A Dump Story
October 29, 2008 Posted by: ERIN

Recently, Tom and I were hauling a truckload of trash to the dump. When we turned into the entrance, we saw three furry bundles in the driveway up ahead. As we approached, two puppies scampered off into the brush, leaving one pile of fur motionless in the road. Instantly my heart froze and I clenched the door handle. "Is that a dead puppy?", I blurted. Tom hesitated and then said, "I think it must be."

He slowed down and took a wide berth around the small, slumped body. I knew I shouldn't look, but I couldn't tear my eyes away. As we passed I got a clear view of its little face. It was covered in dirt and matted fur. It was missing a leg. It was a teddy bear.

Among the piles of garbage and junk, in a place where they fight for survival daily, the puppies had managed to find a stuffed teddy bear. They found a teddy bear and they were playing with it. It brought tears to my eyes, and what a relief they were not the tears I had anticipated seconds before.

When we had dropped our load and were driving back out to the main road, the teddy bear was gone from the driveway. The puppies had dragged it into the brush. Four of them were now taking turns pouncing on it, and their mother was quietly watching over the scene from a nearby pile of rubble.

Discovery Day Regatta
October 23, 2008 Posted by: ERIN

I'm a little behind in posting these photos, but this year a regatta was included as part of the Discovery Day (i.e. Columbus Day) festivities. It was held in Graham's Harbour, right out in front of the field station, so I was able to get a lot of nice shots of the sailboats. It was a Class C race, meaning that the boats were on the smaller side, but they were still very pretty to watch. The Island Girl took first place, followed by the Lady Ruthnell in second. And the Barbarian brought up the rear.

Life in the big city
October 22, 2008 Posted by: ERIN

This was the view from our window last week. Tom had to go to Nassau for several meetings, and I tagged along. The hotel had a casino with slot machines that stole our money. We bought some Cuban rum and ate at our favorite Indian restaurant. I went to a real supermarket and got to purchase exotic items, like monteray jack cheese and navy beans. We rode a jitney for the first time. And we swam in the pool. Can you believe Tom had never ever been on a waterslide? Neither could I.

Have I mentioned the feral cows?
October 9, 2008 Posted by: ERIN

Yes, feral cows. The story, as far as I can piece together, is that a prominent San Salvadorian family kept a small herd of cows back in the 80s. At some point these cows broke free and were not immediately apprehended. Whether an attempt to round them up was never made, or they just manage to stealthily evade capture, I do not know. But either way, the herd has been living and breeding in the wild of the island's interior ever since.

My favorite detail is that, even now, people can't just hunt a feral cow. Say you happen to know where a group of cows hangs out, and you'd like to maybe get yourself some fresh beef. You must request permission from the descendents of the original herd's owner, and if granted I think you probably have to throw several steaks their way. Otherwise you're stealing. It may be a cow that is several generations removed from the fugative cows and has never ever been cared for by human hands, but you are stealing none the less. Maybe you'd never get caught, but if anyone ever found out? Let's just say a grudge on a small island can last forever.

Now these cows are quite elusive. In his two years here, Tom had only managed to catch one quick glimpse of them running through the bush. And in my first year, the closest I came was hearing their "moos" from the interior one particularly calm night. Visitors to the field station are often skeptical about the actual existence of the legendary freal cows, but we need only to refer them to the many piles of evidence (i.e. cow pies) in the water catchment basin.

When we got back from our trip to the states a few weeks ago though, we finally got lucky. After about a month with no humans at the field station, some of the cows got brave. There was evidence (you know what I mean) that they had been in the yards quite often. And then one night we were out walking Zipper and there they were, just across the main yard. Four adults, two juveniles, and one nursing little calf. To be honest, I was kinda scared of them. The adults are quite large, and who knows what a scrappy wild cow might do next? But at the same time it was oddly exhilarating. The feral cows are right in front of me! Seven of them! With babies!! We watched them munching away at the grass for a while before they were suddenly spooked and stampeded off into the bush. Now I'm not exaggerating when I say "stampeded" here. Ever since, I've been giving Zipper lectures about staying away from feral cows in motion, because they could easily flatten him. And probably me too.

Sadly, no pictures. It was too dark for any to come out. But I swear it's true.

Back in the Garden
October 7, 2008 Posted by: ERIN

I am all tired out! I spent this morning and early afternoon out in the yard and garden. I'll try not to brag about it being 86F here in October, but it was pretty hot and sunny. I got the compost area all weeded and cleaned up. I think I'll be getting some really nice soil from there for my planters this year. I also implemented a new technique for preventing evaporative losses. I'm using pulled weeds and yard waste to cover the compost piles, leaving an open space at the top of the pile we're actively adding to. I figure this will let rain and hose watering through, but trap more of the moisture in the pile. More moisture means better composting action. When we want the compost, just pull back the matted weeds and viola! It also got me thinking about my garden beds. I think I'll try mulching this time around, again to lessen moisture loss. It is about time we put all those darn almond leaves to use. (Imagine giant trees that drop their giant leaves ALL year long.) I just have to figure out a convenient way to shred them a bit.

