Ollie the singing Dog

Remember this snake photo? I finally found out what type it is. I sent a photo to the La Mica Biological Station here in Panama. It is a bird-eating snake, Pseustes poecilonotus.  Dr. Julie wrote that this one is a pretty dark one – a color to be found more in Panama than in other locations. They are highly variable – some are grayish, others nearly black, some even red on the top. This is a non-venomous snake for humans and it feeds on birds, but also mice, rats, frogs and lizards. They can be aggressive if disturbed – they will flare out their throat to try to look bigger and will strike and try to bite, but again they are not venomous to humans. They can get pretty large – up to about 2 meters/6 feet and lay eggs. They are fairly common but often difficult to recognize because they are so variable in coloration.

I don’t mind snakes at all, I think they are cool creatures and I am not afraid to touch them either. But I tell you I will run from spiders. I don’t know what it is all of a sudden but in the last 3 weeks I have seen several of really big and hairy spiders. The pretty orange spider that was a while back on the car, the same kind but just a little smaller came out of the door handle again like the last one did. Drove into Colon with Debi for a dental visit and when we go back into the car I sat down in the driver’s seat and Debi was just going to enter the door when a yucky spider entered instead and jumped on the seat towards me. I think you get the picture when I tell you that I have never been so fast out of the car, not to mention the blood curdling scream. The spider was in and we were out, what now?!!! I had some OFF spray in the back so we sprayed the fleeing spider with that. Drove to the nearest store, bought some spider killer and sprayed at least half of the can into the car, locked it and shopped for a while for the poison to work. The next store we drove to we did the same, sprayed the rest of the can into the car and were forced to go shopping again. Don’t try this if you have tinted windows, the spray will melt it. Couldn’t find the spider not even when Sid cleaned the car out with brush and shopvac, nothing, no spider. Three days later when I drove into town to pick up Susan from the airport I noticed something on the floor of the back seat behind mine. It was a dead spider, where did this one come from, the car was vacuumed. The next day Susan, Cindy and I drove to Colon and on the way there a blood curdling scream came out of Cindy’s mouth this time. I looked over at her and on the outside of her side window near the rear view mirror was an enormous spider of about 12 inches in diameter crawling up the window, yikes. Now I am starting to wonder if I have a spider nest under the car!!! The car now is equipped with spider spray and I don’t park the car next to the bushes anymore.  

Pat’s Mom and brother came for a week and Pat invited us to join them at her girlfriend Carol’s house in La Guyra. What a cute house, all open and right on the beach. We swam for a bit in the warm water until the thundercloud started to really expand and let go. We made it just to the patio of the house when it started to blow hard, then heavy rain and some pretty close lightning bolts. It lasted only about 20 minutes while we had a cocktail and right afterwards we headed for the water again. Late lunch or early dinner was at Adriana’s. Now why have we never eaten there before?!!! We ordered everything they had that was seafood. It was absolutely delicious!!!

Isla Grande in background

Thundercloud coming 

  

View from house

Late lunch or early dinner was at Adriana’s. Now why have we never eaten there before?!!! We ordered anything they had in seafood. It was absolutely delicious!!!

Octopus, Shrimp and Snail alla Creolla with Coconut Rice

Langostinos

Giant Crab

Friday the 6^th Francoise our neighbor called at 4 pm. He told us that Ollie (her dog) after several days came home and he had a booboo on his leg. She did not know how bad it was and what she should do. I asked her if he needed stitches. She did not know. So I gave her some advice to clean the wound and to give hot camomile compresses.  She did not have any, nor band-aids so I took a bag full of everything over to her house and to see for myself how bad it really was. OMG when I saw poor Ollie’s leg I looked at her and said: “You don’t know how bad it is nor if he needs stitches. Look at it you can see the fat, the muscle and the bone! You need to bring your dog to the vet ASAP!” The cut was about 1 ½ inches long 1 inch across and all the way down to the bone. The funny thing with these people claim it’s their dog but as soon as something is wrong with him and he needs medical attention it’s not their dog anymore and Binnie pays for him. And sure enough she tell me that she can’t take him to the vet their car is “kind of” not working. She found many excuses. She did not even want to drive with us to the vet. I was more than just a little pissed at her, but I did tell her to call the vet while I was going to get the car. She called me at home and said the vet was not there that she was just going to put a band-aid on the wound. No, you don’t!!! I was over there in a few minutes and picked him up. I then called the Vet and guess what, he was there. An hour later Sid and I walked poor Ollie into the vets office. He looked at the wound and said Machete! We also noticed a cut on his lip but not too bad. He sedated Ollie then started to clean the wound. I could no longer watch so we went to the store to get Ollie’s meds. When we came back later the doctor explained that two of his tendons were cut but that he will have full use of his front paw. He then showed us the cut on the lips it was about 2 inches long and all the way through the lip and he could only stitch on the outside. Still asleep, we put Ollie back into the car and drove him home. For those interested the vet bill was 40 bucks and the meds 20. At home we had to carry him into the house on a towel and it took him quite a few hours to come back to life.

