Owner: La Gringa's Blogicito URL:http://lagringasblogicito.blogspot.com Join Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2007 01:24:28 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Gardening and living in La Ceiba, Honduras. Neither are easy for this American woman. Site statistics:Click here
La Gringa is ranting again 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I use Bloglines to TRY to keep up with blogs that I like. Bloglines is not working though! Day after day it will show that there are no updates to a blog and then, BAM, 32 new posts all in one day. WTF? I'm thinking about trying out the new Google Reader. Right now I'm subscribed to 218 blogs. How do I have time to read that many blogs? Simple answer: I don't. I'm somewhere around 7,000 posts behind. Ha ha! I'm kidding myself. Actually, a few of them are the biggies, the technology ones that seem have about 50 posts a day. The truth is, I just feel like I should read those. I never actually do.Anyway, I'm cleaning house. Some of these blog have to go. I'm going to move some of them to a new category called "Probation." These blogs need to shape up or they are getting shipped out of my subscription list. Blogs that I hate, er, dislikeThere are just too many blogs to read and too little time to spend it TRYing to read blogs whose authors:use such a tiny font that I need a magnify Read more:Gringa
Now La Gringa is laughing 1970-01-01 00:59:59 There's a crack in my windshield, Bits and PiecesI just have to tell you about a blog I found. While searching for an image that would go with my last rant, I ran across Bits and Pieces. Its description is: "We scour the web so you don't have to." What a hilarious site. I ended up staying there for more an hour, laughing out loud. I didn't even realize I was reading January 2006, not January 2007. There are some funny jokes and stories, too, but mostly it is just photos.This site has the longest page in the world, I'm sure. If you don't have time to scan it, at least check out these:Children's letters to GodMultitaskingLost PuppyMultitasking (2)Women other women would love to see fatW3 M3AN ITLa Gringa
guarantees a laugh if you do.I suggest bookmarking this blog for those bad mood days. It certainly cheered up my bad mood. Now, instead of reducing my blog subscriptions, I'm going to have to add another one!
It's a stampede! 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Stampede in La Gringa's coloniaTo be a really good blogger, you have to be ready at all times. You have to be in shape, too. Yesterday, Chloe the Rottweiler was beside herself barking at the front gate. Thinking it was just a dog walking by, I ignored her at first. Finally, because she sounded so frantic, I looked out the window. What did I see? A herd of horses running down the street. Thinking, "Blog article!" I grabbed the camera and ran out. The horses had already turned the corner, so I went running down the hill after them. I don't know what the construction workers on the corner thought.Failing on both counts mentioned above, the shot above was the best I could do. This was the tail end of the herd. The rest had already turned the corner. As you can see from the photo below, if they hadn't stopped to eat some tasty grass along the way, I wouldn't have gotten a picture at all. I cropped out half a block of empty street between me and the horses on each one.Stopping for a s Read more:stampede
Somebody's been sleeping in my bed 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Joey and Zoe had this little basket bed. We kept it under the desk − prime real estate as it's right by mommy's feet and protected from the breeze of the ceiling fan. As they grew bigger, they were always fighting over it.When the brand new Ace Hardware store opened at Christmas time, we found a slighter larger doggie bed so both of them could use it at the same time.Plenty of room for both. They make good foot warmers under the desk, too.Poor Chloe the Rottweiler/Doberman was jealous. Here is a picture of an 80 lb. (36 kg.) dog curled up in an 18" x 12" (30 x 46 cm.) doggie bed.For comparison purposes, here's a picture of an 8 lb. (3.6 kg.) dog in the bed.After kicking her out of it many times, she finally gave up and found something else:The chicken coop! We have the coop on the terraza, waiting for the wood to dry so that we can paint it before the chickens start using it. Chloe has started climbing in the little tiny window every night. She likes it just fine and it's a good Read more:Somebody
