2017 Life Logs, Day 45: Happy Valentine’s Day
Date: Tuesday, February 14, 2017
Weather: Sunny with Blue Skies; Daytime 80’s, Nighttime 70’s F
Location: At Home with JJZ&C, Finca Maravilla, Aguada, PR
Happy Valentine’s Day from sunny Puerto Rico.
Today was a gorgeous day here. The temperature doesn’t fluctuate much, but most of the days since I arrived have been a mix of sun and clouds with a few sprinkles here and there. Today it was just the way I like it–pure sunshine. And then there was a beautiful sunset.
Unfortunately, I didn’t take advantage of the beautiful day by going to the beach. Instead, I ticked a few more jobs off the ‘to do’ list. I needed to go shopping for some food essentials and for some supplies for Ziggy to make some bug habitats. I offered to take Ziggy to school since Tuesday is an at-home day for Jo and Coco and then go shopping. There is a big supermarket in Rincon not too far from Ziggy’s school, but unfortunately it doesn’t carry most of the things I needed to get. This meant dropping Ziggy off in Rincon which is about four miles down the mountain and then driving back north to downtown Aguada to shop. Most of the supplies I needed for the bug habitats I found at the hardware store, pet store, dollar-type store, and school supply store. Town was busy today and traffic was heavy. After getting the habitat supplies, I had to drive another few miles to different part of Aguada to go to Walgreen’s and FreshMart. Buying organic, gluten-free, and dairy-free products is a challenge here, but with enough time and persistence you can find most things you need if you are willing to pay the price. The problem is with my day is that doing the little bit of shopping I did took three hours! It was noon by the time I got home and Coco was having a playdate with her friend Naula.
We all had lunch together which gave me a chance to check in with Justin. He was feeling pretty rough today, but that was anticipated for this first day off pain meds. We are just hoping that tomorrow will be a better day for him.
After lunch, I hung up more clothes from the old house to dry and then Justin and I drove to Rincon to watch part of Ziggy’s afternoon skate board class. It is pretty awesome to have a skate boarding class as part of your school day and I wanted to see this in action. Justin was feeling terrible, so we didn’t stay for the whole hour, but at least we got to see Ziggy in action.
When we got home, Justin had an afternoon nap and I drove to the old house to gather up all the remaining clothes. That filled a box, a huge black plastic bag I could hardly carry, and a very large suitcase full of clothes. Lots more to wash, hang out to dry, and add to the bags that will go to the laundromat for a final drying to assure we don’t transfer ticks to this house. Justin and Jo started the move to this house on Christmas Eve as closing was late in the day on December 23. And as I remember, Justin spent the entire first day scrubbing the tile floors before moving anything in. That is no easy job as the living room alone is at least 40 feet by 15 feet, and then there is the kitchen, four bedrooms, two bathrooms, an entry alcove, a front porch, and a back deck—all tile. He cleaned, they moved some essentials, enjoyed Christmas Day, spent the next day moving as much as they could, and then Justin got the umbilical hernia and could not move anything else. So the old house, which they have until May 1, is still sitting there full of stuff. Thankfully there is no furniture to move, and I have now moved the remainder of the clothes, but tomorrow I will spend part of my day trying to get as many of the other things out of the house as I can and will continue the laundering of the clothes from there. My days are running short as I think Jo, Coco, and I are going to IKEA on Thursday and on Friday and Saturday we are hoping to do some touristy things. That leaves only Sunday as I fly home during the wee hours of Monday morning. I’ll get as much done as I can and hope that it helps. I know Justin is terribly frustrated by not being able to do any lifting or strenuous activities for the next ten weeks, so I want to do as much as I can to help him while I am here. Jo has to do all the animal chores now which entails carrying water a very long way down the hill to the three goats, rabbits, and chicken, and she has to milk the momma goat every morning. I am proposing that we purchase hose to deliver water to the animals. I haven’t measured the distance, but I know it is more than 300 feet. They want a more permanent system, but in the meantime, I think the hose will do just fine. Maybe Jo and I can get the hose when we drive to San Juan to IKEA.
When Ziggy got home from school, we worked on building some bug habitats with the supplies I bought and he and Coco went out with the purchased habitats I gave them for Valentine’s Day. Coco found a coqui (very tiny Puerto Rican frog)
and Ziggy found a creepy crawly.
But we had to cut the bug hunting short as it was time to get ready to go out to dinner. My Valentine’s treat for the family was to take everyone to The Pool Bar for dinner. This is a little outdoor restaurant that features a sushi menu and has a swimming pool to entertain the kids. Great place and great evening.
