The Mural, Take IV

The wall is starting to take shape nicely, as Keneth is starting to fill in the different animals and critters with color. He's working on a Strawberry Poison Dart Frog (at left), also known as a Blue Jean Frog, and a hummingbird (at right, below). His cousin, Antonio, is helping out on occasion to fill in the areas with color after Keneth has done the main painting. It should be wrapping up soon, and we're looking forward to seeing the whole wall completed.

The Mural, Take III. . .

Keneth is now officially done with the background, and has moved onto pencil sketches of the various animals and critters he's planning on painting onto the wall. . . Hopefully, the sketches will show up in these photos, as he's doing them all in pencil first, and then will go over them with paint.

It's starting to take shape and it looks really good. . . He showed up to start the pencil drawings at 5 a.m. today, and worked until about 2 p.m. He stood in front of the hummingbird feeders for about 20 minutes, with pencil and pad in hand, watching the little buggers flit about before going back to the wall to do his sketch. . .

So far, there's a monkey, sloth, hummingbird, mott-mott, boa, parrot, green-eyed tree frog and a blue-jean frog. At least, I'm guessing as that's what the frogs are, since there isn't any color to them yet. . .

Slacking. . .

Yes, technically, the the definition, we have been slacking. . . We haven't posted anything in a while and aren't likely to do so too much this month. Ma and Pa Eidson are down for a visit, and we've been busy showing them around and hanging out with them, so the updates will be minimal until the end of the month or early November. Plus, we're headed to Playa Bejuco for a week in a few days, so we won't be near the computer. We will try to post updates on the mural, as it's coming along really nicely.

The Mural, Take II

Keneth put in a long day to add two extra coats to the background, and to outline everything in black. . . He showed up at 5:30 a.m., and aside from a quick break for an hour in the afternoon, he was here until 6:30 p.m. He even enlisted his cousin, Darleen, to give the background an extra coat. Darleen wasn't thrilled with the picture taking, but enjoyed getting her Rembrandt on.

As darkness fell, Keneth was looking for extra inspiration, so he strapped on a bandana, a beanie and painted himself up like Salvadore Dali, one of his favorite artists.

This is. . .

An ear . . . This is an ear all hopped up on something. . . Get the picture?

While out whacking brush in the jungle the other day with the machete, something large and black landed on my neck. I swatted it away. A few seconds later, I felt a sting in my right ear lobe, which grew progressively more painful as I clawed at it.

I have never had my ears pierced, but I would guess that this must be kind of what it feels like. After sleeping on it, the next day it was swollen to twice the size of the other lobe and was cock-eyed like a drunken weatherman leaning into a hurricane, sticking out at a pretty good angle.

No idea of what got me, but I would guess it was a wasp. There are a lot of them down here, and I may have ticked one off while I was cutting through the grass and the other jungle junk to clear the area by one of the fences.

The distended lobe was, of course, a source of great amusement to everyone here at Tree Houses. Disney will be pleased to note that Dumbo is well known in at least this part of Costa Rica, judging by the comments from Keneth and Darleen.

It still doesn't hurt all that much (don't think there are a lot of nerves in the lobe) but it looks goofy and feels like I've got a weight dangling from my right lobe.

Jungle mystery. . .

Mini-B is recovering nicely, thanks for the e-mails, etc. We now think that our original premise, that she was swiped by an iguana, may be wrong. According to the locals, iguanas get defensive with their tails, and Mini-B had a pretty good-sized divot, just one, down her nose. What are your thoughts on what got the little bugger?

Sloth--very long claws

Iguana--we hate to be proven wrong

Jaguar--a stretch, as it would have killed her

Feral cat--but one big divot doesn't explain a cat

Godzilla--a longshot, but would be cool

ugg boots

The Mural, Take I

Keneth, one of the talented people who works here at Tree Houses, is painting a mural on the side of the house where we live. Previously, the side of the house was a lime-green color, but Keneth, a very good artist who has done a mural at the local elementary school, is going to spruce it up and add some color to the place.

This will be a regular feature on the blog until the mural is completed (and when we get around to taking pictures and putting them up). . . It may take a while, as it is a large area to cover, but we cannot wait until it is all wrapped up.