The story of Frank 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Mario and Frank
working on our 'banana plantation'We have had a couple of workers here for about a month. Originally, two guys showed up looking for work − of which we had plenty. One of them was young, about 18, and really didn't want to work, he only wanted pay. I call that type a 'watcher.'We have had construction and yard workers on and off for the past 5 years and there are always a certain percentage of watchers − somewhere between 20% and 50%. It's best to weed them out at the beginning because they are a bad influence on the people who really do want a job. That may sound harsh, but we treat workers fairly and expect the same from them.El Jefe was gone during the day much of the time the first week and the young one apparently had the mistaken idea that he didn't need to work when "The Boss" wasn't around.They were mulching the beds in the front yard. They would each bring a wheelbarrow full of aserrÃn (wood shavings) to the front yard, but while Frank worked shove Read more:story
Chickens: Week 2 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Ramón and RamonaThings are going pretty well on the chicken front. They will eat out of my hand now even though they don't quite trust me yet. Sometimes they figure that I'm safer than the dogs and will run to hide behind me if they feel threatened by one of the dogs. It is amazing how fast they can move on those little feet.They stay in the pen at night but have been spending more and more time running free. Three of the last four days, they have voluntarily returned to their pen in the afternoon or evening. That's really good, because those little birds are hard to catch. They've had me running around in a circle for 15 minutes at a time as we three circle around and around a plant pot or the pen while I'm trying to catch them. They know exactly how far to stay to be just out of reach.Right now their favorite spots are in two jardineras (raised concrete flower boxes) off the terraza. I think they like being able to hide under and behind the Dracaenas. This is the mess that they Read more:Chickens
Cultural differences: Compromisos 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Compromiso means commitment in English. It seems to have no meaning in Spanish.A Honduran compromiso is a difficult concept for many North Americans to understand. A promise to come by tomorrow at 2 p.m., or fix your television by Friday, or to have that part you ordered by next week, or come to work tomorrow doesn't really mean anything. It might mean tomorrow at 8 a.m. or next month or three months from now or never.An example is a mechanic in San Pedro Sula. He was recommended to us by another mechanic and friend here in La Ceiba who didn't know how to fix the problem. The San Pedro mechanic seemed knowledgeable, confident, and eager to repair the car. After numerous phone calls and bus trips to San Pedro in which El Jefe was assured each time that car would be ready by "Friday," THREE MONTHS later, he went to pick up our car. It wasn't repaired and he had to wait while the mechanics put the pieces back together so he could drive it home unrepaired.There is usually no explanation Read more:Cultural
, differences
, Cultural differences
La Gringa's visitors just keep coming 1970-01-01 00:59:59 ScorpionScorpions, called escorpiones in Spanish (some Spanish words are so easy!), are very common here in Honduras. Once we found about 30 babies under some boxes we were storing inside the house. I've been surprised a few other times when moving something outside.Although not all scorpions are extremely poisonous, they scare me to death. Our veterinarian said that one scorpion sting would be enough to kill a chihuahua and I'm sure the same applies to a bantam chicken.El Jefe found and killed this one. He said it was about 3 inches long (7.6 cm.). However, it looks more like 5 or 6 inches to me (13-15 cm.) − easily the biggest I've seen.Here's a video so you can see how fast they move. Sorry, no special effects or music this time. I was in a hurry.
