15 month update

Today marks month 15 for us. Here's a little update on how things are humming along.

B&B: The guesthouse is ready for our guest. We have a few bookings and look forward to filling in the gaps

Bettys: Our hens were molting in September, but they seem to have recovered. Their bums are fully feathered again. The least amount of eggs they laid was six. They're back to laying between eight and ten every day. We supplement their food with eggshell powder, lettuce, broccoli and other greens. Their shells are hard and smooth. It's all good.

Trevorettes: We have 750 trout in the big pond and they're growing nicely. They weigh approximately half a kilo. They will soon be ready to sell to Roberto. Kevin has sealed and painted the concrete tank in the hatchery and we welcomed 1,500 fingerlings yesterday. And so the process repeats itself.

Derek the Duck: Looks like Derek was just a temporary guest. We only saw him that one day. He's not been back. It makes me sad ... I'd love it if that pond was home to ducks.

Flower gardens: We bought 20 new plants this week to encourage more butterflies and hummingbirds. I'm working at filling in the hot tub with filler material. I'm ready to add the soil and compost. Then I'll plant some flowers and herbs. I think it will look much nicer than an empty, dirty hot tub.

Vegetable garden: I've transplanted six tomato plants in the cylindrical tanks in the hatchery. We're going to give it another try. Hopefully, with the weather drying up, they won't suffer from that nasty fungus. One of the three red pepper plants has survived the winter. I've also transplanted seven cucumber plants in the outside portion of the island garden. I've started more squash, celery, strawberries, arugula, Romaine lettuce and sunflowers ... all from seeds. Kevin planted new runner beans and we found a lone sugar pea plant growing where I had sowed seeds a few months ago.

Pasture: Martin often brings his horse, Paloma, to graze in our pasture, and we love to see her. Unfortunately, one horse is not enough to keep the pasture groomed. Our friend, Luis Alfonso, from Santa Maria brought three of his horses to live in our pasture this week. They will stay with us for as long as it works us and Luis Alfonso. His horses are beautiful: a mare with her foal and another foal from a different mother. The smallest of the two foals doesn't have a name, so we're calling her Hush. Luis Alfonso likes it.

Our friend, Roger, who was clearing the blackberries in July and August hasn't been back since. The berries will be ripe in January, so we're expecting him to be back to pick them. We'll see how that goes.

picture borrowed from the internet.

New creature: We have an osprey hanging around these days. He's gorgeous. Unlike the blue heron, he dive bombs into the ponds and grabs the fish with its talons. The fishing line that Kevin has placed around the pond won't prevent this bird of prey from helping himself to our Trevorettes. We're not happy about it, but seeing this majestic creature almost makes it okay ... almost.

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Immigration: We received an email a couple of weeks ago stating that our temporary residency has been approved. Yay! We have an appointment in January to sign all the paperwork.

Healthcare: One of the expectation that comes with temporary residency is we have to pay into the healthcare system. After a scare with the amount we were originally told we had to pay, we sorted everything out and we only have to pay $53 per month. Kevin applied and got his card ... then Thursday, I applied and got my card. Now we're just waiting to hear back from our lawyer in San Jose about getting our fingerprints taken.

Teaching: I gave my notice in September. My last English class will be December 10. It was a good year, but it's time to move on.

Book: Yes, I'm still editing my book, but I feel the hard work is worth it. I have my ISBN, which is a number that is assigned to every single book that is published whether it be a paper or electronic version. It feels so official. I also received permission to use a quote from Elizabeth Gilbert who wrote Eat, Pray, Love. That's exciting in itself. I hope to have the book done and uploaded onto Kobo by the end of the week (we'll see).