Good Times, Bad Times (with apologies to Led Zep)

This is what we call the fancy path to the beach.  This view never gets old!

Beach art

Carl's sisters came down for a quick one-week visit with Carl & Melody.  (Hi Shirleen and Alicia!)  They really wanted to do a beach day, but it was a bit too breezy so we had to make do with "balcony beach"  instead.  Our upstairs terrace is quite a sun trap and sheltered from the wind.  Just add sunscreen and a few beverages and a little imagination and you're almost at the beach.

Here's Melody looking quite relaxed.

 And Shirleen (from Nova Scotia)

And Alicia (from Massachusetts)

Shadow looking very macho in the spikey collar that Cari-Ann won when she was here.  

We're throwing it out now, okay C-A?

While Shirleen & Alicia were here, they stopped in at the radio station to say hello to Rosie and to sing a song for their mom who lives in Nova Scotia and is a faithful listener of Rosie's radio show.  The Scott Family Trio did a great rendition of "Farewell to Nova Scotia".  Made me tear up a little bit.

On their last day here, we all went to the Mayan Palace for lunch.  The Mayan Palace is a fancy hotel about 20 minutes out of town.  Rosie, who doesn't do anything by half measures, had arranged the lunch for us, so we were met in the lobby and escorted  to the dining room by Neftali, the executive chef.  He also joined us for lunch and offered us champagne & orange juice and desserts on the house.  After lunch he took us on a personal tour of the property and gave us cards entitling us to a discount on our next visit.

The outside of the Mayan Palace

The lobby

Around the grounds

The pool bar

The private beach

 This is Neftali.  Isn't he adorable?!

Poor Rosie (in the red) was kept busy interpreting for us as Neftali was shy to use his English skills and we were equally shy to use our pathetic Spanish.

Half of Rosie and Alicia

Shirleen looking a little overwhelmed at the plethora of beverage choices.

Carl with his sisters

Melody, Neftali, Carl, Shirleen, Rosie

Dan and Alicia

 Melody & Alicia 

Rosie

On our walk through the desert to get to the beach, we've noticed that things are starting to bloom.

Just another day at the beach for Barky Boots.

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One morning last week, Hombre showed up for breakfast looking like he'd been in a scrap overnight.  He was limping more than usual and he was covered in blood.  He had a lot of  cuts and punctures on his legs, back and neck, but the worst part was his ear.  The inside was torn and bleeding quite a bit.  We cleaned him up as best we could, and treated his wounds with an antiseptic.

The next day, his ear was worse.  It was enormous! At least 3 times thicker than normal and still bloody and oozing pus.  We started him on antibiotics and cleaned it a few times a day for a couple of days.

Dan getting the patient to the operating table.

Intensive care

 Visiting hours.  

BeeGee stopping by to see her old pal

Even though his ear was much better, he wasn't eating much.  We bought him tinned food, but he wasn't very interested. We bought him hot dogs, but he didn't want them.  Dan even tried spoon feeding him peanut butter, with no luck.  However, our friends John & Jimmi stopped by with a big bag of steak scraps and he had no problem wolfing them down!!  

We took him to the vet and he was put on an intravenous and was kept overnight.  

  Sadly, he died at the clinic.  He was just too old and too weak to fight anymore. 

Our street isn't the same without him.  I think of him every time I hear a train whistle.  (And believe me, that's often!)  All of the dogs around here howl at the trains, but he howled longer and louder and more plaintively than all the others.  He was the choirmaster.
Descanse en paz, sweet boy.