Six Weeks Have Gone Quickly

It's hard to believe that we have been here for six weeks. Time has flown by. We enjoyed a quiet Christmas here. The refuge had a Christmas potluck on Tuesday, lots of good food there. Most of the volunteers left for Christmas, there were two couples left here with us on Christmas day. We went to Mass at the Basilica here in San Juan on Christmas Eve. Their decorations were beautiful.

This tree was decorated with snow men.

After Mass, we helped an older couple in the parking lot who thought that their car was stolen. It ended up being parked in another lot and they were confused about where they parked. It was an interesting encounter because they didn't speak English and we don't speak Spanish.

On Christmas Day, we got up late, opened presents and had our big meal in the evening. A big ham slice, roasted potatoes, sauteed green beans and a salad. It was a quiet and enjoyable day visiting on the phone with all of the kids.
It was 88 degrees here on Christmas Day, so this seems appropriate.

Some people have asked us if we have seen any wild pigs, called Javalina here.  We did finally see one, so I stopped to get a picture. Maybe we will see a live one soon.

The wind has been blowing really hard here for a few days now, it is supposed to stop this evening I guess. There will probable be some branches to clear off of the trails tomorrow. I am still doing tree trimming and weed eating at the refuge and being patient about the delay in operating the tractor with the mower.

Closing is Done!

Our realtor called this afternoon and let us know that the closing on our old house was completed this morning. It was supposed to be on the 30th of November and was delayed while a contractor checked out some termite damage in the basement. The damage occurred a long time ago and the termites were destroyed and the property monitored since then with a Sentricon system so we weren't too worried about what he would find, but delays always make me nervous. At last, after a long summer of sorting and packing and cleaning, we are done with it. No more worries about what is happening there while we are gone and the expense of maintaining it is over. We are doing the happy dance. A lot of memories from that house, but we still have them even if we don't have the house.

We put up some Christmas lights outside today, but with 80 degree weather it is hard to get into the Christmas spirit. It always took a little snow to put me in the Christmas mood at home too.

So far I have been enjoying the work here at the refuge.  We finished painting the interior of a house over at the Laguna Atacosa NWR over on the gulf and have been working on trimming trees around the Santa Anna NWR visitor's center. There seem to be a lot of delays getting the details worked out for the mowing part of my job, but as long as they have something for me to do it's ok with me. On my days off, we have been exploring the area and checking out some flea markets. We have been trying a different local restaurant every Sunday after Mass and then driving around for awhile in the afternoon.