Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Up and coming sailing Aussies

I know I have shared pictures of our new baby we will soon pick up, well in September. But I just have to share more. I am smitten with her. 

I cant wait to meet her as well as smoother her with kisses. 

My cousin found this breed, tea cup Aussie. She has a small farm in Texas, so she loved its ability to work like the full size Aussies but it was small enough to go anywhere with her as her companion. Her and I are empty nesters so having a companion with her helps fill that spot. 

Anyways, she loved the breed so much she decided to breed. When our baby Fairlane was sick and dying, I was on the phone with her because she is so knowledgible. Most people done know that Fairlane came from my mother, she was not only special because of her own abilities but she was what I had left from my mother who passed away a year or so after she gave Fairlane to us, well my daughter. My cousin was very close to my mother. She was another daughter to her. So us loosing Fairlane not only hurt us but her as well. It broke her heart and she was moved to give us something that was precious to her. Her first female!  What a gift!

So I have been in love with Schooner the day we heard she was born. I have immersed myself in facebook pages of nothing but aussies. I thought Schooner was the cutest of them all. But then she sent me pictures of her brother.  OMG!!!!  


Who couldnt love that face. He will be around 10lbs like his parents. A pefect crusing dog if anyone is interrested. You can look up her facebook page Double M Tea Cup Aussies. He is available!  

I hope another cruiser gets him because I would love to see him out here again. To know both of them are cruising dogs is just awesome to me. Lol. I know im a nut. 

Anywho just thought I would share him with the world. And Schooner as well. Lol 






Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Living Simply




Life aboard this week has been pretty mundane. No complaints here. We took the Tica bus to Coxen Hole and was able to withdraw some money, hurray!  Did our Eldon' shopping for the week, which we do for the price of things. 

We are staying on the west end of Roatan where the tourist areas are, so prices are a tad more. That' one of the reasons we go to Coxen Hole for some grocery items and  we enjoy getting out and about. We have enjoyed the west end because we have access to more places even to only walk down the street and people watch or window shop. 

Ive been practicing the making of flour tortillas. I think ive finally got it 


I enjoy making them more than bread. I can make up a bowl of balls and cook them through the week.

I thought I would share what I work on while on the boat. Many of you know I have taught myself to crochete and embroider. Ive been working on making a lacy throw made of yarn people have given me. Im slow but I think its coming along. 


I wish I had more pictures of this beautiful place for you but Im down to the ipad and I dont feel comfortable enough to carry it around with me. 

We have been snorkeling and going ashore daily. This morning a local brought us a fresh black fin tuna. Life is very easy here. Not sure if that is a good thing or not. Hahah.  

I love looking at this map. Some days it seems like we have gone so far but then I look at this and see how far we have to go. 






 

Friday, June 12, 2015

Traveling Blues

Oh what to tell you today. Well I started reading a fellow nomad blogger www.thisamericangirl.com. One of her new posts is about the not so fun things about the nomad life. The funny thing is I have been thinking about that same subject for awhile now. Her life is a bit different than mine so I can only tell you about my own experiences. I do believe that life is never perfect in that romanic way we love to dream about. What is paradise for some can me hell for others. I also think humans love to complain. 

My complaints this week is with banks and phones. First of all our bank put a block on our ATM card. We like to deal with cash to lessen the chances of card fraud. Yet with a block card this means NO cash. So you would think no big deal, right?  Just call the number on the back of the card. Well here in Honduras it seems impossible to dial 1800#s, not sure why but it is. So I had to find a minute dealer to purchase minutes for the phone and go back to the boat where my direct numbers are. 

Simple?  Well not when I cant read the instructions of how to add the minutes to the phone card. Then once I did, I have no idea if it worked because its all in spanish and the recording speaks to fast for me to understand. But I was successful and able to call my contact at our old branch. She said there was a block and asked if I told them I was traveling, who is them?  I said, well i told your branch that we were leaving to cruise the Caribbean when we open this account. I guess that wasnt enough. Still not sure if I need to call her when we change locations. Is she putting notes into the system to let the other million employees know?   

Steve is staying busy with normal maintenance. He is cleaning the teak, greasing things, polishing stainless and brass, touching up varnish inside and dailing cleaning of the sides and bottom of the boat. He had two huge visitors yesterday, barracudas. He said they were as big as him. They concerned him because they seem to be following him. He decided to stop for the day. Hahah. I looked it up and they are pretty much harmless but attacks have been recorded but they think it was from poor visibility or because the person was spear fishing. He returned today and he just reported he only had one visitor today.  Now for his beer. Lol



So bank and phone issues seem to be resolved. Now i need to find something else to complain about or just dream about our new baby Schooner. We got word she opened her eyes. It looks like she will have at least one blue eye. I think maybe both will be blue.  I cant wait to kiss her all over. 



We are still working on the details of our trip to The Rio in Guatemala.  We need to be checked out of Honduras by the first week in August. We dont want to push things because traveling is ruled by the weather. We believe we have reservations at a marina in the Rio. We are building a list of things to do to prepare the boat to be left for a month or so. We are looking at forms of transportation and places to stay in Guatemala City where we will leave from formthe States.  We think we might like to get to GC a few days prior to check out the sights. 

Oh here is one more thing to complain about, For those of us who use a smartphone for everything. My iphone recently died for good. These past few days I have discovered I had everything in there including our information on the flight tickets for the states. So now I am trying to retreive EVERYTHING I can remember that I kept on it and handwrite it all down on Paper in multiple places. Back up back up!!!!


Monday, June 8, 2015

Bare Teak and Feet

So we have decided to go bare. Lol. We love the looks of teak but salt water really hates varnish. So we are going natural. Steve will scrub lightly the teak with salt water weekly. He says this will keep the teak clean from mold and will help keep it from cracking. We will continue to varnish inside as well as use Teak Guard inside the cockpit and on the hatches. 


Thursday, June 4, 2015

Water catcher, coffee maker and expert nacho chef


Not a lot of excitment lately. We have had some rain. Luckily it has been rain with little to no wind so Steve was able to catch some water for our water tanks. He was happy that all his sewing paid off. 


Im down about the loss of my iphone. It has been a gem for many years but all it took was my morning glass of water. To think of what my phone and I have been through. Steve took a picture of what I do now without it. 


Lol it terrible I know. Im a phone addict and without it I go MORE mental. I really do need a service dog and prozac. Hehehe

We have been mostly just hanging out with this rain. Today is a dry day so we will go for a walk and meet neighbors for dinner. Oh forgot to mention what Steve has become a pro at, besides working on the boat that is. He is an excellent coffee maker, and nacho maker. Yep, he has a strange technique but I cant complain they are pretty good. 


Other news in our life. Samantha adopted a ginger kitty. She named him Thomas O'Mally.  I cant wait to meet him


Sonnie is growing a beard. Lol and it has a lot of red in it. Lol. Hahaha. Love it. Not the beard so much but the ginger coming out in him. 


Well thats about it for now. I did reformat our expense page so hopefully it will easier to update and read. Steve did point out a typo on it I need to fix but whats new. 

Smooches for now
Southern Gypsy