Big Changes on the Wild Geezer Ranch

Since my last post our homeowner's hangover has definitely improved, not the least for the addition of professionals to counter our own "Abbott and Costello" incompetence. The well pump guys finally showed up and within minutes had ascertained the problem and replaced the "Psi switch," whatever that is. It seems ants had gotten in there and fouled up the wiring. $140 later and water was once again flowing properly.

Ken Speck in the trees

Next we welcomed the team of lumberjacks and weed-whackers from Speck and Sons Tree Service. What a great job they did! With dad Ken Speck climbing up trees and lopping off huge top sections, scuttling down a few yards and whacking off another big section, the 40-foot, fire-prone Digger Pines were soon on the ground where sons Jake and Matt chopped the big lengths into 16" rounds ready to be split for firewood. Although we don't burn resin-rich pine in our wood stove because of creosote deposits in the chimney, our neighbor Butch - himself something of a lumberjack - plans to split the pine and take it for his own wood needs. 

The big Digger Pine coming down

Jake hard at work

The Live Oaks Ken and his crew cut down we will keep as firewood for our next tenants. Hauling the small piles of cut oak from around the property and stacking it for seasoning made for another long, hot and exhausting morning for me and Layne. We miss our John Deere lawn tractor. Instead of motorized hauling, we had to resort to pulling the little red wagon loaded down with six to eight logs back and forth dozens of times.

Before: 2 large pines next to the storage barn...

After: Nothing but chopped wood!

Ken clowning around with a cut wedge

Two days of steady work by the Speck crew yielded a well-trimmed bunch of trees with firebreaks between them, weeds mowed down to about 100 feet from the house and all the smaller branches chipped and hauled away. Although it cost a bit, when compared to the thought of our house burning down, it was a bargain.

Now we're in the midst of another major project: replacing kitchen, dining room and entryway flooring with ceramic tiles. After we had made plans and put down a deposit on linoleum for the kitchen and dining room only, our contractor friend Michael returned from a distant job that had kept him out of cell phone range and was horrified to learn what we were paying for the flooring. 

Grey tiles, white linoleum, beige carpet

For the same amount he said he could install long-lasting ceramic tile not only in the kitchen and dining area but in the foyer as well. The idea was very attractive to us since the foyer was covered in grey tiles, the floor of the dining room in white linoleum and the living room adjacent to it in beige carpet, giving the large space a chopped up feeling. With tiles throughout it will have a "great room" feel that will be much more attractive. So we canceled our linoleum order, paying a hefty re-stocking fee, but we are convinced that the tile is a much better option. Progress so far confirms that opinion. We are thrilled with how it is beginning to look.

Foyer tiles coming up - a dusty mess!

Yours Truly swinging the sledge hammer!

New tiles going in!

The new floor will likely not be finished until next Monday and even after that we face a number of other projects before we return to Costa Rica in just over two weeks. We will be replacing the dishwasher, the ceiling fan/light in our bedroom and running both water and electricity under the driveway to the horse pasture shelter. And those are just the jobs that Michael will do for us. For our part we still have numerous smaller tasks to accomplish in the few days left to us, plus packing and storing our goods. But it will all get done, no doubt, and we hope our new tenants appreciate the improvements.

Ruth, Elizabeth, Layne and Ralph

Meanwhile, we still find time to visit with friends like our good friend Elizabeth and her husband Ralph, who joined us for dinner this week at our friend Ruth's place in Auburn. Here at home, we relax at the end of the day and watch the hummingbirds devour the sugar water or the backyard birds clean out their feeder while we water the new tomato plants and petunias, which the deer then gobble down at night. Oh well, I guess the doe and her two fawns that we've seen around the pasture need the food more than we need the flowers!

"Cat Bites Pit Bull" and Other Tales from Auburn, CA

July 3, 2010 

         Well, we’re beginning to wonder how anyone ever acquires legal residency in Costa Rica. I’m reminded of Lucy and the football: every time Charlie Brown runs to kick the ball down the field, Lucy pulls it away so he kicks open space and falls on his butt. 

In my last post, you’ll recall, our attorney Monika asked us to scan the passport pages where Costa Rican authorities had stamped our exit date. Only one problem - no stamp! Not only no Costa Rican stamp on our most recent departure, but also no exit stamps from Costa Rica for any of our three trips there. Only once, back in 2007 did the United States Immigration clerk at the Houston airport stamp our passports upon our arrival from Costa Rica. When we returned from Costa Rica a few weeks ago, the Los Angeles Immigration officials once again did not stamp our passports. Go figure.

