Chief's Pride and Joy

Boy, do we have sunflowers! And bees to go along with them. They are busy packing on the pollen . Soon they will produce tons of seeds and the grackles will be happy.

Sound of the Sunflowers

Chief was out early this morning and heard a buzzing by the sunflower patch. He grabbed his camera and caught a bunch of busy bees packing themselves with pollen. He even got the sound on the video.

Buzz's Birthday

We went to Buzz's birthday party the other day. He lives a few kilometers down the road and is in the process of reclaiming his backyard from the scrubby brush that is everywhere in the Yucatan. So far he has put in a pool, a bodega to put yard stuff, the filter, etc in, and a really nice barbeque. The fence is getting there. I'm kind of envious of his outdoor shower. Here is Buzz getting ready to take a picture of me taking a picture of him, then Nancy Draper and Joan McBurney holding each other up and Chief making a few friends.
We all had a great time and enjoyed a Snickers birthday cake made by Buzz himself.

Small street, big truck

Our neighbors are eagerly awaiting the arrival of their household goods.
They have been shipped from the US in a container, which then was loaded onto a truck in Progreso and then driven to Chuburna. Long journey. However, backing the truck into their driveway proved to be the toughest part of the trip.They got wedged into the street for a while and even the police didn't have any ideas. Finally they got unstuck and presumably, our neighbors now have their stuff.

Take me out to the ballgame

The local kids here really want to play baseball. but many of them are too poor to even have a bat or glove. Our friend Kaye Kirkes has sponsored a team called the Chuburna Indians. People have donated equipment, uniforms, and have helped getting the dilapidated ball park gussied up. They have started practicing with a couple of coaches from Merida and are really excited about their first game in a few weeks. Chief went to one of their practices and took a few pictures and set them to that all time favorite, one that everybody knows the words to: "Take Me Out To The Ballgame". Join us in wishing these kids the joy of baseball.

Great Lakes

We had a drenching thunderstorm this morning as one can tell by the big lake in front of the house. Probably an inch of rain fell in an hour or so. We have had rain the last few days and everybody is happy including the birds. Hopefully they will eat all the bugs that will erupt in a day or two!

A big peach cloud

Finally, some interesting clouds! We watched this bank build up toward the south all afternoon. And after the sun set, it turned the incredible shade of pink and orange. When it became dark, we were treated to a great display of lightning inside this beautiful cloud. We sat on the Godfather bench and watched the lightening for about an hour.