitors from WA or IL.