Sunday
10/28/2012
Yes,
you can cut the lawn with a machete
This
seems to go on a lot around here, lawn care by machete. Lawn care by
machete and weed wacker is also common. I met a guy working in our
neighborhood the other day. He has a bicycle with a trailer, and in
the trailer are a couple weed wackers and machetes. Some homeowners
with more upscale homes seem to have lawn mowers but among the
average locals, no.
I
have boots and a machete, so why not give it a try? It is
surprisingly effective! I have more weeds than grass in my back yard
and they are starting to get out of hand. A few swipes of the machete
and the weeds are considerably shorter! I really don't want to buy a
lawn mower after all the years without one, so I think I have a
solution. Until I get the place replanted in mani (aka perennial
peanut, same thing we had in FL), it's machete time.
There
are no hurricanes in Panama.
This
is true. We are out of any hurricane paths. But, this does not mean
we don't feel the effects. When Sandy was northeast of us, it rained
for two days straight, often raining very hard. Rivers overflowed and
there was flooding in some parts of the country. The rain is warm and
not unpleasant but I was getting tired of driving in it to get things
done.
Don't
get me wrong! I am very thankful, especially now as I see the east
coast preparing for what might be a huge situation. It would be nice
if no one ever had to deal with a hurricane. I'm not going to miss
all that for sure, but I never thought about us being close enough to
get a good soaking if one happens to be nearby. It's pretty hard to
complain about any of it though, when I think about how many people
are watching Sandy bear down on them.
Back
to the US
Other
than that, it's been quiet the last couple days. My traveling
companion left for a visit to Boquete, so I have been working hard on
the house. I got oil paint for the doors and storage areas on the
back bedroom and wanted to get that done so it would be dry and less
smelly when we all come in. I tried to clean and organize the house
in general a little. It's definitely a work in progress but hopefully
it will be tolerable. The new paint on the doors sure looks good!
I
continue to be impressed with the kindness of the Panamanian people
around me. I went to the neighbors to let them know I was going to be
away for a few days. They said they would watch the house. And, they
called a taxi driver friend to take me to the airport, gave me the
phone numbers of their favorite taxi drivers, and wrote out
directions to the house if I need to call and direct the taxi driver,
something I'm not sure about doing over the phone in my limited
Spanish. What nice people.
Skype
Skype
is a wonderful thing. I “had dinner” with one of my daughters
yesterday. She was on the computer screen in front of me, but we were
almost as together as if we were in the same place. She gave me a
tour of her new house. I showed her the papaya I was eating. I could
have given her a tour of my house too but I'm still stuck to a cable
until the router gets down here.
I
bought a plan on skype where I have a USA phone number and I can call
anywhere in the US as much as I want. I can't remember how much it
was, but a year was about half what I paid for my cell phone in the
US for a month. OK, so my old cell phone was a smart phone with
internet and all that, but still, in Panama, my internet/TV, my cell
phone, and my skype plan all together are a lot less than what I
paid for just the phone. The internet and TV, if I remember, are
about $35/month. One of these days I'll have to start an accounting
of all our expenses, just to see how big the different is from what
we used to pay to live.
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