Chapter 42 - Our Tiny Man

           Our tiny man is around the yard on a variety of jobs.  He and his family owned most of this land around here in times past.  His name is Abierto. (Abierto, Alberto, Alvaro is all the same guy depending on what mom hears at the moment -- Mel) Until he was pensioned, he worked on a regular basis on this orchard for Rita.  He must be a Jack of All Trades because he is the one she called when we needed plumbing work done. 

            Abierto tends the orchard, in a fashion.  At least he knows where there are good oranges. He came by the house yesterday afternoon with a haversack full of oranges.  They were much bigger than any that Melaney has picked up.  He also brought two ripe pineapples.  He wanted me to bring a bag and he transferred the oranges into my bag.  He wanted to give them to us. 

            Abierto is a figure for a story in itself.  He is so tiny, about five and a half feet and wouldn’t weigh 100 pounds soaking wet.  He has an infectious grin which shows a very few snaggle teeth that are very crooked.  On his head he wears an old safari hat and slung over his shoulder is a machete in a leather sleeve on a thin belt. He isn’t bent.  He moves like lightening, and particularly if he is climbing a tree.  His skin is weathered to the condition of rawhide.

            He likes us.  This must be because Rita likes us so well.  She is a sphere of influence around all of Poas.  If you want someone for a particular task, she has a friend.  It was her friend who became our car dealer, and also a good friend.  It is her friend who is our hairdresser.  Abierto is our friend now too.

            Abierto climbed a tree in our front yard with his machete in hand.  We had been after Rita for three weeks to get these limbs cut out.  This tree was sick, infected with some kind of parasite that curled the leaves and left lumps of strange matter in the leaves.  I know a sick tree when I see it, and I was concerned that the infection could spread to the other trees in the orchard.  Abierto cut out the affected limbs.  I would have thought a saw was the tool, but he did it with the machete.  After the limbs were all cut, he climbed down the tree and gathered the limbs into a group.  He dragged them across the grass to the other side of the property.  I want him to burn them, but he didn’t think it was necessary, I guess.

            This tiny little man must be at least 70 years of age.  If I could get him to use a weed eater on the grass around the house, I would be very happy. 

The whole orchard needs to be mowed, because when Melaney walks through it with the dog, clouds of mosquitoes buzz up and bite her.  She smells like a pickle sometimes, because I have her use vinegar on the bites.  It helps control the itch. (They don't all bite me, but I usually get one or two a day, --Mel)

I wonder what will happen when the rainy season starts.

Chapter 41 - More Wires

            We are well underway to being connected to the high speed internet.  The computer man came this morning.  He said about 10 and he got here in Tico time at about 11.  I smile at the easy going attitude the people have here about business.  At least, they aren’t up tight.  He is sitting parked by the sink, working on the computer to configure it to the router.  We found that the main line went into the house next door, and there is wire strung across the trees in the orchard to reach our house, and we will be feeding off his modem.  That way, we will be able to share the bill for the service.

            I met the man from next door this morning.  His name is John and his wife is Johanna.  He is very personable.  We were extolling the plenty of the fruit here in the orchard and he was explaining some of the special things, like a potato in the back yard.  That will make Melaney happy.  She likes potatoes better than pineapples.

            I wish I could walk better than I do, I would like to be able to wander around the place like Melaney can.  There is a lovely walk down the back of the property, to a river.  John says it gets very turbulent in the rainy season. 

            John just came into the house with a bowl full of ylang ylang from a tree on our property.  It is an aromatic green leaf like plant that is supposed to bring wellness to the home.  I don’t believe in that kind of hocus pocus, but the thought was very nice.  About an hour later it found its place in the garbage. (I wanted to keep it out of respect to the giver—Mel.)