Read more:Gringa
Blog content theft 1970-01-01 00:59:59 They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I found a case where it's more than imitation, it's downright content theft
. What would you say about a blog that consists 100% of someone else's articles? I stumbled upon this blog (no follow tag used) today. The entire blog is nothing but La Gringa's articles! Every single article is mine, word for word, with no link to my blog and no credit given to me as the author. I'm researching right now to try to figure out what I can do.I've seen my articles, or parts of them, on many blogs. Often they are spam blogs with a paragraph or so of an article and a zillion ads. Sometimes they provide a link to my blog, sometimes they don't. This is the first time that I've run across one that is completely my stuff. The odd thing is that there are no ads on this blog, so I really don't understand what the purpose is. Not to mention that the title has nothing to do with what I write about. I noticed that they strip out all the
Situation resolved without machetes 1970-01-01 00:59:59 The offending site that was stealing my blog articles seems to have been taken down and I'm very happy about that. It was really creepy to see my articles on this site. It didn't seem to be coming from the RSS feed because the articles were all jumbled in date order and some of my articles were almost 6 months old, while that blog was only around for two months. I did a lot of research about stolen content and it seems that for the most part, blog authors don't have a lot of recourse if the offender can't be shamed into taking his site down or the site administrator doesn't take action. I guess I was just lucky, or maybe enough of you flagged the blog that it got someone's attention.In doing the research, I read that a lot of people seem to think that if you put something on the internet, it's like a gift − fair game for anyone to steal. Others say that by publishing an RSS feed, you are explicitly giving permission for anyone to use your material. I don't think so! An RSS f
It's a boy! And another one! And another one! And another one! 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Zoe and the four pupsThat's right, we have four baby boy chihuahuas, each weighing 5 ounces (142 grams). They seem healthy and strong and each began searching for milk within two or three minutes of being born. Zoe, the little mother, is doing fine. She's being a great little mother and didn't seem to have any problems with the births.Yesterday afternoon, Zoe wanted to go up to her bed and banged against the closed bedroom door to get my attention. I went upstairs to open the door for her and put her in the box we had prepared for her. She was acting pretty normal, though, so I assumed it would be a few hours away. I went out to feed the chickens. That was around 2:00 p.m.When I came in the back door about 10 minutes later, I heard a baby squeaking! I ran upstairs and Chloe the Rottweiler had the first puppy out on the floor and she and Joey were all excited about what they had found. Whoa! That was scary! They are both curious, but Chloe is actually trying to protect the pups from
Miracle Fruit, matasabor 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Miracle Fruit
, Sideroxylon dulcificum, from WikipediaMatasabor is the Honduran common name given to Sideroxylon dulcificum. In English, matasabor means kill the flavor. And that's just what this plant does. It's called Miracle Fruit in much of the world because of its magical power to make sour things taste sweet. The berry itself is not sweet and it doesn't make sweet things taste sweeter. A commenter sent me a link to plant called Miracle Fruit and asked if I had ever heard about it. Not only had I heard about it, but I have one! I had completely forgotten about it. Right now it is covered by elephant ears that have grown out of control. I think it needs more sun to produce the flowers and fruit. Wikipedia has a short article about Miracle Fruit, an exotic tropical plant native to West Africa. Attempts have been made to commercialize it for sweetening foods for diabetics but to date none have been successful. It is also used for masking the bitter taste of medicines. The effect
Just say no to loans 1970-01-01 00:59:59 We have bought seven bicycles since we came to Honduras and none of them were for us. Three were gifts to sobrinos (nephews and nieces) and four were loans to employees. It seemed a good way to help out the employees. We were partly lucky and partly wise, and we were repaid for these loans.Other loans or advances on salaries haven't worked out so well. An old friend of El Jefe's asked for a loan of L.1,000 once to help his mother who was in a bad situation. I suggested that we just give him the money and forget about it. El Jefe didn't want to do that, so he made the loan. We never received even one lempira back. To me that shows a lack of honor. We would have been happy if he had even paid L.10 lempiras a week, just something to show that he valued our friendship and respected us. But .... nothing. One worker came to us on a payday almost in tears. His father was in the hospital. He needed to buy medicine for him. His pay wasn't enough. Could he have a loan of L.500? He was so sa
