No more conehead. . .

Mini-B now is cone-less. She had the cone around her head for a couple of weeks while her stitches took, and then a couple of days after the stitches were removed.

She had some tumors on her noggin, but luckily none were serious. She moped around while in the cone and wasn't her normal energetic self.

About an hour after she had the cone off, after much scratching and rolling, she bolted after some lizards, drawing Lucy's ire and some "timeout" in the bedroom.

Happily, she's back to normal and doing just fine. Sorry for no pics, still awaiting the computer answers. As an aside, if you do a search of Santa's Little Helper on google images, and don't specify The Simpsons, you may be surprised at what's considered to be Santa's helper. Definitely some images that you would not put on a family blog.

Honolulu Marathon Clinic in Costa Rica. . .

Jack Scaff, the founder of the Honolulu Marathon Clinic, has a thing about folks sporting clinic gear in different countries. So, when Bruce and Ruby visited us from Honolulu, Bruce and I couldn't resist strapping on the gear and lining up for a pic.

The two of us started at the clinic back in 2003, I believe, and that's where I met Lucy, so the clinic has a warm spot in my heart.

Though Bruce and I didn't take to the road for a run (it was raining, we were tired, we're just old, etc.) hopefully this will meet Doc's requirements for a pic from a different country.

The picture was taken up by our front gate, about 100 yards or so from our house and the rest of the tree houses. Apologies for the quality. It's a huge file, and it takes forever to l

So, for all of you folks that are pondering a trip down this way, I'll repeat it again: Come on down, and you will be enshrined in the annals of the Jungle Journey blog.

Breakfast time II

This is gallo pinto, the traditional dish of Costa Rica. It's black beans and rice with some vegetables (onions, chile dulce, cilantro). We serve it with eggs, tortillas and baked plantains.

Patricia and Darleen either put cheese and sour cream on the plantains or sugar and cinnamon, depending on what's on hand and their mood.

This is a stick-to-your-ribs breakfast that will get you off to a good start for the day.

Holy. . .

Insert whatever corny 70s'-phrase from the famed series here. . .

This is looking up at the outside roof of the sloth tree house. There's usually around six or seven fruit bats that hang around during the day time.

At dusk (around 5:30 p.m. here year-round) they drop off the ceiling and head out for the night to hunt the mosquitoes and other insect critters that are hanging around.

A while ago, some of the bats had babies, and if you looked through a zoom lens or a pair of binoculars, you could see tiny little wings flapping off of the mother's bellies.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To Lucy, who turns XX years today! No one actually thought I would be dumb enough (even during these dark days between the art and editorial department) to actually list an age, did they?

This will be Lucy's second birthday here at Tree Houses and we're hoping to get away for some dinner at a great little steak place near the base of the Arenal Volcano, though we'll have to see how that all works out with guests coming and going, etc.

So, for those of you who have been procrastinating in sending Lucy and e-mail or leaving a message on the blog, now's the time!

Kind of cool. . .

You never know what you're going to see or find when walking along the grounds of the hotel. Sometimes you'll get skunked and see absolutely nothing; other times you can see all kinds of cool critters.

This is another guest shot taken while they were hiking back to the waterfall and river. Two of the more colorful frogs that we have around here. To get to see them right next to each other is pretty rare and cool.

Breakfast time. . .

We have several different breakfasts here at Tree Houses. Some are from before we got here, and some are recipes that Lucy has found and tweaked here at the hotel. I've never thought of taking a picture of my food while on vacation, but luckily some guests have and posted them on TripAdvisor.com.

OK, it's not the largest picture, but hey, the art department is on strike (or until the computer is fixed!).

This is banana-stuffed french toast, which is a big hit with guests. It's two pieces of bread, cooked like french toast, with a creamy banana filling in the middle. It's topped off with some banana slices, cinnamon and whipped cream.