Then I did a bunch of clean-up on and around our patio. The only part I left for Tom to do is the trecherous weeding near the cacti. I even hacked down the annoying jumbays coming up amongst the fiddle flower bushes. I had thought about beginning to fill my planters so they will be ready to go when we get back form Nassau next weekend, but then realized they would just be sitting in the sun drying out until then. Not good for soil development! I'm so conscientious of water content today ... my soils professors would be proud!

Last season I had both successes and failures in the garden, and luckily it was more successes than failures. The big winners were green beans, tomatoes, sweet peppers, and broccoli. I could tell you exactly how many I grew of each, but that might be a little too geeky. Let's just say they all will be returning to the garden this year. I had moderate success with beets, cantaloupe, and cucumbers. They've all been invited back, and I've got new strategies for each to increase yields. Sadly, I've given up on zucchini, yellow squash, spinach, and carrots. But I assure you it was not without a fight. Brand new additions to this year's garden will be radishes, watermelon, green onions, heirloom tomatoes and strawberries. Oh, and maybe shallots, peas, and pole beans if I have enough room. As far as herbs, basil, flat-leaf parsley, cilantro, chives, and maybe mint will be making comeback appearances. Oregano will not.

I found that my most difficult garden problem has been aphids, especially since I'm not using any chemicals. Most of the reserach I've done suggests buying predetory insects to devour the aphid young, but I don't think even such vicious beats would survive the trip through the mail to get here. However, I did find this very helpful website that talks about companion plants that will attract the beneficial insects naturally. So I'll be attempting to use dill, cilantro/coriander, and sweet alyssum as aphid control this year. (Let's just hope the necessary predators actually exist on the island!) I'm also going to include some catnip, because I read that it attract bees. Yay for pollination!

Father and Son, Together Again
October 4, 2008 Posted by: ERIN

Despite what I may have implied in my last post, Zipper's trip to the states wasn't all doom and gloom. Before the heartworm treatment set in, he was quite enjoying himself. Between peeing in eight different states, testing out my parents' comfy furniture, experiencing temperatures below 60F, and sampling the wide variety of dog treats America has to offer, everyday held a new adventure.

And of course, the highlight was his reunion with Joba. It was so nice to see them together again. They seemed to recognize each other right away and were quickly romping just like the good old days.

Look at how their ears match! And can you believe how big Joba has gotten? He is still quite a puppy in spirit, but certainly not in stature. When he and Zip would wrestle it felt a little like the house was falling down.

Joba seemed happy to see Tom and I again too. (Tom in particular, if Joba immediately peeing on his foot is any indication.) Jobby knows how to 'shake' now and loves a good squeak toy more than ever. Unfortunately, he has learned that he also enjoys rolling in dead fish. I guess you can take the Potcake out of San Salvador, but you can't take the San Salvador out of the Potcake!

Plight of the Potcake
October 2, 2008 Posted by: ERIN

Part of the reason I ended up going back to the states a month earlier than Tom was so that I could take Zipper with me and get him some needed veterinary treatment. Back in May when we had a vet on the island Zipper was diagnosed with a moderate heartworm infection. Without regular access to veterinary care on San Salvador, we had never been able to give him any heartworm prevention. The vet recommend that we have him treated during our summer trip home, which is exactly what we decided to do. I also scheduled Zipper to be neutered (finally!) and have his dew claws removed.

Should anyone needs incentive to give their dog a monthly heartworm prevention pill, let it be to spare the dog from ever having to go through treatment should an infection occur. The treatment consists of two large shots, containing FDA-approved arsenic, into the dog's lower back muscles. The drugs kill and dislodge the worms from the heart. The bloodstream then carries the worms to the lungs where they slowly dissolve and are removed from the body as mucus. That in itself sounds uncomfortable enough, but there are also some severe side effects.

For Zipper, the first couple days it was just extreme restlessness, heavy panting, and general discomfort. But around the third or fourth day after treatment, things got much worse. His back muscles were so inflamed he couldn't walk on his own. He would scream and yelp in pain whenever he tried to move. If you don't think a dog can scream, guess again. It even hurt to wag his tail. He also got really depressed, and I won't even go into the explosive diarrhea. Within a week he had lost about 10 pounds, which is significant for a dog his size considering it is 20% of his body weight. When he was slowly able to move on his own again, the smallest tasks (going out to pee) would fatigue him for hours. He lost so much muscle mass in his back legs that he would often stumble. It took a month for him to get back into his favorite sleeping position (on his back, four paws in the air) without hurting.

Over time, Zipper has almost fully recovered. Most importantly, his spirit and happy nature have returned. He has regained his lost weight, but he doesn't quite have his former level of endurance, and his back legs are still somewhat weak. However, we're hopeful that with more time he'll get those back too.

I don't mean to be so grim here, but this is basically my public service announcement. I don't want your dog to go through what poor Zipper did. He was in so much pain and couldn't understand what was happening to him. It was hearbreaking for all of us. So please, give your dog its monthly heartworm prevention! Never ever forget!! And remind your family and friends.

Now go give your dog a hug for me.