A day in the Life of @cecicastor

Good morning folks! I thought now that the holidays are over (for me at least), I should get of my derrière an get some work done. So today, I invite you to spend a day with me on the topical homestead of Quinta David. Be forewarned, my days are long…

It’s 3 am and I awake to the sound of the surf pounding on the shore. The ocean is wild and woolly this morning. Tide is in. I get dressed quickly this morning. It’s cold in the house. Mistake. I looked at the thermometer, only 18 degrees Celsius! No wonder I feel cold.

Head out to the kitchen for my water bottle of lemon water. Gulp down about half and refill from the pitcher in the fridge. Will comes into the kitchen and grabs his water bottle. I get a big bear hug and “Morning Mom! You ready?”

Almost! Need to feed and water the dogs then lock them the garage, except for Banshee who will accompany us on this morning’s walk. Lady is in heat and the three gentleman have forgotten their manners so no walk on the beach this morning.

Banshee waits patiently at the door in the wall for Will and I to come. Finally her wait is over. We open the gate to head out with Banshee in the lead.

It is still dark and a cold breeze is blowing off the ocean, biting at our faces. The road from our place to the main road is nothing but a rocky cow path, full of holes and mucky in some places where neighbors have thrown out their wash water. It’s a bit slow going as we don’t want to trip in the holes and break an ankle (me mostly).

After about 10 minutes we pass the park on the corner. A few borrachos are asleep on the ground in front of the steps. They don’t stir as we pass. Across the corner, passed our Swedish friends house, we see a light on and assume they are working already too.

Over the swollen creek bridge, trying not to get our feet too wet, passed a fellow Canadian’s place, and passed the Italian's hotel. As we pass Yammi’s pulpería, she is opening up. She waves good morning.

Now we cross the highway and the last 100 meters to the beach. Banshee knows she is free to run and takes off at lightening speed towards the surf. Will and I start off towards the bocana in Poneloya. About a 3km walk along the beach.

The waves are rough and high today. No nice curls for surfing. A young girl is out on the beach collecting seashells to make jewellery to sell to the tourists. She tells us her brothers are working on the Los Pinetas beaches.

We continue on to the bocana just in time to see the fishing pangas leaving. It is an awesome sight, but it means we need to turn around as time is flying and we have work to do. Banshee is now loping along side of us. We retrace our steps, waving as neighbors are starting to stir.

Open the gate, give Banshee water and release the other dogs from the garage. Head for the showers.

Will has the coffee on when I come out. He offers to make breakfast and serve it on the patio while I check on my e-mail. Only 53 today! Will hands my a mug of hot coffee. I wrap my cold hands around the warm mug. Sigh! I am grateful for many things this morning.

My son, Chris from Managua, calls and I put it on speaker so Will can join in on the conversation. Destiny, my granddaughter is an early riser too. We have a really nice chat before she has to go and eat her breakfast.

By now, Will has a veritable feast set out for us. Another mug of coffee first please. I need to kick start my day!

After a short but enjoyable time on the patio (I could sit there all day; listening to the birds singing and watching the little buggers eat my nice almost ripe papaya) But it is time to work. Such a nasty four letter word…

I hear the horn of the second bus of the day. Time is passing quickly. It’s almost 6 am and usually I have workers coming, but they won’t be returning until January 2nd. For this I am grateful. Even having just three workers throws a monkey wrench into the works.

I put a load of laundry into the machine. I know. I know. I’m not totally off grid yet and that will give me new ways to adjudicate my time. A Mot-Mot is sitting on my clothes line laughing at me. He knows what he will be doing when I hang the clothes out to dry!

Will offers to do the dishes before he feeds the animals. What a sweet son! I go out to check on our 10,000 liter water tank because we could see water dripping from the top last night. Seems okay this morning, but I will have to keep an eye on it. We may have to replace the buoy again.

Time to grab my water bottle, a second cup of coffee, and place my derrière in my chair ready to work. Fergie (the Great Dane) has other ideas. First comes the cold nose under the old arm pit. Oh, she hasn’t noticed. The head pushes under the arm further.

