We don’t know what was going on the other day, but it seemed that about 100 or so big green parrots all landed in the big tree over the casita. They were so loud it was deafening, reminded me of the movie The Birds. Anyway, they hung out there for ten minutes or so and then all at once flew away. Usually, we see small groups of them every evening flying over, but never this many at once and stopping in the tree. We believe these were the Red-Lord Parrots according to our guidebook.

Our peach tree in front of the garage has a tiny nest in it. It turns out that it’s from a White Collared Seedeater. The male is a tiny black and white bird that is no bigger than my thumb.

The other day Kelley went over to take a peek in the nest and up popped a tiny bird with his mouth wide open looking to be fed. Kelley quickly snapped a picture and got back out of the way so mama could get back to feeding.

As we were opening the gate the other day there was a baby iguana sitting on the culvert. Since iguanas can have up to 70 offspring, I’m sure there are more around here somewhere. There was also a bat on the porch the other day and Ruben said that he saw a deer on the property right next to ours. There seems to be lots of critters moving around here lately.

Another great picture that Kelley got was this snake trying to eat a lizard. We were over by the potted plants near the garage, when this three foot long pencil-thin snake came out and grabbed a lizard. It was a harmless Mexican Vine snake, well harmless to us anyway. They resemble vines (as you can see) and have a diet of frogs and lizards.

Our starfruit tree was loaded with blossoms earlier this year, but it seemed that most of them didn’t take or fell off before they were ripe. We did see one up in the tree that looked like it was ripe. So I shook the tree and three fell off. Maybe there are more up there that we just can’t see. Starfruit is a tasty fruit, you can eat the skin and all and they make a wonderful juice. If you have never tried one, look for one next time you’re in the produce section and give it a try. It’s not a delicious peach or a mango, but you might just be surprised.

Other garden picks this week were peppers of course, pineapple, dragon fruit, guava, raspberries and the coffee is starting to ripen. Plus we won a raffle for 100 lbs. of oranges which we will be juicing this next week. Screwdrivers anyone?

Of course, we’ve still got lobster in the freezer, so it was time to get a little creative. How about mini lobster kabobs with a spicy chili sauce. Or what about lobster cream cheese stuffed mushroom caps. And my favorite, homemade lobster ravioli deep-fried in bread crumbs. These were all very delicious and I can’t wait to see what the next round of lobster treats are.

We just got back from Hopkins for a fundraiser for our friend who has cancer. He is up in the states for treatment while his wife and daughter are still in Belize running their restaurant. Since we were in Hopkins we had planned on doing a little fishing out on the islands. But once again the weather didn’t want to cooperate. I guess there’s always next time.

A couple years ago Jim Dalton was coming to San Pedro to do a few shows. That was canceled by a bomb cyclone blizzard in Colorado where he got snowed in. Well, Jim is scheduled to come to Belize in late September for three shows out on the island in San Pedro. We will be going, any other takers? We could meet you in San Pedro for the shows and then you could come up to our place for a few days. If anyone is interested let us know ASAP. It should be a lot of fun!