Stable Conversion, rice, cotton and the river

The stable conversion into the guest area is coming along nicely. We spent a few days shopping for ceramic tile for the floors, counters and some walls. After comparing selection and price in town and in the big city we decided to purchase from a store in Puriscal. I like to support the local economy and it helped that the saleswoman was friendly and spoke clear and slow Spanish.

We recently harvested the rice crop. John took bundles of the cut rice plants and hit them on a bench while standing on a large sheet of plastic. The rice that was ready fell off into the plastic and was dried for several days in the sun. Now we need to figure out how to husk the rice. Shown hanging in this picture are lettuce plants growing in special soil inside a heavy duty plastic bag. The bag is watered twice a day through holes at the top. Rice crop is on the ground below.

We are growing a few cotton plants. This particular plant is the size of a small tree and sprung up as a volunteer in the garden. It has just begun flowering so I assume the cotton will begin to develop soon.

It appears the rainy season is just about over. We have more sun filled days and cloud free sky at night. We’ve walked through more of the property and found a few more small landslides from the past big rain. One particular spot on the lower part of the property opened up a lovely view from a spring area looking down to the river.

Roxy enjoyed swimming in the river this morning while we hiked up to the waterfall. She gets special transport from John through the rough areas. Unfortunately Spencer wasn’t up for the upriver swim and didn’t come with us to the waterfall. He barked in desperation as he watched us walk up the river. I was pleasantly surprised to find him sitting on the porch, waiting for us when we returned. Spencer has turned out to be a handful at times. I keep him on a daily schedule of walks, off leash exercise and feeding. If he doesn’t get enough exercise or attention he starts to look for trouble. So far his redeeming qualities are his very loud, deep bark, intimidating size and those big brown eyes.