MuddyPuddles

My medical procedure went well this morning.  As most of you know, I spent a month in Honduras this summer.  Monte and I were talking about how he might find a Honduran tapeworm from that experience.  Sure enough, as I was coming too, he showed me a tapeworm that he had in a bottle.  It was about 8 inches long.  He put it in a speciman bottle in some solution and let me bring it home.  Now I have something that I can put in the place of my “White Marble” rock.  After I put my reading glasses on and examined the worm more closely (I had never seen one before), it seemed amazing to me how much it resembled a strip of some kind of medical gauze tape or something.  It must be a rare species found only in Honduras and/or in hospital supply cabinets because it sure looks different than those in the encyclopedias.  Those little worms can sure be tricky.  I guess it’s part of their natural camouflage.   
Now I know what rare species of tape worms look like and I know how it feels to be a garden hose (from the prep work yesterday).  I think I’ll just stick to being a human bean.  It’s more of a gas.  God Bless.  By the way, I love you all!!!   Dennis        (ps—It wasn’t really a tapeworm.  It was a good friend’s idea of humor (pretty funny, actually.))

Garage U-turn

We moved in to our new house when I was in the third grade.  My youngest brother, Josh, was about to be born and our original little house on the farm was already overcrowded.  We just had plywood floors for most of a year, until the next crop came in when we were able to put in carpet.  On the south end of the west facing house was a two car garage.  It had two individual garage doors with a divider in between.  Since our house was pier and beam, the level of the house floor was about 16 or 18 inches above the level of the garage floor.  Therefore there was one step that was about half the difference in the two levels.  The door into the house was in the middle of the north side of the garage. 
One time, when I was in high school, I had the job of hauling off a refrigerator or some other large appliance from the house.  We had an old (full sized) clunker pickup that did not have power steering.  We always had one or two of these old trucks around to use on the farm for irrigation (moving tubes or pipes or whatever) and general farm and farm hand use.  I backed the pickup into the garage as close as I could to the house door.  Then I decided that it sure would be easier if I could come straight from the house floor level to the pickup level without having to go down to the garage floor level first.  So, I decided to see if I could turn the pickup around in the garage enough to back up directly to the side door.  The garage was pretty much the minimal size for a two car garage so this would take some doing.  After going back and forth about a hundred times I was able to be parked in a north/south direction in an east/west garage.  After loading the refrigerator into the pickup, I decided that it would be a much better story if I continued turning the pickup around instead of reversing my course.  That way, I could say that I turned the pickup completely around in the two car garage (that had a divider between two doors) without power steering.  So I did and I can.  I not only backed the pickup into the garage, I turned it around while inside the garage and backed it out, as well.  And that has been a little snapshot memory that I’ve enjoyed on several occasions through the years.  (I encourage you to go out and try it yourself on your next opportunity.  You’ll be glad you did.)  God Bless.  Dennis

One time, when I was in early high school, I had been visiting with my aunt Pat and uncle Weldon and my cousins, Bruce, Ricky and Phyllis in Idalou.  My parents were away somewhere else and wouldn’t be coming back home until late.  Weldon had this rooster that he was beginning to hate.  It would perch in his window sill and then crow at 3:00 in the morning.  So, he told me that if I could catch that rooster I could have him.  Hey, I needed a good rooster so I tried and succeeded at catching him and bringing him home.  All us kids were already in bed asleep by the time mom and dad came home so they didn’t know about the rooster. 
After they had been asleep awhile, my mom heard some kind of commotion in the garage.  She got up and looked out the garage door window and then came back to the bedroom and said “James, there’s a skunk chasing our rooster in the garage.”  Dad replied, “We don’t have a rooster.”   Mom, in her groggy state of mind said, “Oh, okay,” and got back into bed. 
Evidently the rooster got out of the garage relatively unscathed because after leaving the garage he decided to go around to the back of the house and roost on the brick ledge of their window.  And, as was his custom, at 3:00 in the morning he crowed.  I don’t know what kind of conversation took place when that happened but I’m sure it was interesting.
We had “chicken” for Sunday dinner that week.  God Bless.  Dennis       

We were told that you never can tell when the electricity is going to go out here in Catacamas, Honduras , and that has been especially true for the last few days.  Right now I am typing on my laptop in this pitch black room because the electricity went out about 30 minutes ago.  I’m thankful that I have a battery on my laptop.  That doesn’t help out much on the fan blades that are sitting idle on this sweltering humid night however and the natural breeze seems to have come unplugged as well.  Last night I took a shower by flashlight because the electricity was off from about 8:00 to 11:00.  At least the electric water heater which we don’t have was not affected.  (And thank goodness that the electricity doesn’t affect water coming into our house.)  This afternoon at the internet café, the electricity went off as we were checking our email so we left for a few hours and came back later.  A couple of days ago, Bonnie had typed a long email and was one second from pressing “send” when the power went out.  So what they say is true.  You just can’t count on it too much or you’ll be disappointed.  I’m getting to where I think that if our clock isn’t blinking that there must be something wrong with it because it blinks more than not.  Aren’t we blessed in the US ?  We live like kings.  I’m appreciating it more and more as my experience here goes on.  God Bless you as you acknowledge those blessings we take for granted.  Dennis   

After I had gone off to college, my dad had a barn built to store harvested corn until he could get a price he liked.  A side effect of storing your own corn was the increase in rodents.  Rats loved corn and it was hard to keep them out when you had such a great food supply for them.  And, rats liked barns because they could dig little holes, that went under the foundation of the barn, to live in.  Rats, however, were not the only animals that would use those accommodations.  One time my brother, Josh, saw some kittens near the barn.  He watched with great interest as they went into one of those holes.  He decided that he would catch one of them to take home so he crouched down and looked in and saw their eyes.  He reached in to grab one when he got quite a shock.  All of a sudden a big rat ran out and onto his hand and up his arm, on to his back and off the other side.  It was not, needless to say, what he had in mind.  After that, he just decided to let the kittens stay where they were.  They seemed to like their little home.  And that was good enough for him.     

God Bless, Dennis

I’ve mentioned before that the lights are pretty dim in our house in Honduras —especially in the kitchen and living room.  There is one bulb (possibly a 15 watt) about 10 feet above the floor in each of those rooms.  I’ve finally figured out how to tell if the light has been turned on.  First of all, you have to look directly at it.  If it has a yellow tint, the light is on.  If it is more of a white tint, the light is off and you should go flip the switch.  And that’s the main way you can tell if the light has been turned on.  I thought about getting a 25 or 40 watter but I would have to stand on the table to reach them and I’m not sure those wobbly legs would hold me.  And, it may blow the whole fuse box to switch it out, so we’ll just get by or go into the bedroom where you can tell if the light is on because it makes a shadow.  Let your light shine.  Dennis

Defective Cows

I’ve got a one gallon container with the label that says it is “leche” which I thought meant milk (at least that is what the dictionary says) and it’s white and it looks and pours like milk and it says it’s pasteurized and homogenized but they failed to mention that it is “swill-ized” because it tastes like swill.  Even the Nestle’s Quik doesn’t like it.  It refuses to mix without much effort.  It just floats on top and then cakes to your spoon when you try to force it down.  I don’t blame the Quik.  I would feel the same way if I was pulverized chocolate.  I’ve decided that the problem must be with the Honduran cows.  They are putting out Spanish swilk (I wonder why it’s not chocolate).  But, I’m still drinking it.  It’s just that the quantity that I pour each day gets smaller and more of that winds up as (chocolate) cream in my coffee (Swill Latte, anyone?).  I tried holding my nose while drinking it but you can’t swallow while your nose is being held.  So, I just drink it as fast as I can so I can be done with it.  I’ve bought some cereal, but I’m having trouble bringing myself to open it because, evidently, you are supposed to eat it with swilk here in the hinterlands.  Maybe it’s an acquired taste.  I’ll let you know.  Until then, we’re having a swill time.  God Bless.  Dennis

I forgot to tell you about Hector.  He is a little man that I met when we first got to the school.  When I met him I noticed that he came up to my armpits.  Since then, he only comes up to my armpits if he´s up wind.  What´s with that. (I can´t find my question mark).  See ya, Den

We had a few flies in our house on Saturday (since we leave the doors open a lot) so I bought a fly swatter for about 75 cents yesterday. (Bonnie thought, “what’s the use” but I, in my wisdom, see the real value in having one around). It is yellow and plastic and in the shape of a hand. This morning, at breakfast, a fly landed on the table and I thought, “Oh good, I get to use my fly swatter.” But by the time I got up and retrieved it, the fly had disappeared. Now I can’t find one anywhere. That’s kind of illustrates how life is sometimes. There just aren’t any good flies around when you need one. Maybe my luck will change in time. Until then, hasta la vista, baby. Dennis

ps sometimes i have difficulty getting posted due to these spanish speaking connections.  bear with me when that happens.  comprende¿  den