Tigre Reporting at Christmas

Spotty joins the horses out in the first pasture.

It’s good to be home. I was even glad to see the leafcutter ants – as they busily dismantled and carted off the Ylang Ylang tree. Rascals!
Gerry lasted less than a week before returning to New Orleans… Ostensibly to return our Chesterfield sofa back to the manufacturer for repair. Yes, yes, that’s true. What’s also very true is that GRAK was only too relieved to get back again to New Orleans…N’awlins….The Big Easy… good music, good food, good booze and good friends…even if just for one week.
Respite from…the dust…construction…workers everywhere…welding, sanding, painting….
….over to Janet’s kitchen for breakfast….to the kids, cats, dogs ….each wanting attention and affection all along the way, to finally, the kitchen table and breakfast- coffee and fruit- all fresh and delicious from El Tigre orchards…
…but wait! Where was Victoria?
Down here in the forest with Flopsy. Sadly, we lost Samantha to snakebite this past September. A Terciopelo bit her in the neck. Sammy went sniffing where she shouldn’t have and…we couldn’t save her. All the rest of the pack is fine – their instinct to please is stronger than their instinct to hunt, which better assures their survival in the forest. When I yell ….Come! Heal! Sit! Stay! They (mostly) obey.
Sammy was a poodle/Pekinese mix some call a pekapoo – a sweet little thing with a killer instinct. She would ignore my hollering to ‘COME!’ and continue pursuing prey, no matter how mad I would get at her. The vet told us that even if she had survived the snakebite, she would have just gone right back out there and hunted again.
Is your dog a natural born killer? How does he respond when you ask him not to chase a squirrel?
In our experience, the best dog for forest living is the mixed breed – Zaguates they call them in Costa Rica – like my little dog, Flopsy. We got Flops from some Animal Rescue friends who rescued him from a very bad man who tortured his dogs to death. The neighbors complained about the yelping and our friends went in there with the police and got the dogs. I’ll write about the Animal Rescue girlfriends another time. Suffice it to say they are drop-dead gorgeous women with whom the normally ahorita police are only too happy to drop everything in order to escort them to the crime scene. Flops came to us with broken teeth and ribs.
He’s fine now and walks with me everywhere. He doesn’t hunt or chase prey while hiking, so he won’t get into any trouble. We will get old together, Flopsy and me, walking companionably together down in the forest…
…and stopping often. Listening to the whoooooosh of Aracaris flying above us, feeding on the massive Higueron trees; warblers flitting everywhere; monkeys up there too, the males moving closer, throwing a branch down at us now and then, but half-heartedly, not like before when Sammy would go ape-shit barking at them. We are just getting used to each other, aware that we are harmless to each other. Little by little, when I stay very still, the animal presence makes itself seen and heard. Flopsy sits quietly at my side.
At last count, El Tigre has a pack of 9 dogs and 10 cats. Skinny Bones, a scrawny cat, showed up while we were in New Orleans and was accepted into our pack. Why so many cats and dogs? Well we prefer them in the garden to venomous snakes, who hunt the same small prey. While we’ve had casualties – Lucky and Luna to Bufo toads, Maggie and Pipsy to the forest - more abandoned animals find their way to us, quickly replacing those lost.
When you go to the forest, please do not abandon your dog or cat there. I’m sure YOU wouldn’t, but so many other people abandon their animals out in the country. The poor animals usually die a cruel death. If you see a dog or cat meandering aimlessly or sitting along the road, pick it up and take it home. It has just been abandoned. The lucky ones get adopted by the locals. But usually, the other resident dogs drive them away to fates unknown. That’s the way it works in the country.
If you can’t place an abandoned dog yourself, as a last resort take it to the shelter. Once, we took a rescued dog named Piglet to the animal shelter in Heredia and he was adopted that same day by a nice couple wanting a small dog as companion to their Labrador. We gave the shelter manager, Lilian, a nice donation for helping to bring animals and people together; a much happier scenario than leaving him in the forest, where many perils await the domestic animal. Just as one example, we saw a huge Boa Constrictor the other day that could easily eat Flopsy for breakfast. The tropical forest is a scary place – our animals stay clear of it unless walking with us. You won’t see dogs wandering around by themselves in the tropical forest.
But for us visiting humans, the forest world is a source of wonder.
There is much to observe and study….measure K-species growth, identify flowering vines, experiment with plants – like the one in the ASTERAC family that the local indigenous Shaman says will produce an energy boost….hmmmm…coffee tastes better and its caffeine works better. Forget about it! I’ve had my fill of masking nasty tasting drugs during all those years in the pharmacy. Mostly, I’m taking my time, just enjoying the forest - waking up to it. There is so much living to do there…
….The phone’s ringing. It’s Gerald. I’m late for breakfast again.
Gerald is grumpy - very grumpy. He’s just estimated that the renovation work will require 3 more months, despite assurances to the contrary by the Professor-Architect. And this revelation has greatly annoyed him. Granted, the road washed out a couple of times during the rainy season, making travel all but impossible. But let’s get the job done already! Get going man! In your dreams! Our construction crew plods along slow but sure. They do good work -NO roof leaks after the worst rainy season in 30 years – but sooooo slooooooow!
On the bright side, the Solar system is working much better, now that Carlos has installed the new batteries (DEKA Unigy II). During this whole episode, we’ve learned more about electricity than we ever wanted to know, but that’s the consequence of becoming independent of the electrical company. You need to study a lot and/or find a good Solar Engineer. We use Carlos Oreamuno from www.consenergy.net
Why solar power? Because there is no electrical line on the road and we don’t want one. Our Swiss neighbors feel the same way. The best neighbors are the ones you can’t see. They’ve also gone solar. The other night, Gerry asked me why we used so much voltage. “Don’t have the foggiest idea”, I answered, while breaking up ice-cubes for his gin & tonic. Our Swiss neighbors will laugh at that one!
Apart from the usual employee bickering, the household and stables are running smoothly now, with several projects in the works. Gerry is particularly interested in renovating the horse stables and has undertaken an exhaustive investigation on the treatment of wood. His partner in this endeavor is none other than Dr. Bob from the Tex Mex, Santa Ana, who knows a lot about wood. He ought to – Tex Mex is lodged in an old structure entirely built with almond wood. Dr. Bob has seen it all – termites, ants, mold, you name it. He and Gerry regularly meet to discuss the wood issue and everything else over a Margarita or three.
We’re spending Christmas and Boxing Day with the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse up on Barva Mountain, along with their respective families, entourages and menageries- a real collection of characters. It has been a hellish year for all, especially Pestilence. Famine – Pestilence – War – Death - they love each other like brothers and will spend the week hanging out together over copious amounts of refreshment and the odd bottle of vintage port, etc. The rest of us will put up with them as best we can…
Merry Christmas to you.
Happy Chanukah.
Pax Vobiscum.