Monday, June 29, 2015

What's Shaking

Mexican wrestling masks for sale (made popular by Nacho Libre)

I decided to wait until my next post to show you pictures of the Mayan archeological ruins at Coba and snorkeling with the turtles at Akumal Bay to catch you up on life.  This week:

- We ended up spending an evening in emergency at the hospital.  Hubby was experiencing some pain and it is often better to be safe than sorry when you reach midlife.  Without getting into details everything is fine and we were out of there two hours afterwards.  Our hospital is extremely old and it must be very difficult for medical professionals to work in such cramped aged surroundings.  Fortunately, our new hospital is being built as we speak and is only 2 km away from our home.  I have no problem paying taxes towards the new hospital as we definitely need it.  Sometimes people gripe about things like that - and then they end up in ER. It was an eye-opening experience. 

Day of the Dead decoration seen at Coba, Mexico

- Wednesday morning I was standing at my kitchen window and looked up to see racoon staring back at me.  He was climbing around on my neighbors roof.  Two crows were after him chasing him around - it happened to be garbage day and the crows were upset that someone else was after the street garbage as that is their domain.  Fortunately, Buddy was in the house as racoons can hurt dogs if driven to defend themselves.  We have a lot of wildlife on Vancouver Island - on any given day I see numerous bald eagles, deer, humming birds, and now racoons.  Just another reason why I love living here.  And no, he did not get into my garbage, thank goodness.

- We went to a Pet Expo on Saturday and came home with about $40 in free goody bags(treats, food, toys, doo doo bags) for Buddy and $20 worth of free cat stuff for my Mom's senior cat.  The event was free and we learned a few things, definitely worth attending.  I love freebies and we both want to go again next year as Buddy loved the event too - he got to meet lots of new friendly dogs. 

- I cat sat for my Mom over the weekend.  Her cat is 16 years old and experiencing some health issues and since she is an extreme loner who doesn't like other animals that meant me sleeping over there.  Fortunately we only live 2 blocks away so this didn't interrupt life too much.  While I was there I guerrilla-cleaned my Mom's condo including giving her floors and kitchen a good scrub.  Mom was grateful that she could go away without worrying about her cat and loved coming home to a clean house.

- We went kayaking yesterday, this time on the Punteledge river that goes out to the Ocean.  It is not a fast river this time of year and we had a lovely peaceful afternoon watching Kingfisher birds and enjoying the water.  We have had some extremely hot weather but there were just enough clouds that we didn't fry in the sun out there.  I am so glad we bought kayaks as now we can go for as long as we want whenever we want.  We even discovered a pub right on the river that we can kayak to and have a bite then kayak back, which we plan on doing the next time we kayak in the evening.  There is a dock and there were several kayaks there from people doing just that - one of those secrets only locals know. We have been here 3 years now so I guess we now can call ourselves locals.
Tourist shop at Coba, Mexico

- Our computer antivirus program was expiring and I couldn't renew it online.  It turns out they changed the name of the program.  In the end, it was cheaper to buy in a local store (66% off) than it was to buy directly from the antivirus people online.  It pays to shop around for everything.  Five minutes of research often saves us money.  In this case we have antivirus for five computers/tablets for $40 including tax for one year and online it would have been $70 for three computers.  I love saving money, even when it is a business expense.

- While we were away wasps built a nest on the side of the house.  Hubby tried to remove it and got stung twice.  The next day Buddy (puppy) got stung on the paw in the back yard.  We have tried natural wasp control this year by buying a device that you put apple juice in the bottom to drown them,  it looks just like a wasp nest.  It only kills one or two a day.  In the end we ended up blasting them with wasp killer.  I hate using chemicals but as we are out in the yard with Buddy several times a day it was extremely necessary.  On the upside Buddy does not appear to be allergic to stings.  He held his little foot up for the next hour and then took a long nap.  After that he was fine.  Apparently it is safe to give dogs Benedryl in this situation so I am going to buy some liquid Benedryl to have on hand if it happens again.

