The Sea is a Salty One

... to put away. Finally made it all the way to the PriceSmart/Costco in Liberia yesterday. Things were bought, things branded "Kirkland" and oodles of American foods of all stripes. I was a little disappointed. The store is much smaller and without the same items that the San Jose stores have. But, it's better than what's here now. Got a new computer, the exact same one I brought from the States in Sept, and it was almost the same price exactly as in the States. Getting decent computers here is very difficult, as most places tend to carry the bottom of the line and charge huge prices. Got enough food to last a while. Only really awful part of the day was of course...... Walmart... The country is under mandatory masking orders for everyone in public. One American couple in Walmart refused, throwing a wobbler of a hissy fit in front of everyone, stomping right in maskless and not being removed from the store. The Ugly American Aboard again. That meant that they had to ...

Coffee I got and high protein cookies I got the last time I did a  big shopping run to the U.S.A. back in September 2019. There are days when I miss the convenience of the States, everything you need 24 hours a day, even coffee. Much better coffee here, but a lack of coffee shops, and no gas station has coffee. Coffee is one of those things that my husband Jim and I differ on so much. He likes the way it tastes, but cannot handle the caffeine. When we were dating he drank some of my great aunt's Cajun coffee, boiled on the stove top in an old fashioned coffee maker. Strong as Hercules and black as night. He didn't sleep for three days. All to impress Great Aunt Nan. Me? I cannot function without a cup or three in the mornings. I'm either extremely befuddled, or serial killer on edge. I stumble around, he is talking ten million miles a minute while I'm trying to figure out how to open the coffee canister and turn on the pot. I don't get it. I cannot be that way at a...

Just had a very upsetting conversation. Chewed out by a Bridezilla. My husband Jim has a friend he made back in elementary school he loves dearly. We've visited them off and on for years. He and his second wife have a daughter just about the age of our youngest. She was always bossy, opinionated and headstrong. Even as a small child. The last time I went with Jim to see these friends I wasn't too favorably impressed by the grown up version. What's cute in a child in small doses can be deplorable in adults. Loud, obnoxious in every single way, vulgar with language lousy with swear words. I cringed away from her every time she spoke, this future Bridezilla. I especially remember our final meal together on this trip. We took the family out and I was on tenterhooks the entire time. Copious drinking, ordering half the menu and then not eating it. After we were driving away at the end of the night Jim and I talked about how immature she was. I knew he would have a problem with he...

Grande from our walk on Wednesday. Something about the walk made my back so much better. We've noted this week that the Sahara Dust is here. The mountains surrounding the beaches are shrouded in misty brown dust. All of the vehicles, parking lots, leaves on trees and so many other are wearing a fine sheen of light brown dust, not that different in coloration than the beach above. My mother called me several days ago, worrying about my asthma and the dust. Told her I was taking my maintenance drugs and using my eye drops. Sadly it was not enough. I had to leave the house early today. We had to pick up our friend's car from the shop, and take it home to park. We're still talking about what to do about it. The mechanics pointed out all the oh so obvious flaws that make it largely worthless. I suspected as much. Rolling dumpster covered in dents. On the way to the shop, just over a mile, I started itching. My elbows were on fire. Asthmatic dermatitis. Things went downhill from ...

Not really cooking up a  pot of dog gumbo. I wouldn't do that to a dog. It's from a roll of odd photos I took in New Orleans a few months after Hurricane Katrina when visiting family. But today made about as much sense as if I started trying to round up the local Fidos and making gumbo. A few days ago I was updating you on the car bingo lottery scheme of storing our friend in Canada's car until he comes back. It's a sad piece of machinery that I hate riding in. We take it out once a week to run so that it doesn't seize up. It's 30 years old, extremely dirty and filled with trash. Our friend is an older gentleman who is somewhat unconventional. Monday he called and insisted we buy the car from him. It has so many things wrong with it. We tried to get the soon to expire Retive inspection done, and the car failed miserably. A long laundry list of faults. It's currently at one of the few reputable shops in town being given an estimate. Our friend called back and...

Damnit, and of course I cannot drink because thin blood and meds, but I want to. Likely all the salt and butter on the popcorn wouldn't serve me well either. I guess I'll make do with a diet coke and those deliciously greasy funyun things the hubby bought. I have to talk about two different things this morning. The roiling, rolling conniption-fitted mess that is Katie Joy and her various retractors. It's been quite the 48 hours. First Katie: Since the roughly five or six weeks since our falling out I've come to realize that she drives her own drama lama, waters it, feeds it, cossets it, pets it and grooms it. Before our scuffle I never bothered to watch her videos, or even think or her much. She'd pop up when she needed Duggar info, or explanations of some aspect of Quiverfull. An assorted internet friend I wasn't much in contact with. Now I've seen all these dramas she's complained about to me from all sides now, I see she does bear a lot of culpability...

