A tree house for everyone. . .

This is Bernie, a great friend of the family, who came down with Ma and Pa Eidson in March of this year. Bernie is 82 years young and has traveled all over the world (as she was a travel agent before she decided to retire and travel some more).

This, of course, was not Bernie's first trip to Costa Rica. She came about 15 years or so ago. She may have returned sooner, but has been too busy traveling. She was in Antarctica about six months ago.

She stayed in one of the tree houses during her time here and walked around all of them, which goes to show that anyone can stay in a tree house!

This is Bernie with her top souvenir she purchased while here: a mini coffee cart, like the old-time growers used to haul their beans around in.

Happy birthday!

Today is Patricia Maxine Eidson's birthday. There are pictures that could be posted here on the blog in celebration of the big day, but physical and legal threats have been made--and noted.

For the three of you out there that would like to wish Ma Eidson a happy 40th birthday (again), post your wishes here.

Beach time!!

Lucky us, we are getting two days down at Playa Bejuco on the Central Pacific Coast, as one of the owners is coming up to give us a short break.

So the three or us (yes, Mini-B is tagging along as well) will be heading out and vegging on the coast and eating junk food until we pop.

We'll be back in the jungle Monday afternoon.

Of course. . .

No sooner than the whining post about the heat was put up, a nice rain storm blew through and cooled things down. It was the first rain we've had in nearly six weeks and it came at the right time, as it got one of us out of flower watering duty in the afternoon.

Naturally, not wanting to waste a perfectly whiny post, we opted to keep up the previous one. Especially since the art department has been lagging of late, we figured we would go with it as well.

It only rained for maybe an hour or so, but it drenched everything really well, which was a bonus.

Hot, hot, hot. . .

Yes, it has been that hot down here. For the past six weeks or so, we've been enjoying 90-plus degrees, with close to the same humidity. As my Grandpa Eidson would say: "whew-whew" weather.

Just walking up and down a tree house once (let alone multiple times) per day is enough to leave you looking like you just finished a marathon or you just hopped out of the pool.

Plenty of water and Gatorade are consumed, and the obligatory three-showers-per-day doesn't hurt, either.

Heebie jeebies. . .

Rolando, the night watchman, has been working at Tree Houses for 1.5 years. In all the nights he has walked the grounds over night, he has encountered just two snakes: one a fer de lance and the other a false coral (non-venomous).

This past week, on two different occasions, Rolando radioed us around 1 and 2 a.m. On his rounds, he encountered two different Fer de Lance. I believe these are in the viper family, and they are very poisonous.

Rolando dispatched both of them with his machete. The first was a bit over 3 feet long and the other was a bit over 2 feet.

Everyone here at Tree Houses knowing how brave yours truly is with the slithering reptiles, wants me to go walking with Rolando at night. Folks are lucky I'm leaving the house.