So that is what is shaking in my little corner of the world.  Have a great week everyone!



21 comments:

  1. Busy busy busy...but a pub on the river sounds great!
    Jane x

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  2. Surprised you don't simply go with the free antivirus...

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    1. If our computers were only personal we would have but we have a business and although I am willing to manually update things hubby is too busy and we cannot take any chances. That being said, we use Kapersky (paid) and we also use a free antivirus called Superantispyware (free edition). That free program saved my butt a few years ago by removing a particularly nasty virus that had gotten by my antivirus software (norton). With the two on all computers we have been virus free for 3 years now.

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    2. I use Kaspersky as well and usually buy the hard version which is cheaper than the online version. I swore off all Norton products and deleted all the preloaded stuff that came with my computer. My computer runs really slow though and the fan runs all the time.I probably have to open it up to clean it but I'm afraid because I don't really know how.

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  3. So glad all turned out well health-wise and that you're clearly doing some wonderful things... except for fighting wasps. I'm deathly allergic and, sorry, would have immediately HAD SOMEONE ELSE kill them.

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    1. Fortunately none of us are allergic. They are really bad this year as it has been so bloody hot - perfect wasp weather. We now have 3 cans of the stuff :)

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  4. So glad to hear hubby is going to be OK, yes a new hospital will be a good thing. Loved all the newsy items. You are so busy!

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    1. Our new hospital actually serves a huge area of 3 towns plus nearby islands so is in very high demand. We also have the airforce base here which has medical personel but no hospital and they are also in charge of the search and rescue for this part of the coast who all go to our hospital. So glad they are actually building one!

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  5. that's good you are getting another hospital. We need doctors in our area,. A pub on the river does sound good.

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    1. We seem to be able to attract Doctors as this is a very popular retirement area and most of them seem to job share with another Dr so only work 2-3 days a week, fortunately.

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  6. I've had many run-ins with mud wasps over the years but haven't been stung thankfully. One time I opened the patio table umbrella to find them building a nest in there! Glad Buddy's ok, oh, and hubby too :)

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    1. We have long hot summers here on the island - perfect wasp conditions unfortunately.

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  7. I was going to suggest the Benadryl! You can safely give Zyrtek too -- but it is more expensive. You are lucky his reaction was mild. My Border Collie got stung once as a pup and her muzzle swelled up as if she had a golf ball stuck in there. What a relief for you!

    We want to buy kayaks and will have to look into it for our anniversary. We have many places to go out with them at home (rivers, creeks, lakes, etc.!).

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    1. We don't have Zyrtek in Canada although I believe it is called Reactine here. I definitely will try this out in future.

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  8. I'm glad that hubby is alright after the ER and the wasp and buddy too. I too, don't mind the higher taxes as long as its for a good cause. Most of the time, the village here overspends and then just ups our taxes. They wanted to put in a swim-complex and bought some really expensive land only to decide that they would just redo the old pool for 2 million and then spent 16 million on it. sigh.

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    1. That sucks - government overspending gets me crazy. What they really need is a woman accountant in charge - or better yet frugalista :)

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  9. Glad to hear that your husband is okay.
    I'd love to see a raccoon in real life! Please take a photo if he visits again! xxx

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    1. I did but only got his arse end :) I will post it for you next blog.

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  10. Busy week indeed. Good news about Buddy's reaction bees but be sure to keep liquid Benadryl on hand. You should see the size of my pet first aid box. Not only do our girls swell up, their throats start to close. We have to drive to a vet to get an adrenaline shot PRONTO. Once a vet met us halfway and injected Caeli on the side of the road. It was very scary.

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    1. We now have a cone and Benedryl, and fortunately have a Vet within 1 km and our town's vets have all joined a vet network for after hours so if you call your own vet and they are closed you are automatically connected to another office whose vets are on Call for that evening and will come in. Of course they charge more for after hours but nice to know our pets can have emergency care just as fast as humans.

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