We've been enjoying a sudden stop to the rainy season: the last 10 days have been sun sun sun, and not just a little hot as the accumulated moisture in the ground has been making 2 o'clock feel a little like a sauna.

The sunsets have been unbelievable, however, and there have been some nice breezy days.

Yesterday we got a typical November dousing of rain- pretty heavy, not very long duration. Great for all of our plants and a nice indication that the trees and fields will stay green for another week or two.

Also great as I've been procrastinating on the very important job of fixing up our irrigation system at the house. It was never done well, and the last five months of neglect haven't made it any better. If it didn't rain this week I was going to be forced into getting the drip system working at least well enough to keep stuff alive until I could fix it right. Now I can put it off for another week or two, *then* deal with the emergency that I will have ignored. Sort of like the Republican approach to fixing the economy...

Jocelyn seems to be winning her war with the bouganvillia. Her take-no-prisoners pruning approach was the subject of much debate between us, but I've got to concede that the areas in which she has been most aggressive are now the areas that look the best and are probably just about ready to explode in beautiful flowers (which is the only reason to keep that pernicious weed around the yard).

Last weekend we planted four plumeria trees around the yard- they are small now but two are in flower and we can't wait for "someday" when they grow up. We've also got four healthy-looking papaya trees that are coming along, though still a long ways from bearing fruit. I put two Jatropha trees in the ground as well, they are putting out new leaves and appear to be "happy". Our two volunteer tomato plants continue to grow and put out plenty of foliage, but so far no flowers thus no real hopes of fruit (yet!). We've been fertilizing them lackadaisically and with compost, now we are looking at getting some organic fertilizer more directly suited to making plump tomatoes come off of our plant! We take some consolation in that A) these are volunteer plants anyway and we didn't prep the soil at all and B) next year the soil will be much better for whatever we plant there.

As the dry season takes over, we are hoping that the two little tomatoes start cranking out some flowers. If not, ok, we'll just try again!

On the topic of soil- in case you care- I've been dismayed to learn that most of the "soil" in our back yard is really, incredibly, seriously, HORRIBLE. It looks like about two-four inches of mostly-clay is on top of about two or three feet of construction debris/rubble. While digging out a small hole for one of the trees I planted last weekend, most of what I pulled out was broken cinder block and 1-inch sized gravel. Good drainage, at least. But not much there to foster life. At some not-too-distant point we plan to build up some decking/planter beds. Instead of trying to amend the junk that is in the ground, we are planning to pile good soil on top, and plant our plants there. The preponderance of construction waste in the "dirt" helps explain why a large section of our front yard is about 8" sunken compared to the retention wall around it. I imagine that there is no small amount of form-work wood down there, rotting away, and also plenty of void spaces where the dirt is slowly but surely filling in. I only hope that our swimming pool is sitting on slightly more solid ground and that we don't awaken one morning to a new "water feature" spilling out of the front wall of our property.

The surf has been decent, got out twice last week and I'm really noticing the effects of a couple of months or rain. I refer not only to the sand bar being all messed up at my favorite break, but also to the dramatic reduction in paddling strength that I'm feeling out there! Between a long Sunday of gardening and a solid morning of surfing, my body was feeling pretty sore. In a good way.

Louie is back from the body shop! Hurray! And he passed his road test with flying colors. I had to replace one tire because it was worn too thin- the replacement that I got at a used tire shop was overpriced at $20, but got me through the inspection. If I don't sell him soon, I'll probably have to spring for two new tires anyway. Fact is, local "wisdom" has really rubbed off on me on this one and I'm stretching the life of the tires on the that truck to their utmost limit. It's pretty ugly. For the record: Louie is for sale, asking $11,000, 1988 hj60 Landcruiser (6-cyl diesel motor) well-built, well maintained.

Labels: Costa Rica, garden, landcruiser, surf, tamarindo, weather