Integrating with our surroundings

When we moved here, I knew that it would not be like the other major moves that I have made in my life: Toronto for 8 years, Sydney/Perth for a year, Calgary for a few months, Manhattan for 13 years, Central California for 18 years. My previous moves were to prominent cities. As for M, he traveled around the world and lived in Europe and across the US. Integrating into a urban setting has a certain skill set. Adapting those skills to our new environment requires some improvisation.

This cow posse loves to graze by the side of the road. They are not intimidated by cars or people. They "own" this area and are reluctant to relinquish any territory. The bull is huge though with a gentle prompting, he'll mosey off the road. When Paula and Scott visited us in June, Scott and I had just settled with our morning coffee into our chairs on the 2nd floor deck when we noticed the cow posse down below. They had meandered along a path through the property and were munching away by the pineapple grove. Scott gamely volunteered to walk down with me to herd the cows back up the road. This is not a skill that either of us had. The bull wasn't with the group that time so we weren't too worried. It was the young calf that was the hardest to motivate as it was very intent on chewing up the sweet peanut grass.

The bird watching is at its best on sunny days in the early AM. We try not to be too focused on our phones while drinking coffee otherwise we will miss all the action. Lately a flock of green parrots are visiting a very tall papaya just above the banana grove and eat its flowers. There were close to 20 on the day that I took this video. We rarely see the green parrots in the morning. Though close to sunset, they fly over in pairs heading off to their nesting place.

Other less welcome integrations are like the giant spider that I discovered one morning on the floor in the corner of the guest bedroom. This spider was about 4 inches wide. We don't know how it got inside the house. Though we were prompt in getting it back outside. M grabbed the broom and smacked it. That seemed to stun it long enough to sweep it outside and off the deck. Hopefully, the spider or the snake won't return looking for vengeance.

M found a snake all wrapped up the the metal joist in the ceiling above the terrace. There was a bird's nest in the open end of a girder and early we had heard chirping babies. M was cleaning up some bird guano when he looked up at the nest and saw the belly of the snake wrapped up in the joist. Alas, no more chirping. Fortunately, Lilo was here. He cut a very long limb with a hook in it and grappled the snake out of the joist. It dropped about 15 feet to the ground and slank off into the bushes. It was about 5 ft long and Lilo said that it was not poisonous. So we decided not to pursue it. "No harm, no foul." It was with much surprise that later in the evening and as I was about to open the sliding screen door from the bedroom onto the deck to hang out my towel when I saw a strange slinky dark "shadow" on the deck. The snake had climbed up the metal girders to our 2nd floor bedroom deck to lay in wait for the bird's return to the nest. The broom came in handy once again. M shoved it off the deck and we are hoping that a 2nd 15' drop convinced it to never return.

Just 2 days ago as I was walking with Salty along a trail on the property, I saw one of the hens with what looked like a squiggly rubber string in its beak. I put on my glasses to get a better look and was unpleasantly surprised to see that it was a baby Terciopelo aka a Fer-de-Lance, one of Costa Rica's poisonous snakes. Terciopelo translates to "3 steps." That's as far as you get after a bite. It was a baby about 8 inches long. Though I'm happy that it was dead, in chatting with friends, it means that there is probably more babies and a mother nearby. The hen was quite excited to have found it and her hen friends chased her about to get in on the treat. This sighting reinforces my commitment to wear long pants and tall rubber boots when I walk around the property. I'm concerned about Salty sniffing through the long grass though. I'm hoping that his "mountain" instincts will keep him wary.