            Eduardo is the name of the computer man.  He worked on the terminal for almost two whole days.  He tried first one thing and then another.  Finally at the end of the second day, between Melaney and Eduardo, they figured it out.  Mel gave me the Cole’s Notes, in which the router was looking for 100 megabytes of input and with the great length of the cable, it was getting only 10.  Once Eduardo reset the router to accept 10 megabytes, it worked and internet was coming into the computer.  It was up for about 10 minutes, and went dead.  She checked at the other house, and their internet was down as well, so that indicates a general outage.  I hope it doesn’t go out when we are in a crucial operation.  Melaney uses the computers so much.

            Eduardo left, and said she would have to try it out in the morning.

            Eduardo was paid 50,000 colones, the equivalent of $100 for this router.  She checked online, and the same router would sell retail for under $40, so he was paid well for his work out here.  As it happens, he also tried to hit Rita up for another 5,000 ($10.)  She phoned Melaney and was told about the whole fiasco, and that Eduardo was paid well for his troubles out here, plus he got some education in setting up wireless networks.

            We tried out the computer the next morning and it didn’t work. Melaney worked on it, resetting and reconfiguring the router. After 40 minutes of effort she got it to work. It was satisfying that Melaney could do in 40 minutes by herself what the technician couldn’t do in two days. Too bad she doesn’t get paid for it.

 Melaney spent the whole day on the internet.  She didn’t think my laptop would support the wireless network because it had been showing signs of old age and malfunction, but it did, loud and clear.  In all, we have two full sized laptops and two notebook computers on the wireless network.  We should be well set up.  It is so much faster than the little plug in toy that we were using at first.  Now we can be in contact around the world. 

Our octopus network of electrical wires in the sitting room is still on for power.

Chapter 40 - The Wiring

            I have been involved with wiring for one different reason or another for many years.  I have a healthy respect for the wires which bring conveniences to the house.

            In Costa Rica there is a different view.  While we were waiting at the church on Saturday for someone to come to go to San Jose, I looked around at specifics of some of the older buildings, and I was appalled at the callous way wires were attached and patched together.  Large higher voltage wires at the front of one building were open and dangling with another connection jimmied onto it.  I wouldn’t be surprised with this type of wiring,  that a person would need to keep a sharp watch on their electrical bills because it wouldn’t be a lot of effort for someone else to tap into the power of the neighbour.  The new houses are different.  They seem to be stand alone dwellings with probably better control of their wiring.

            We had a unique experience this morning.  While we were away on Saturday, Rita came to the house with a technician and he installed high speed internet service for us.  Melaney was delighted when we got home, and found this bonus.  On Sunday, after church, she tried to use the internet, and it gave her a message that the service was discontinued, that it was good for only a 24 hour period.  She phoned Rita.

            Rita and another technician were at the house by 11 on Monday morning.  That’s great.  He checked a few things, and went outside to check the incoming wiring for the internet.  It meandered through several big mango trees.  Alberto was shimmied up into the diseased tree whacking the limbs off with a machete.  We had been telling Rita that had to be done for over two weeks.  I was concerned that whatever it was that was evident in the leaves would spread to the other trees in the orchard.  I wanted him to take it and burn the limbs.  I don’t know where he put them.  In the meantime, one of the limbs grabbed the internet wire as it fell and sagged it almost to the ground. 

            With the help of a ladder, some wire cutters, a hammer and a stool, the internet technician brought the wire up, almost taught, wrapped it around one of the porch roof supports, fed it through a couple of plastic bands that were holding the SKY TV wire, and fed the end through the window screen and into the house.

            That should have been the end of the story.  It wasn’t.  In short order he said that he needed 50,000 colones ($100) to go into town and pick up some equipment and that he would come back with invoice.  He wasn’t sure what it would cost.  Rita took him back into town.  We still have wires all over the living room floor.  I will conclude this story later.

Chapter 39 - Sunday, Another Day of Rest

           Most days fall in this category now, but Sunday is still special.  We drive 25 minutes into Grecia and attend Sacrament Meeting.  It was the first Sunday of February, so it was fast and testimony meeting.  In my mind I had rehearsed a Spanish testimony and was going to surprise the congregation with my acumen of their language.  I am beginning to understand some of it now, and a lot of it when it is in print form.