This morning we ended up going out early on. Jim needed to hit the bank to transfer funds. We're trying mightily to switch law firms here. You cannot do a damn thing here in Costa Rica without hiring a specialized lawyer for it. Need to register your brand new motorcycle? There's a lawyer for that. Want to buy a house, that's another lawyer. Need someone to keep an eye on the taxes, paperwork, investments for you, that's another lawyer? Have businesses, another lawyer. Have rental property you're definitely going to need a lawyer. We're trying to move the house and the incorporation oversight to someone else because we're in the middle of opening a couple more small businesses to go under the incorporation umbrella We're still looking at property for building rental homes and a possible mountain top home for us A home at the sea, and one in the clouds. Our original lawyer has the tendency to file forms without letting us know, and then demanding the fee ...

I have been kind of down and out for the count the last four days. My back. I've done something to the muscles just under the shoulder blade extending down to the top of my hip on my left side. Started in Arenal when I stupidly, clumsily, awkwardly did a header into the soap dispenser after slipping. Slipping again, wrenching those muscles. This isn't the first time, and it's unlikely to be the last time. Two years ago I threw my back out taking off my swimsuit. Last year it was when Stinky jumped off the headboard onto my back. C'est la vie. Here's the problem for me. I have a bleeding disorder. It comes it, it goes, and I don't know if it's active if I'm not having blood tests run, or bruising up terribly. It's intermittent. I know if they pull a few tubes of blood and I start bleeding like one of those dumb Grindhouse movies. Which means taking NSAIDS  is sometimes a very bad idea. Like right now. I was taking what I had, a form of Tylenol and nar...

Take a look at this.. For anyone who doesn’t know, applying to be a brand ambassador means you buy your own products, sometimes at a discounted rate, to advertise in exchange for a certain percentage of sales. She is NOT legally required to put #ad, but chose to do so anyway. From Reddit: "If anyone else would like to become a brand ambassador for The Coldest Water, there are two tiers: one that costs YOU $99.99 to get 21% of sales + a water bottle OR a free tier where you can earn 8% per sale. Here’s the link! Enjoy your MLM scheme!There's just one problem. This a company that does not do 'paid sponsorships' like she's claiming. Here's what they do, 'brand ambassadors.'" Took a look at the link. It's true. She's a brand ambassador lying about the set up. Again. Found this on a pro vaccination blog explaining why certain folks dislike her. Perpetual victimhood and lying do not sit well with folks.

A happy snap of a lovely friendly magpie jay begging us for food at the beachside taco bar this evening. This morning I ran around trying to find a swim suit to fit my husband and a few tee shirts for his Father's Day present. The tees were a hit, sadly the swim trucks in the biggest size the stores carry are too small. Back to the drawing board. We discovered this morning that one of the strays, the one we've named "Scabby" for the battle scars he carries, has moved in. Like really moved in. He has started to enter the house while I'm cooking. I'll turn around to get something from the fridge and there he is. Laying on the kitchen floor and then he'll start complaining he is hungry. Today he took the unprecedented step of coming in the cat door while I was sitting in my rocker right next to the door. For ages he's been peeking in and if he sees me he's gone. Not today. I could see just how nervous he was, but he did it. Now he has claimed the gues...

We took a small vacation this week, as you already know from previous posts. Yesterday was all kinds of wonderful driving through Alajuela, one of the states of Costa Rica. Even though that throbbing crazy mess that is San Jose is in Alajuela it's gorgeous once you get out of the city.We drove back through San Ramon and over to Sarchi. Handmade furniture for sale. Anything you need to furnish your home can be found in Sarchi, Once upon a time that is where they used to make those crazy multicolored ox carts everyone associates with Costa Rica. The one land bridge into town was proudly painted with the same swirling designs and colors as those wagon wheels. Jim had meetings with a few factory owners about his business idea. For once I skipped out on the meetings. I could see the places he was going were dust traps and laden with things like lacquer and wood stain. I have no wish to provoke my health so I spent a happy afternoon reading in the sunshine. We drove back slowly, stopping...

Disclaimer: I never said that I didn't believe Steve, or even Sharrell in the other caps. I do believe Steve. At the time this conversation happened I did not know Steve, but I felt this was all likely a huge exaggeration on Katie's part. Notice I told her to ignore her haters.  Katie had spoken of more than one Steve. It had turned into my pat answer to her bitching and moaning to say "How nuts!" or "He's such a *insert derogatory term", meaningless. Like listening to a boring person and saying every now and then 'fascinating' or 'uh huh' or 'you don't say'. I did not know Steve then, I wasn't even sure which Steve she was speaking of. I just wanted her to shut the heck up about all these people I did not know. I skipped only a few sections of the conversation. I called someone we both knew a 'retard' and she got onto me, and I edted out a small amount of conversation that had nothing to do with Steve, Sharrell or...

Here they are. Later all the Steve McRae ones.... Yes, I did call her a crazy person. Katie shared some ranty screen caps of Sharrell calling her out. I am sorry for that now. But whatever least thing I could say to make her shut the hell up about  people. Yep, I have learned now not to listen to this crap from anyone.