          But since Monika seemed to think that we should have been stamped somewhere, and indeed we had been stamped by Australian officials going to and returning from that country in 2005, I called the U.S. Department of State and spoke to the fellow in charge of immigration services at Los Angeles International Airport. He explained that they no longer routinely stamp returning passports of U.S. citizens due to complaints by frequent travelers that their passport books were filling up too quickly. So we are once again in limbo, waiting to hear from Monika how we can prove to the Costa Rican Immigration Department that we are here, not there!

         But indeed, here we are. And although the Costa Rican residency challenges are a bother, we are enjoying our temporary residency here in Auburn, California. The two cats in our care are a study in contrasts: Socks is verbal, friendly, often joins us in bed at night and hangs around during the day sleeping under a bush in the front yard or on the living room floor, sprawled on her back for some belly rubs. Socks also requires daily grooming with, of all things, a horse currycomb!

         Abby, on the other hand, is the “phantom cat.” The first few days we saw no sign of her and began to worry that she had freaked out at the strangers in the house with all our bags and boxes and new noises, and simply run away, never to be seen again. But slowly, we began to catch a glimpse of her scurrying down the hall to the litter box and venturing to the bowls of food and water. Last night, for just a brief moment, she even jumped up on the bed with us, her little collar bell jingling softly near the foot of the bed. Hopefully, by the time we leave here at the end of the month, she will have relaxed into a friendlier mode.

         Socks proved her mettle last night, however, when a smallish brown Pit Bull came trotting into our backyard, much to our surprise and alarm, although we quickly realized he was not at all aggressive. Apparently lost, he had wandered through the gate we’d left open in hopes of luring Abby inside. But when Socks caught sight of this alien creature in her space, she turned into a hissing dragon, all claws and fearsome anger. Attacking his backend, she chased the poor animal out the gate before I could grab Socks and take her inside the house. Last I saw, the chastised Pit Bull was ambling off into the open field nearby, looking back over his shoulder at the house with the attack cat.

         Abby and Socks have every right to be tense, however, as we have inevitably disrupted their routine. With every trip to our jam-packed barn, we return to Ruth’s garage with more boxes to sort through for more giveaways, perhaps to sell or to take back to Costa Rica with us. It’s a messy process. There are things we missed in Costa Rica or found to be expensive to buy there. A toaster, for instance, is pretty pricey in Atenas, running $35 to $40 or so. We do have a good toaster here, stored away. But with its bulk, it will take up a full corner of a suitcase, which will cost us $20 or so to take onboard the airlines. And flying from Portland to Chicago on one airline and then Chicago to San Jose, CR, on another, the cost of taking that suitcase full of toasters and some of the other seemingly trivial items, will likely run the same $40! Perhaps it makes more sense to buy one down there. Decisions, decisions. As mundane as that may seem, we face such choices with every box. No wonder the cats are spooked by these bustling strangers.

         But most early mornings we manage to get out for a walk. We’ve been exploring a beautiful local park nearby, Auburn Regional Park. This is a well-maintained oasis here in California where, thanks to the state’s budget woes, most state-run parks are closed down and quickly falling into disrepair. The large creek-fed lake that occupies the center of Auburn Regional is circled by an asphalt walking path which meanders under large oak trees with benches, BBQ pits and picnic areas along the way. Mallard ducks with their shiny teal green heads share the lake with dozens of wild geese, primarily Canadian and Snow geese, whose loud honks greet any dog so brave as to enter the water near them. Even pint-sized fishermen (see photo below) try their luck here in catching bass or bluegill. The park offers sports fields for all, from basketball to tennis, soccer to slow-pitch baseball and even a highly rated “disc golf course,” which is a fancy term for Frisbee. Located only a few blocks from our house-sitting base, Layne and I find the park to be ideal for exercise, people- and bird-watching.

