Tax-Free Weekend, More Rain, Electrical Plans, Shadow Sick..?
Our "Tax-Free Weekend" was not the Supermarket Sweep I had anticipated - I forgot the swatch for my blue paint, and Comex didn't have a concrete coating that Nathan wanted - yet. It should be in-country by mid-January. I'll have to go back this weekend (tax-free weekend #2 of 2) to get white and blue paint and probably more roof sealant. At $75BZ per gallon, may as well slather that stuff on.
We did, however, purchase 2 new toilets AND made a new connection! I have been enjoying the new San Pedro Hardware Depot store a few blocks north - it is extremely well-organized, practically everything is priced, and the pricing is fair. We picked up two elongated-bowl, low-flow toilets at $380BZ each, all parts and pieces included! For reference, a toilet without a seat or tank "guts" is $4-500BZ in town, and most likely, open box. David at SPHD has private-labeled a bunch of items so the pricing is good and he shops like me - extreme FORO (Fear Of Running Out) - has multiple containers at the dock because he doesn't have room for everything. Very nice guy, we got to chatting and he offered to help with our build by supplying materials, selling to us directly, rather than to our contractor who will mark them up. YES! These are the kinds of people we need to know! Be sure to visit their beautiful new store - they even delivered our toilets for free that same day! We wanted them so we can put our US$35 Amazon bidets on them (need an elongated bowl) - when you can't flush used toilet paper, a bidet is worth its weight in gold. We tried it out in AZ before we moved, they are fantastic - here is a link: LUXE Bidet on Amazon I'm an Amazon Associate and may earn a small commission that does not impact your price if you purchase via my links!
The Christmas Lighted Boat Parade was Saturday but we aren't much for crowds, so after working in the yard a bit, we got cleaned up and ready to walk to Lina Point to relax in their pool, figuring everyone would be on the ocean side of the island. Walking out our door, the sky looked ominous, and not 5 houses down, a torrential downpour hit - it poured buckets, sideways, for over an hour! We're delighted to report that the sealant Nathan used on our sliding glass doors that leaked like sieves held firm! Invisible Waterproof Agent on Amazon, we are thinking we'll apply it over the white paint on our railings and lock that shit down! I just ordered a 70oz container.
Sunday, we knew the road to Secret Beach would be a mess, so we journeyed around and ended up at Toast, across from Mahogany Bay. I mistakenly thought it was the place with the 2-for-1 mimosas on Sunday...it is not. Oh well, we're out of the cart, we're not going further. We're not fans of live music - we will specifically avoid places that have live music on those nights - but Toast had a guy named Tim Roberts there for the weekend, from Alabama, and he was FANTASTIC! To the point that we thanked him when we left! A lot of country (not my cup of tea, but he made it better), some classic and pop rock. They also have deep-fried okra, so Nathan was in heaven.
After Toast, we ventured back home and put in some time on the dock...
...as we again dodged events in town - Sunday evening was the Christmas Parade! This time on the streets, not the ocean. Looks like a lot of fun, but also, a lot of people.
Instead, we had this view of the full moon:
I'm glad to report that 303 Belize, the bar/restaurant I just last blog was bummed about being seemingly closed for good, is staffing back up! Now if The Patty Flipper would just follow suit, all will be good in my 'hood!
I will say, it has been much chillier than I expected - it's refreshing, I wouldn't say "cold" - but I'm glad I did bring some longer sleeves. We had never visited November-February - too tough work-wise, and when the boys were with us, they were in school and couldn't travel. With split custody, we couldn't visit over their Christmas Break. So if you are moving soon, don't ditch ALL of your fall clothes!
On the beach house front, we finished up our electrical layouts and sent those over to Alex, our architect. It took much longer than I expected - building in concrete doesn't exactly give you the flexibility of stick-framing!
Lastly, it looks like I'll be making my first visit to the San Pedro Veterinarian Hospital - Shadow, our 11-year-old black cat, has been barfing every 2-3 days. At least, we are pretty sure it's him, with three cats, it's hard to determine who does what, but I've seen him twice do so, once being the plastic wrapper off of a bottle of hot sauce. Yes, he'll eat that, but he won't eat tuna juice if there's even a HINT of medication in it. He's eating, using the litter box, and acting normal, but cats aren't supposed to barf a few times a week. It should be an adventure wrangling him into a carrier and driving him by golf cart south of town, pray for us both.
He's currently "helping" me write by Krugering my side.