Getting To Know You.... Getting To Know All About You....

We'll have to go back to Home Depot next week, but we took time off from shopping just to walk around Lo de Marcos and re-visit some of our favorite spots...

We headed over towards the lagoon, then up the road where the Elegant Trogons were in March.  The rainy season is just coming to an end so everything is lush and green.  There is a bird's nest hanging down...  just about in the middle of this photo.  It probably belongs to the casiques, who are beautiful black and yellow birds and act a lot like crows or bluejays.  I didn't get any photos of them this time, but did see this oriole...

Really bad photo...  

Most likely a Streaked-back Oriole

We didn't see any Trogons nor any Mot-mots...  didn't even hear much birdsong.  But I'm sure there'll be lots of sightings and photos as time goes on.

There are a lot of wild flowers along the roads we walk...

Some kind of composite...  Maybe a Mexican sunflower?  I don't know...

I can't remember this flower, but I think it's what our Texas daughter buys at the nursery to plant around her propane tank and in hanging baskets.  It's quite prolific here...  as well as being very beautiful.

We walked back to the lagoon...  saw a cormorant, some egrets and...

These Black-necked Stilts...

I could have made this photo clearer, but thought I'd leave it just the way we saw it...  the water still had a bit of mist over it...  the sun was glaring down from behind.  As much as I like this lagoon, early morning is not the best time to go birding there.  Later in the season there'll be Roseate Spoonbills and several other kinds of water fowl here.  

We checked to see if the fish market was open...  it wasn't.....  Been there 3 times so far but haven't caught anyone around yet.  So we walked on to the River Trail (my term for it... it's just a path along the river that as far as I know, doesn't have a real name.)

Saw the Great Egret, the white Ibis and that cormorant...  as well as a Little Blue Heron...  there.  The river has changed a bit since we've been here (in March).  Those 7" of rain in one evening and all the rain they've had here in the last month made some real difference in the way things look.  Not only did the high water move things around, all that rain made things grow so much.  

I have mentioned that Robert and Armando, who own Galvan Realty, did all the paperwork on the house sales.  We have also contracted with them to oversee the place while we're gone... including things while we're here.  They have a gardener come here twice a month to water everything and do yard maintenance.  Also, because of the humidity here, they have a maid come in at least once a month to open the place up and air it out and do anything that needs done.  They asked if we wanted to continue this while we live here.  We do...  for a couple of reasons.  While these are things we're used to doing for ourselves, the folks who come know the place, know the needs of the area and are knowledgeable about what kinds of plants are here and what can grow here.  We figure we're in this for the long haul...  not just a few months...  and we'd like to build a rapport with them.  Also, this is a small town and we intend to do most of our shopping here and support the local economy as much as we can.

It rained a lot last night...  this morning we noticed that the electric was "acting funny"...  kind of pulsing... surging... whatever.  We had unplugged the router and computers last night when the lightning and thunder began...  so all was well on that front.  Anyway, Robert and Armando live RIGHT NEXT DOOR!  (They may soon regret buying the house next to us) and Bill caught them before they headed off to work this morning.  An electrician was called... thinking it was a problem with our house.  He went through everything... determined it was the main powerline.  To make a long story somewhat shorter, their office manager came by... she called the power company (guess the problem had already been reported)...  and by mid-afternoon, everything was okay again.

However, Bill and the electrician took apart nearly every outlet or switch in the house looking for the problem...  found some very interesting things there...  There are critters here!

These are things that would be very difficult for us to deal with on our own.  Our Spanish just isn't good enough for problems like these.  Robert's USA (speaks English) and Armando's Mexican (speaks Spanish... as well as English and I think German... probably something else)....  We're in good hands, folks!  

Last winter my blogs were mostly about what we saw and the such.  I think this year will often include how we learn about living here...  there'll be misunderstandings, mistakes and mishaps.... but we're adaptable, flexible and willing to learn.  

Even this dog, that was using the gate as a pillow for his head, wagged his tail in greeting as we walked by.

This is, indeed, that start of a whole new adventure!

That's All For Today!