La Gringa saves a bird 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Yellow-winged TanagerI'm a nervous wreck. Four birds have crashed into my windows this afternoon. Two of them crashed into the window right beside me and I jumped out of my chair each time. It's amazing how a little tiny bird weighing a few ounces can sound like a grown man trying to break a door in.We used to have this problem often but I think the local birds have gotten smarter. We have tall windows and the sky is reflected in them. It is so sad. Apparently the birds can't tell the difference between the sky and its reflection.We didn't have windows when we first moved in (haha! − it's true) and I used to have to rescue the birds from inside the house. They would fly in and up to the ceiling and then get exhausted because they couldn't figure a way out. I have a loooong-handled brush thing to get cobwebs off the ceiling and I would stick it up by the birds. They would usually grab onto it and then I'd quickly walk to a window or door and let them loose outside. I rescued t Read more:Gringa
More on the mystery jet 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Mystery jet in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, photo La PrensaThe mysterious jet abandoned in the Tegucigalpa, Honduras airport on February 24, 2006, was officially auctioned on Tuesday, February 13, 2007, for $736,000. Part of the deal is that the government of Honduras will guarantee clear title to the 1968 Grumman Gulfstream Jet. So what happened on Wednesday, the day after the auction and almost one year after the jet first appeared in Honduras? The Honduras newspaper, La Prensa, received a letter from an independent Mexican reporter providing new information. La Prensa reported that the old but luxurious jet is collateral for a loan in Mexico. It was brought to Honduras to illegally change the registration papers in order to sell it to a third party.This new version was confirmed by the Honduran Fiscal General (Attorney General) who says that he has known this for awhile but hasn't revealed it publicly. The information was also confirmed by a former high level government official who ce
Painting the house 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Colorful!I started this article not too long after I started my blog in July 2006. I was holding off posting it until the painting was finished and now I'm beginning to have my doubts about whether it ever will be!When we first started painting the outside of the house last summer after months of washing and patching the concrete and caulking the windows, the weather was great, but then the rains came. Everyday, every afternoon, it would rain to one extent or another. One day it came on so suddenly that the paint was washed right off the wall. That was supposed to be the dry season.Many days we could only get a half day of work done. We were under a lot of pressure to finish because rainy season was right around the corner. Once we finally had some dry weather, I worked 17 long days with only one day off and, boy, was I exhausted! Climbing ladders wears me out. Long ago we hired a 'professional' painter for the inside of the house. He was a pretty good painter (he learned in the Read more:Painting
Week one puppy update 1970-01-01 00:59:59 One week old chihuahua puppiesAren't they cute?! They weighed 5 ounces (.14 kg.) when they were born. Today, one week later, they weigh an incredible 11.5 to 13 ounces! (.33 to .37 kg.)They have more than doubled their weight in one week. The black one is the biggest in weight and length at 7 1/2 inches long (19 cm.). The rest are 7 inches long (17.8 cm.).We tried to line them up for the pictures. It was like trying to line up a bunch of worms.The pups don't have their eyes open yet. That should happen next week.Zoe is the best little mother. She's really doing an excellent job. She doesn't mind when we pick them up but she watches the whole time. If we carry one out of her sight, she follows, looking up at us just to make sure everything is okay.Zoe hardly ever leaves the box and when she does, you can be assured that they are all fast asleep.We haven't named them yet.Sorry for all the gushing about puppies. I'm telling you, if you were here, you would not be able to resist pick
Guns everywhere 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Photo La Prensa, HondurasEverywhere you look in Honduras, you'll see guns. It's kind of shocking at first. Tourists often comment on it. Armed guards are outside banks, grocery stores, other stores, gas stations, restaurants, government offices, hospitals, inside malls, on delivery trucks, you name it. I doubt if you could walk one block anywhere in downtown La Ceiba without seeing a gun. It's not just guards who have them. I've been surprised several times while talking to a contractor or delivery person to spy a revolver tucked into the waistband of his pants. Banks and even some restaurants use metal detectors or pat the men down before they enter to make sure they aren't 'packing.'Lots of people keep guns in their homes for protection. The wealthier people have armed guards outside their homes, some only at night, others 24 hours per day.Honduras just started registering guns about two years ago. They had an amnesty period where a gun could be registered without proving wher Read more:everywhere
