I'm looking for a dog toy in the shape of a flower pot. Why? Anouk is the owner of a variety of toys. Chew rag, ball, plastic bone, and the latest addition is a squeaky giant hamburger about the size of a dinner plate. All of these hold her attention for a few minutes, then off she races to tackle one of my flower pots. True, a couple are favorites but none is safe.
Good food recommended by Dra Chely, freedom to run in a fenced yard, and medicine to cure her health problems seem to give her
A friend suggested a new chewing toy for Anouk would be a twisted rag "thingy". Couldn't find one here in Boquete at the logical places to look, so I visited the garden section at Melo to make a substitute. The salesman got a big laugh about my 2 foot rope purchase ($1.00) and he helped tie the rope into a tight knot.
Anouk enjoyed her tied in a knot rope toy. However, I think it lasted only about 15 minutes and then the rope was unraveled and in pieces.
Yeah! We found the sought after
The noise got me out of bed early today, just before sunrise. The strange sound was Anouk "playing" with my (ex)beautiful orchid. The plastic container has more holes now thanks to her teeth. See the below photos of her "work".
I'll replant the orchid (one more time) after I visit Melo garden shop and purchase a bigger and heavier container -- maybe one made out of cement.
Yesterday (Wednesday) we walked the muddy road (again) to Dra. Chely's clinic. With written results from Laboratorio Clínico Biomedica's analysis of Anouk's blood, Dra. Chely gave us the good and bad news regarding the health of our dog. First of all no really serious issues. Ears bad from infection and fungus on her feet, collar burns on both sides of her neck (remember Bud and Ray had to cut and remove her old collar), and Anouk has a slight liver problem.
Dra. Chely wrote prescriptions
On Tuesday, yesterday, we took Anouk for a physical check-up with Dra. Chely here in Boquete. Bet this was Anouk's first visit to a vet. Not sure who was more apprehensive--me or the dog.
Dra. Chely was wonderful. I can understand why she has a very good reputation with the animal lovers in the area. She drew blood samples from Anouk's right leg, checked her eyes, teeth, paws, ears, coat and inspected for fleas and ticks, etc. We then took the blood samples to Laboratorio Clínico Biomedica
Anouk started chewing on our plastic flower pots, actually destroying them. Oh, oh, not good. I got Bud out of a sick bed (bad cold) and off he went to Romero's to purchase dog bones from the meat market. Cost of 88 cents per pound. He brought them home and I "cooked" a couple of the bones in the microwave for a few minutes. My vet from the US recommended this process.
Believe it or not Anouk didn't know what the bone was. I've never heard of this before. Anyway after about 10 minutes Anouk
Bought "Bags to Go" at PriceSmart yesterday. These are plastic bags where you can put your hand in bag, pick up waste, invert bag inside out, then tie. Dispose of bag into garbage. They work perfectly as described. Cost: $12.99 for quantity of 300 bags.
We had scheduled a grooming session with Casandra at Veterinaria San Jose for this morning. We believe it was the first time for Anouk to experience a grooming session. We had no idea how she would handle it. Getting Anouk into the car was not that difficult, but keeping her calm during the short 5 to 6 minute ride was a bit difficult.
Bud took a picture of the ride just before departing our driveway area. He was to drive, and I opted to sit in the back seat with Anouk to help her through t
Here is a picture of the before and after conditions for Anouk. The picture was provided by Javier and Magaly. They are super nice people. And thanks also for their volunteer helpers, Kirsten and Ray Quimby. (Ahem, Bud should have tucked in his shirt! )
We understand that Anouk was kept on a short chain in her prior "residence". Now she has full run of the yard, which is obviously fenced.
Anouk spent all last afternoon exploring around the yard and got along just fine during the night. I admit I checked on her several times during the evening--but no problems.
I fed her a small amount of Science Diet dry food for dinner. Then this morning she ate dry plus canned food and some of Bud's famous scrambled eggs. Lots of water too.
Interesting that Anouk and the mamma cat seem to becoming friends. The cat took a couple of paw air swings at Anouk, but there was no contact betw
Some say the rains have started early this year. Going into my third rain season here I agree. Looks like La Nina could be very wet this cycle (possibly serious flooding and land slides) and have other consequences also. Seems like too much rain causes disease with coffee plants. La Nina appears more benificial than droughts. They both have their postives and negatives.
IICA always has good information because they depend on rain for agriculture---the main source of substance for the popula
I had seen these animals on my way to Volcan before taking the short cut to Volcan (Potreros road). This trip for Mexican food, I told the girl friend if I see them I'm stopping for pics. And, there they were in the same place last time I seen them. They are in the huge orange grove.
I'm not sure if they are pure bred or crossed with cows. But, you can see the water buffalo in them for sure.
Volunteering.
In some ways, it's a tricky business. Just like a paying job, a volunteer needs to balance what they give with what is given back to them. If it isn't a good fit for some reason, then you start making excuses not to go. You're late one day, and then the following week you don't show up at all.
What do the experts say about volunteering? I read a bunch of articles and took away four gems.
To volunteer, find your passion, your talent, and go from there.
T
For those that do not follow the latest security scams and tricks being used to compromise your smartphone, here is the latest to be aware of:
A new scam using WhatsApp is trying to infect smartphones with a nasty virus.
Users of the mobile app are being warned about the scam which is affecting Android devices. They are being sent 'secret' messages, which offer an exclusive version of the app called WhatsApp Gold, with enhanced features "used by celebrities." But it is just being used
I committed to June 4th for the upgrade. Not a lot of difference with the interface. A few minor cosmetic changes. It does run faster. But, it defaults to window's new browser. I changed that back to my google chrome browser as my default browser. If enough people tells me microsoft browser has out done Google then I'll switch to windows browser. Right now I'm happy with google.
Now we wait for the bugs to show up. This is normal with windows upgrades and any other platform.
Vietnam 45 years and 20 days ago I came home.
Would I do it again?
NO
WHY? This war had nothing to do with our national interest or in defense of our nation.
Unjustified wars kill innocent soldiers and civilians.
Are there justified wars?
Yes.
45 years and 20 days ago I came home to the USA.
Too many sleepless nights with nightmares in the past 45 years.
Have a nice memorial day everyone.
Panama never ceases to amaze me. I mostly focus on how the country has treated me and how I can reciprocate instead of focusing on how I can change the country and the expat population. Panama has been good to me and I will continue being good to it. I am not new to countries outside of the USA so I haven't had culture shock since I was in combat in Vietnam. I've visited 13 countries and enjoyed everyone of them. Panama was first on my list to retire to because of the location, culture, weather
Interesting searches locally and in David. The USA and many other countries and thousands of individuals listed. Legal in some countries and not in others.
https://offshoreleaks.icij.org/#_ga=1.72650774.467971681.1462812105