Posting the screen caps between Katie Joy and I leading up to our falling out. There are all from one conversation in mid June I have saved. I wish I'd have saved all our chats because there'd be a huge mob she's backstabbed. I also have screen caps of false allegations against Steve McRae and Sharrell of "Sharrell's World" that will be going up eventually with accusations of gross false sexual behavior. My understanding is that Katie Joy just filed a defamation type civil suit against both. That chat and these screen caps pretty much show who started it. Katie's pals are claiming I am jealous. Of what? If I was really interested in making big bucks I'd have taken her path, but my own personal integrity is more important to me. Also, we have businesses and investments. I am far too busy to do what she's doing, I have no need of that money, and I value my family and my sanity too much. Not jealous of her life, I live on a large estate in Costa Rica,...

Still watching this hot mess. First of all, if you are going to Go Fund Me for legal fees perhaps you should remind your minions not to tell the person you're opposed to that their Go Fund Me is in violation of the terms of service. Because now I see yours has been ended and I'm guessing it was not by your choice. Glass houses are a tough place to live. Please put down the keyboard and smell the flowers, walk around the garden, play with your kid and those furbabies you used to brag about. Anything but what you're doing now by squatting online all hours of the day and night. Wash your face. No one looks good with that much goop on their skin.

Last year when we were here. The weather looks the same, rainy and gross. But we do have a good view of the "Fountain of Juice" health bar. Raining up a storm here. Thunder, lightening and just Jim and I on the dead volcano. The hotel staff went home. It is just he and I here now and it's eerie. The roof is leaking in this stupid fancy villa and I have a headache. Last night after posting I did myself an unsolid. I slipped in the shower, headbutted the shower gel dispenser mounted on the wall and fell, wrenching the stupid back again. Ugh~ Ouch! Bedtime and the worst book I've ever read on a political figure. Isn't vacation supposed to be fun? Today was a little weird because the hotel staff was just here until 11 am, to check out the other couple. They served us breakfast in the room at 8 am, and that was quite nice. I am always down to eat one of their huge Tico breakfasts here. The usual breakfast here served in the restaurant. Now that's a lot of food! We ...

Yes, one of the customs I'm not wild about here is having my bread folded. Or my green onions. Or other long floppy food item. They do it, and I am not even sure why. Guess it is just another one of those cultural things I will never understand. The bread folding happened on the way out of town at the local big fruit stand. I'd gotten crackers, snacks, meat, cheese, etc you need when traveling and realized I forgot the bread. The bread here is just the best, and you can get it cheaply just about anywhere in Costa Rica. This almost three foot long delicious baguette, a pile of ripe tomatoes, a few big cucumbers and a large lemonade ran about three bucks. We left today for a three day vacation in Arenal. Arenal is one of my favorite places in this world. A smoking volcano arising on the edge of a lake. The resort we always go to just reopened after closing for COVID. We are up in one of the beautiful villas on the side of a dead volcano walking distance to the waterfalls. Just us...

Today was better, at least better in regards to the message onslaught. I said something last night on Facebook about my day being completely ruined by those spamming me. Today I got a grand total of two messages, from family members I needed to speak to. Remember last night I was saying you could almost predict someone else's moral levels, if they are a good person or not by if they put their shopping cart away in a cart corral or other officially designated place? Our family had a long discussion about that a few weeks ago. My son surprised me by even saying one of his favorite YouTube channels is Cart Narcs . Seems kind of silly from here, I'm not into confronting privileged people in Southern California. Although I would probably laugh if they caught Lori Alexander in her San Diego neighborhood cart ditching on camera. Then I saw this posted by the infamous Jill and David Rodrigues Quiverfull family.... This another one of those tests of bedrock morality in my opinion. Why a...

We went to Playa Samara today, even though the beaches in Costa Rica are still mostly closed. We had been talking about seeing Samara for a long time, it's a lovely twisty winding road over the mountains from Nicoya. We had a 6 pm appointment in Nicoya at the nearest Riteve car inspection station for the car our friend left with us. We thought we would do him a solid and get it inspected. Nicoya is an interesting place with shopping and the oldest church in Guanacaste, but Samara is not much past it. Jim knows that since the COVID 19 crisis started I've been working longer hours and writing about some stressful things, that I'm feeling super exhausted in the wake of finding our dear President had family and friends teargassed to have a photo op in front of a church. So he suggested we make a day of it, a beach sort of a day. We did. It didn't go off without a hitch, unfortunately, and it was more than the embarrassment of rolling up to the Riteve in a rattletrap of a je...

Not my image. Someone else took this but I wanted to show you the intense color of the little guys I am seeing here daily. We have hummingbirds again now that the rainy season has started. Tiny ones this time in brilliant shades of blue, green and violet. Last few years have been bigger  more common hummingbirds that click angrily when they saw us. They'd dart up to the picture window in my bedroom in front of the birds of paradise, tut out an angry staccato and depart for  less human infected flowers. These new guys are maybe two to three inches from head to tail and brilliantly colored.  They seem to have no fear of us, coming around the pool to feast up the heliconia, birds of paradise and the ginger blooms, even if we are standing right next to them. They dart up to the bedroom picture window, come right up to the glass to look in at me at my desk before flying away to harvest nectar from the birds of paradise right in front of the window. Yesterday I was fascinated t...