Home building design tips for the tropics 1970-01-01 00:59:59 High ceilings and ceiling fans − it's a good thingI thought I would pass along some tips for those of you who will be building a house here in Honduras or elsewhere in the tropics. Some of the tips are from our architect, some we thought of when we were design
ing our home, and a few we wish we had thought of. These are some basic tips to keep your home cool and dry − the major considerations in a tropical area. Although most of the tips are just common sense, those of us coming from colder, drier climates might not always realize their importance.Plan your house to take full advantage of the prevailing breeze. Designing the house so that your bedrooms receive the breeze is a good idea and may save you from using air conditioning many nights.Plan your design it so that you have good cross ventilation. A more open floor plan allows the air to circulate better throughout the house than closed off rooms.Heat rises, so high ceilings can make a big difference. Here in Honduras, it doesn Read more:Home building
, design tips
Somebody's been sleeping in my bed 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Joey and Zoe had this little basket bed. We kept it under the desk − prime real estate as it's right by mommy's feet and protected from the breeze of the ceiling fan. As they grew bigger, they were always fighting over it.When the brand new Ace Hardware store opened at Christmas time, we found a slighter larger doggie bed so both of them could use it at the same time.Plenty of room for both. They make good foot warmers under the desk, too.Poor Chloe the Rottweiler/Doberman was jealous. Here is a picture of an 80 lb. (36 kg.) dog curled up in an 18" x 12" (30 x 46 cm.) doggie bed.For comparison purposes, here's a picture of an 8 lb. (3.6 kg.) dog in the bed.After kicking her out of it many times, she finally gave up and found something else:The chicken coop! We have the coop on the terraza, waiting for the wood to dry so that we can paint it before the chickens start using it. Chloe has started climbing in the little tiny window every night. She likes it just fine and it's a good Read more:Somebody
It's a stampede! 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Stampede in La Gringa's coloniaTo be a really good blogger, you have to be ready at all times. You have to be in shape, too. Yesterday, Chloe the Rottweiler was beside herself barking at the front gate. Thinking it was just a dog walking by, I ignored her at first. Finally, because she sounded so frantic, I looked out the window. What did I see? A herd of horses running down the street. Thinking, "Blog article!" I grabbed the camera and ran out. The horses had already turned the corner, so I went running down the hill after them. I don't know what the construction workers on the corner thought.Failing on both counts mentioned above, the shot above was the best I could do. This was the tail end of the herd. The rest had already turned the corner. As you can see from the photo below, if they hadn't stopped to eat some tasty grass along the way, I wouldn't have gotten a picture at all. I cropped out half a block of empty street between me and the horses on each one.Stopping for a s Read more:stampede
The story of Frank 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Mario and Frank
working on our 'banana plantation'We have had a couple of workers here for about a month. Originally, two guys showed up looking for work − of which we had plenty. One of them was young, about 18, and really didn't want to work, he only wanted pay. I call that type a 'watcher.'We have had construction and yard workers on and off for the past 5 years and there are always a certain percentage of watchers − somewhere between 20% and 50%. It's best to weed them out at the beginning because they are a bad influence on the people who really do want a job. That may sound harsh, but we treat workers fairly and expect the same from them.El Jefe was gone during the day much of the time the first week and the young one apparently had the mistaken idea that he didn't need to work when "The Boss" wasn't around.They were mulching the beds in the front yard. They would each bring a wheelbarrow full of aserrÃn (wood shavings) to the front yard, but while Frank worked shove Read more:story