He’s been with us since then and the antibiotics he was taking gave him collides so now he is recuperating form that with just eating rice and chicken I cook for him. At the time we thought, who would do this to such a gentle dog then we found out his buddy had a nasty wound on his neck which told us that it was not a machete blow it was a gato solo or also called cuadi-mundi which inflict horrible wounds. This time Francoise brought that dog to the vet and she doesn’t know who owns it. 

  

Since Binnie’s workers started working on the patio floor I told everybody that ping pong was off and since it was our 23^rd Anniversary (Sept. 8^th) we decided to celebrate it at the new restaurant Palenque in Portobelo. It is located right on the waterfront and has an incredible gift store; it was hard to get out of there. The service was incredible for Panama and the food delicious with local flavors. We all had a wonderful time.

The gift store. Hmmm....Where are the boys?

Debbie, liked my mom's key chain sock

Chicken Brochette

Shrimp Salad Pocket

Pulpo Creollo

Conch Creollo with Patacones

Susan on Wooden Shoe brought some stuff back from the States for us so I picked her up in Panama for a quick shopping trip then back home. We had to be at Domino’s at 1pm. On our way back just a bit past Portobelo there was a construction going on and they made me pull over, way over, so I did. The oncoming traffic then drive around the big tractor and passed me. One big truck must not have seen me sitting there pulled way over on the shoulder and first hit the mirror and all is could see was the rest of the truck coming closer and closer and then that horrible noise along the car I just knew the car would be totally scratched up and dented. Do you think the truck stopped, nope he did not, he kept going. All the workers looked at us and then at the speeding away truck, I turned around immediately and followed the hit and run truck, passed him and stopped him. Of course they denied anything. That’s when I saw the damage for the first time and actually was surprise how little it did. The top of the mirror the paint was scrapped off and the body around the back wheel you could see something had rubbed it. Guess I got lucky it was the enormous tires that had rubbed against the car. No paint was taken off just a few little minute dents. 

They looked for scratches on their truck, of course it was too high up to get any damage, but I did point out the very clean area on one of the tires. Not knowing what to do and seeing not much damage was done, we took the phone number of the car and got the guys name and names of the witnesses. Jack later called the company and a very friendly English speaking lady talked to me and said she would get back with me. On Monday a guy called wanted to know if I spoke Spanish then said he’d call back. Lets see what comes out of this. They probably want to see the car and of course it will be when my brother is in town. Bummer! 

We made it on time to Carol’s and did not miss the wonderful buffet. Whenever she’s in town together with Pat they cook for the Domino Diva’s. They went all out and made all kind of Vietnamese dishes, it was wonderful.  

Oh and the dessert!!!!!!

Carol and Pat getting dessert ready

Maracuya (passion fruit) cream in pastry shell and Rum Cake

Some played Dominos and some went swimming. I was definitely going for a swim.  

 Pat, Carol and I went back for another swim and watched 4 Makaws fly over us to Isla Grande. When I finally got home at 8 I took Ollie for a walk. As soon as we were out the gate where I park the KIA he made these whiny noises he makes when he watches the Animal Planet. I looked into the direction he was looking and oh how cute there was an anteater. I had no idea that they live in Binnie’s jungle as well.
 

Remember the wasp that stung me a while back. We found a nest of them in our yard. It's beautiful but needed to go.

And I caught these little colorful bugs fooling around on the driveway. Aren't they gorgeous?

Tiz is a big help with my sewing projects:

The only problem is she gets tired too easily

Yes, Ollie watches TV, he loves Animal Planet and whenever he sees an animal of any kind he starts talking. It’s also a good dog sitter. Here is a little video clip of him doing so: