Tomahawks, Interviews, Power's Out, Casino!

First off, if you are curious about the sargasso season, it is most definitely upon us. Crews are on many beaches each morning scooping it up, but the reprieve is only temporary.

Vandam and a friend swiftly moved two truckloads of gravel after working their "day jobs" for us last Wednesday and Thursday - they did a fantastic job and are grateful for extra cash. Our yard is now high and clean! We ordered another truckload that I am currently waiting for delivery on; we'll spread it in front of our fence and fill in the potholes in the street. We thought the HOA maintained our road, but recently found out, it does not. Sorry to our neighbors who live beyond our villa!

Tender Buff had reached out to see if I'd want to try a new cut they are rolling out - Water Buffalo Tomahawks. Hell yes, I do!!! They arrived on Thursday. I'm dying to throw one on the grill, but we'll probably wait until Zach (our younger son) arrives next month, he'll get a kick out of them. We're already plotting what to do with the bones that we'll have left - hang "private property" signs off of them...?

I also filmed two interviews last week for Live & Invest Overseas - one of the editors interviews me; the weather was fair so I completed these on our back dock, a much more scenic backdrop than inside our cramped villa! Both editors I have filmed with are considerably younger than me, so they have all the fancy lighting and know how to look their best. Then I'm rolling in with a tee shirt and whatever lighting nature provides. 

Friday at 5:30 am, I was woken up by the power going out - the mini-split beeped. FANTASTIC. I have a freezer full of water buffalo. BEL, our electric company, has an app for customers to report outages, yet it never lets me complete and "submit", that button is always grayed out. The community FB page reported a loud "boom" like a transformer exploding right before we lost power...which is an hours-long if not full-day fix. UGH. We went for a walk since we were up - made it all the way to White Sands Cove to the north. I have always wondered how piles are driven for docks...and I found out the answer, it's NUTS! Backhoeing on a Barge Video 

Fortunately, by the time we arrived home around 9:30, the power had been restored...right on the cusp of, "throw all of your food away" according to the FDA.

Our weekend strategy is usually, "1 day to goof off, 1 day to get things done around the villa" and we consider the weather forecast when deciding which day is for which events. We still need to paint our wood fence but it rained really hard on Friday, we didn't think it would be dry enough to paint on Saturday. We first went to the dump - we had three large bags, a broken patio chair, and the old water heater to dispose of. If you are curious what a trip to the dump on an island is like, here's a video: San Pedro Belize Solid Waste Transfer Station Trip. We wanted to get rid of the clutter before my dad arrives on Thursday, and the dump is closed on Sunday.

With that task complete, we headed to Moon Bar at Mangata Villas. By now, the day was pretty overcast - this is where I took the sargasso photo. They had a staff member clearing the beach but as fast as he would scoop, the seaweed would return.

We came home and cleaned up around dinnertime, then decided to go to a casino - we tried the big one south of town, Google Maps doesn't have a name for it, but it's where Pedro's Inn used to be... We were pleasantly surprised when we entered the newer but non-descript building with simply, "CASINO" in red lettering on it - it was well-lit, the AC was pumping, security was present, and they had new games! At this casino, you get a voucher at the cashier (or plural, you can break $100 into a bunch of different tickets if you like) which can play any machine. When you want to move, you can print out a voucher and go to the next machine - unlike the other casinos we have visited, where you need to call an attendant and/or have US$50 or more in a machine to get cash back. Drinks are complimentary and the bartender also offered us cheese dip and pretzels. We saw a lady get hand-paid multiple times (up to US$1,700) and we stayed alive for five hours on US$200, so the machines were fair.

One more photo from this week that made me laugh - moving a chest freezer on a golf cart:

Please note that there are ZERO straps, they are relying solely on gravity to hold that beast in! 

Time for me to quit stalling and start cleaning house before my dad gets here....