Chickens: Week 2 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Ramón and RamonaThings are going pretty well on the chicken front. They will eat out of my hand now even though they don't quite trust me yet. Sometimes they figure that I'm safer than the dogs and will run to hide behind me if they feel threatened by one of the dogs. It is amazing how fast they can move on those little feet.They stay in the pen at night but have been spending more and more time running free. Three of the last four days, they have voluntarily returned to their pen in the afternoon or evening. That's really good, because those little birds are hard to catch. They've had me running around in a circle for 15 minutes at a time as we three circle around and around a plant pot or the pen while I'm trying to catch them. They know exactly how far to stay to be just out of reach.Right now their favorite spots are in two jardineras (raised concrete flower boxes) off the terraza. I think they like being able to hide under and behind the Dracaenas. This is the mess that they Read more:Chickens
Cultural differences: Compromisos 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Compromiso means commitment in English. It seems to have no meaning in Spanish.A Honduran compromiso is a difficult concept for many North Americans to understand. A promise to come by tomorrow at 2 p.m., or fix your television by Friday, or to have that part you ordered by next week, or come to work tomorrow doesn't really mean anything. It might mean tomorrow at 8 a.m. or next month or three months from now or never.An example is a mechanic in San Pedro Sula. He was recommended to us by another mechanic and friend here in La Ceiba who didn't know how to fix the problem. The San Pedro mechanic seemed knowledgeable, confident, and eager to repair the car. After numerous phone calls and bus trips to San Pedro in which El Jefe was assured each time that car would be ready by "Friday," THREE MONTHS later, he went to pick up our car. It wasn't repaired and he had to wait while the mechanics put the pieces back together so he could drive it home unrepaired.There is usually no explanation Read more:Cultural
, differences
, Cultural differences
La Gringa is ranting again 1970-01-01 00:59:59 I use Bloglines to TRY to keep up with blogs that I like. Bloglines is not working though! Day after day it will show that there are no updates to a blog and then, BAM, 32 new posts all in one day. WTF? I'm thinking about trying out the new Google Reader. Right now I'm subscribed to 218 blogs. How do I have time to read that many blogs? Simple answer: I don't. I'm somewhere around 7,000 posts behind. Ha ha! I'm kidding myself. Actually, a few of them are the biggies, the technology ones that seem have about 50 posts a day. The truth is, I just feel like I should read those. I never actually do.Anyway, I'm cleaning house. Some of these blog have to go. I'm going to move some of them to a new category called "Probation." These blogs need to shape up or they are getting shipped out of my subscription list. Blogs that I hate, er, dislikeThere are just too many blogs to read and too little time to spend it TRYing to read blogs whose authors:use such a tiny font that I need a magnify Read more:Gringa
Cultural differences: Signals 1970-01-01 00:59:59 Pointing with the finger to give directions is common in North America. "It's over there on the table." "Turn left at that Texaco station." "Talk to the women over there in the red dress."Here in Honduras, many people point with their chin, as pointing with the finger, even at an inanimate object, seems to be considered rude. Accurate directions from points with a chin are just a little harder to decipher.In the USA wagging the index finger negatively at someone is usually reserved for teachers indicating a wrong answer or that someone has been a bad boy.It is also used in Honduras to indicate that the person disagrees or that they think you are wrong. However, wagging of the Honduran index finger usually is in response to questions like "Would you like some more coffee?" or "How about some dessert?" Sorry, but in this situation, "No, thanks" strikes me as much more polite. I'm still a little taken aback at this one and always feel like I've done something wrong. The other day, El Read more:Cultural
, differences
, Cultural differences
, Signals
Hand me that pick ax, I need to trim the roses 1970-01-01 00:59:59 DieffenbachiaYou gardeners would cringe if you could only see how plants are handled here in La Ceiba. I know I do all the time.We have had a worker here for a couple of weeks who is moving some plants for me. Frank has done some others and seemed to know a little bit about it so I felt comfortable to let him do his job.Mangled Etlingera rootsI just went out to check and found Frank using a pick ax to remove the plants! A pick ax! The plants barely have any roots left. Some of the tubers are mangled and shredded.A clump of Etlingera that I saved from the pick ax.When moving a plant, good gardeners generally dig around the plant leaving as big a root ball as possible so as not to damage too many roots. Then they cut underneath with a shovel and gently lift the plant, root ball and all.Here they cut off all the roots within one inch of the stem with a shovel and then pull it out of the ground. That is when they aren't using a pick ax. If it is a small plant, sometimes they just jerk it
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