          Although we are enjoying life here, we still like to keep in touch with events in Costa Rica, and we do this through several of the English-language newspapers available online. TheCostaRicaNews.com is a weekly publication and a relative newcomer to the field, having been founded only three years ago, but they are growing and have some worthwhile reporting, particularly on eco-tourism, medical tourism and information for expats. AMCostaRica.com is another English-language source for news, but features an abundance of prominent advertising on each page, a little garish for my taste. The oldest Gringo-focused news publication is the venerable TicoTimes.net. Unfortunately, to get complete reporting, one must subscribe. InsideCostaRica.com provides perhaps the best news coverage free of charge. Some of the many blogs written by expats in Costa Rica also offer a personal perspective on happenings in their part of the country.

         But there’s nothing like being in Paradise in person. So we are definitely counting down the days until our northern sojourn is over and we can return to the vida muy tranquilo that we have in Costa Rica.

         Happy Fourth of July to all who value freedom! 

Memories of Star Thistle and Cardiac Hill

         Sitting out on the expansive deck of our friend Janine’s house here in Cherry Acres, I had just settled in to draft this post when across the wooded back area flies a Cooper’s Hawk, its banded wings and distinctive long tail gliding silently across the grassy terrain beneath the branches of dozens of Blue Oak trees. Our house-sitting chores here are minimal: water the nasturtiums and make sure the house is locked when we leave. It’s a lovely home, beautifully situated on five acres in the woodsy area outside of Cool, California; we feel fortunate indeed to spend a couple of weeks here looking after it for our friend while she visits her sister in New Mexico.

         When Janine returns early this week, we move to another house-sitting situation for another friend, a comfortable home located in the small town of Auburn. There we will have the pleasant task of caring for two cats, Socks and Abby, our friend Ruth’s beloved pair of yellow felines, as well as looking after her garden and enjoying some of the bounty thereof. Since Ruth’s home is much easier to find than Janine’s more remote property out here beyond the American River Canyon, Layne and I plan to try and sell some of our “stuff” on Craigslist from there. We particularly hope to sell a car, a ping-pong table and perhaps a few pieces of furniture now stored in the small barn on our leased country home near here. Renting a furnished house in Costa Rica has taught us just how little we really need to be comfortable so it’s time to continue lightening our load.

          One real benefit to house-sitting here in our old neighborhood this summer is being able to go for walks along familiar trails. Cronan Ranch paths are just as picturesque as ever and the route we fondly labeled “Cardiac Hill” still has us huffing and puffing before reaching the top. Once there, the view is pretty spectacular: rolling golden hills leading down to the South Fork of the American River. Instead of fields of coffee plants or banana trees as in Costa Rica, of course, here we have acres of poison oak and a noxious, invasive weed called Star Thistle, which has taken over this part of California. The paved street behind the firehouse in Cool is another favorite walk, often populated with hikers and their dogs because it is not open to traffic. It connects up with Knickerbocker Trail, a nine-mile route that is part of a famous equestrian endurance race each year, the 100-mile Tevis Cup Ride, so we often see the occasional horseback rider conditioning their mount for the long contest. In fact, in years past, when we had two horses, Layne and I frequently rode that trail ourselves, enjoying the scenery and the tranquility of an outing on horseback. 

         Still, for all of the pleasant reminders of our former life here, we both long for the easy-going lifestyle we enjoyed in Costa Rica. Although our schedule has eased considerably since sending off our residency papers to our attorney last week, we can’t completely avoid the hectic stresses of life in the U.S., either a quick trip to the store (by car, of course) or an important phone call to return, an appointment to keep. The slower pace and reduced pressure of Pura Vida lures us back with every passing day.

         But besides the sheer pace of life, there are other contrasts with Costa Rica as well. On our walks, Layne and I have commented on how few birds we hear, compared to the continuous cacophony of birdcalls in Costa Rica. Even now as I sit here on the deck, surrounded by pine trees, oak trees and bushes of all sorts, I hear only a few bird chirps and a couple of dogs barking at some distance. There are no children playing in the streets like in Alto del Monte, our neighborhood in Costa Rica, no chickens running loose or horses tied to trees. In fact, we seldom see our neighbors at all; for the most part, life seems to happen indoors here, out of sight. There is wildlife here, however. Even as I wrote this paragraph, a gorgeous redtail fox went sauntering by, stopping briefly to look me over!

         Still, we know the summer will pass quickly and we plan to enjoy every moment we can with friends and family here before heading back to Costa Rica in late August. By then, we expect to be ready for a return to Paradise, complete with crazy drivers, rainy season storms and all those bugs and bats and butterflies!