Ever try to type with your elbow level with your shoulder? Gently take Fergie outside. Open the Replies in Steemit and begin to see what needs further commenting.

Darn! Forgot to close the patio door. Fergie is here again and has his giant black and white head in my lap looking at me with those great big sad eyes. He tries to squeeze in closer. Is he trying to sit on my lap? Assistance is needed and Fergie trots off with Will to do some outside work.

Time to hang up the laundry and chase away some pesky birds. I know what they are planning, but I haven’t got time this morning to do anything about it.

I glance at the clock. Oh, my! It’s after 11 and I forgot about Dr. George and the Discussion group! Yikes! Sorry, Dr. George. I will try to make it tomorrow.

Need to think about lunch. Holiday time has put me out of sync. My routine (or the lack thereof) has been sent Topsy Turvy. Will came in from the garden with a nice ripe papaya (birds missed this one), a few nice cucumbers, a couple of figs, a handful of icaco fruits, and some kumquats. Not a bad haul.

Will suggests, just as I was thinking it, why not give these to our neighbour Don Manuel? He is an older gentleman who has been in ill health for the past year. He’s on a pretty restrictive diet and his pension isn’t quite enough to buy all the fresh fruits and veggies he should be eating.

We take a half hour to go over and visit with Don Manuel and brought him the basket of goodies from the garden. He was so appreciative of such a little basket of fruit.

We decide that since it is holiday time we will go out for lunch on the beach to our favourite place, the Sua. The place was quiet despite hordes of folks at the beach. The week between Christmas and New Years is always busy at the beach.

We had a nice leisurely lunch. I had a grilled chicken dish and Will had the chicken curry, his current favourite. One disappointment though, no Strawberry Cheese cake! Oh, well. That’s how the cheese cake crumbles.

When we got out to the jeep, it wouldn’t start. The radio was on as was the dash camera. But the key just spun around in the ignition! This is very weird...

We were being squeezed between the local garbage truck and the inter-local bus! Both wanted our parking spot. Popular place for lunch, I guess. No room to manoeuvrer.

Popped the hood and disconnected the battery thinking we needed to reset the fickle alarm system that some brainiac previous owner had installed. Reconnected. No change in our situation.

Time to call in our reliable handyman, jack of all trades, Erwin! He made it to the beach from Leon in less than 30 minutes. I didn’t ask how fast he was travelling...

In less than 10 minutes he had it figured out and had a solution to the problem. There was a screw missing that holds the ignition in place on the steering column. Rummaged around in his trunk and came up with a screw, but he felt that it was a little short to do the job well, so he found an O ring and stretched around the parts.

Seemed solid enough. Turned the key and we have ignition. All smiles, Erwin says he’ll be around on Tuesday to finish the repair job and to replace a faulty part in the horn assembly. We know this means he would like a home made lunch on Tuesday!

Erwin was rewarded with two bowls of home made gelato from the new shop that opened on the beach this fall. A really nice and refreshing treat for all.

Time to get home and work! The 45 minute lunch turned into a 3 hour diversion. Start back on my Steemit curating. Will feeds the animals and waters the garden.

I trudge on until 6:30 pm when Will announces dinner is served! What I would I do without my right hand man? I was going to work at the computer while munching but Will wouldn’t allow it! So, we eat in the dining room, with all five dogs at our feet, having a wonderful conversation and drinking Oolong tea.

Around 7pm I head back to the computer. I have a lot of curating to catch up on. After a while I notice that my eyes are staring to hurt and I have a slight headache. Will is bringing more lemon water. I have no idea how many gallons of this stuff I drink in a day.

Will is telling me I need to go to bed. This is rich. My son telling me to go to bed. I tell him I have a bit more to do. He puts his foot down, tells me it is almost 11pm and that I am burning the candle at both ends. Where have I heard that before?

I am in bed before midnight but am restless. Frisky (cat) snuggles up to me and purrs until I fall asleep.

I should have posted this last night. But here it this morning, a little later than normal. I slept in! Until 7:10!
all photos except for the one with Fergie, Brutus and Erwin are courtesy of pixabay