damp days

I'll update on the saga of the strays and puppies soon. 
Suffice it to say that so far they're doing well.

I haven't been taking my camera on walks so here are a few shots of home life.
Days have been mercifully uneventful. 
Sugar and daughter Minya are the center of attention.

  
Sugar is the least graceful cat I have ever met! 
It's only a matter of time until I get video of her falling off of something.
She is also a loudmouth!

It's easy to be the center of attention here -just eat something.

3 spotted dogs, Pete, Gracie and Archie.

Beautiful Shirley loves her toys.

Miles and Zasu have seen a lot together-
from Pittsburgh, to Portland, to the Yucatan.


















Brothers Pete and Steve asleep by my desk.
When they're awake they are in constant competition.













One of the palm trees has started to produce coconuts.
The bees love it!

The pitayas produced 2 gorgeous fruits. 
We ate one and left one for the birds.

Large mantis on a 'mother of thousands' plant. 
Both are awesomely creepy.

January Blues

Sean and I rang in the new year with colds so the dogs haven't gone out as much as we'd all have liked. We're better now and making up for lost time.
This morning with siblings Amber and Zoot.

 

A passion butterfly (Agraulis vanillae) just emerged from its chrysalis.

Blue skies and cooler, drier weather make walks more fun.
Amber, Linda, Bette and Zoot.

Linda and Amber lead the way. 

Bette, Zasu, Blue, Linda and Otto.

I must have 100 shots of Bette wading and I love them all.  
Yay Bette!

This road is still submerged, but passable. Linda shakes it off.

Happy birthday to me and happy anniversary to Ernie!
Two goons, happy together.

Isn't she pretty? Cali is the smallest of the cats.

I didn't catch this guy's name, but he is as big as Cali. 

This tiny flower spider blends perfectly into a moringa blossom.

 
New year with old friends -we're all getting a little gray. 
Blue, Tito, Zasu and Otto.

X marks the Spot.

Over the last few years we've occasionally taken other peoples' dogs to be sterilized at ADAY in Merida -a low cost, all volunteer clinic.  At the end of October Sean took 6 dogs and we hope to repeat this a few more times this year. We intend to arrange a place in Celestun to hold clinics closer to home next year.
Blanco at the clinic after neutering.

Two dogs ready for surgery.

Machucon and Bombo, dogs we had spayed and neutered previously, watch over the return of their friends.

Returned by way of the flooded streets of Celestun.  We're lucky to live outside of town on higher ground, but this is terrible for the people/animals in this neighborhood!

The plants have been loving the rain and the bugs have been less overwhelming than recent years. We've been encouraging the growth of baybean on our beach side fence and it has been a popular spot for all manner of bird, lizard and bee.   

Dear old cat friend Spot is no more and his absence is tangible. Nothing I say about him could do him justice; he was a force of nature and he is missed. 

I had nearly given up on seeing this bougainvillea bloom.

 

Video from Sean's Nov.3rd morning run:

 

Ginger has been having some health problems, but she's doing well enough to enjoy a walk to see the flamingos.

November morning walk.

Zoot after a good roll in poo.

 

Where the road becomes water.

Barking at thunder. Daily.

George and Tori, just because they look nice together.

I'm finally uploading a few of the videos Sean has taken on runs. This one is from February (and the camera is waterproof).

Shirley thinks rainy days are fine if you have enough toys.

This is from the end of June.

A few seconds from September.

Zoot enjoys a lovely September morning.

A hummingbird takes a break from hovering but not eating.

Tiny assassin bugs on a sea grape. 

Smiley face spider in our neem tree.

Sean found this little red-cheeked mud turtle too close to the road. He posed for a few photos before being relocated to the woods. Identified thanks to Jim Conrad's excellent site (link page right).

Sugar's kittens have been spayed and neutered! Minya didn't let the collar get in her way.

Recent family portrait. Sugar, her doppelgänger Falafel, Kevin, Cali and Minya.

June bugs.

May brought kittens, June brought flies.  June is a bitch.
Momma Sugar and Cali, the day we met. 

Sugar was living at a beach shack next door with her kittens.

Here are all 4 of the little devils.  I like cats, but not what they do to the birds!  
At least these 4 won't be having kittens.  

Sugar checks out the view from the roof.

Sugar and Maldi have a tentative peace.  
She's already proven herself to be a good mouser!  












Daisy and pals play with their new toys, thanks to Lisa and Tim!

Xmul prefers Mo to toys.  Happy dogs at sunset.

Lovely Xmul.

Not so much lovely as loved.  
Ziggy naps. 

These orange insects were standing motionless on a new shoot of our nopal.  They caught my eye because it looked like a bloom, but nopal doesn't have orange flowers.  They were so still that I touched them, thinking it was some kind of fungus.  I'll update when I identify the species. 
Identified as assassin bugs by Amanda. Thanks!

  
The dogs do their best impression of ants.  
Hey!  No dogs allowed on the tabl.... ah, forget it. 

Elewah and Sean.

Her darling daughter Lily, and a napping Frankie.

Blue leads Zoot, Amber, and gang.
Siblings Zoot and Amber have not wanted to go out for months!  So odd.

















Finally, success -we convinced/tricked them, and
Amber couldn't be happier! 

Zoot also seems to have forgotten what all the fuss was about.
Zasu, Zoot, Rita, Monkey and Tito head home.

















A good representation of Ginger -doing her own thing.