            We have our directions almost mastered, so we can leave home without a two hour wander to get back again.  The days are so beautiful, and the flowering trees and bushes are magnificent.  I don’t recognize many of them yet.  One tree which is flowering profusely now, and blazing orange is guachepelin.  There are no leaves on the trees, only huge branches of these brilliant orange flowers.  They are very tall and broad trees and present all over the country.  They are such a contrast to the green prevalence.  Some of the beautiful flowering bushes which are fuschia in color, are bouganvilla.  I have seen them in many parts of the world.  There are pink flowering bushes, which are gorgeous, but I don’t know what they are named.  We also saw a large cluster of morning glories along the road.  The blooms are larger than in North America, and brilliant blue/purple.

            The people at the chapel were so very friendly.  One girl, who had never made recognition of us, and we see her week after week, greeted us with a hug this morning, and that is gratifying.

            We have a new missionary in the Branch.  His name is Elder Bennington from Ohio.  I asked him if he knew that was the only Japanese name for a place in the U.S. and he had never heard that.  Ohio is a Japanese greeting similar to hello, how are you.  I don’t know about Hawaii, there are so many Japanese people there, but I am not familiar with the names of places in that state. 

            Next week is the Valentine’s Day social at the chapel after the morning services.  We will stay for the total program and prepare for the visit with the group afterwards.  I think these types of socials are so good for a congregation.

            I was teasing the president yesterday about not shaving for the trip to the temple.  He took it in good humour and this morning made a point of showing me that he had shaved.  He told his wife I was just like his mother.  I accept that.  He is a charming person, and so very likeable.  I offered to help him with his English, too.

            The high speed internet that Melaney was so pleased with, jammed today, and isn’t working.  The other plug in unit isn’t working either, so she is as good as lost without her computer.  She has a game going, but that won’t take the place of the internet for her.  She will have to get it going tomorrow. She receives so much inquiry on the net about The Chill Bill that she can’t afford the internet to be down for too long.

Chapter 38 - Homecoming

           When we arrived we realized we had visitors. An old fan lay on the front veranda.  I was mentioning to Rita that I wanted to get a fan to keep the air in the house moving when the hot afternoon sun gets too uncomfortable.  I don’t know where she comes up with these old, old appliances and house necessities.  As I said earlier, the fixtures and appliances in this house are at least 40 years old.

            Melaney got the best gift.  Rita had brought in the technician to install high speed internet, and that will be a great blessing.  We both use the internet a lot, but Melaney is a constant user.  She has been getting a lot of replies from her Google Ad about The Chill Bill.  They are coming from all over the world.  (Go to www.thechillbill.com and look at the contact page. I have been very busy—Mel.)

            We will have to get a different phone number.  Our telephone was intertwined with the other internet device, so at this time, I don’t know what our phone number is.

            The greatest homecoming was Gigi.  She gets so lonely left all day, but she seems to manage.  I was concerned with Rita opening the door, because Gigi can bolt out the door, and she runs.  She isn’t street smart, and we are only about fifty feet from a busy roadway.  She ran out one day while Mel and I were at home, and had to be fetched.  She ran up the street, and I was afraid Mel would have to go in to town to catch up with her (which is seven kms away), but Gigi ran into the neighbour’s yard.  There she was accosted by two large dogs who took after her immediately, and Gigi just bolted back the way she had come, and jumped up into Melaney’s arms.  That saved a lot of walking.

            Outside, I rigged up a length of clothes line rope with a leash on the end, and we peg Gigi to the porch once in a while.  She enjoys the freedom to bask in the sun, roll on the grass and nibble bits off the ends of the grass leaves.  Yesterday she got into my front flower bed, which I had forbidden, and tangled her lead around a rose bush.  I went out to check what she was doing and found her in that position.  I was the one who paid, as I pricked my finger on a rose thorn.  The other obstacle that she challenges is a cactus. If she runs around it, her leash gets tangled and I have to rescue her.

            It’s pretty warm this afternoon.  I thought I would set up the fan, but Mel says I should take it apart first and wipe off the blades.  There is enough dust to fill the house.