Not a lot of anything is really happening around here lately. Just a bunch of maintenance and tending to all of our plants and keeping the jungle trimmed back.

It’s been a while since we’ve seen toucans around our place, but now they seem to be back. We are starting to see or at least hear them just about every day now. The one in the picture above is a little wet after a big afternoon rainstorm.

We have heard howler monkeys fairly often off in the distance, in fact, they are one of the loudest animals and can be heard up to three miles away. The other night we had just gotten into bed and fell asleep when there was this very loud grunting, growling and howling right out our bedroom window that sounded like a soundtrack from a horror movie. It turns out there was a howler monkey in the trees directly above our back deck. Of course, we had to go outside and see if we could get a glimpse of him. So there we are standing out on our back deck with just a flashlight listening to a very loud scary sound in the dark jungle. We never did see him, but he was definitely right above our back patio.

Double-click on the sound bar below, turn your volume as loud as it will go, and listen to this monkey that woke us up.

A couple of nights later about 1:00am we were awakened again by very loud howling monkeys right out our bedroom window. The next morning I went out to see if any of them were still hanging around in the trees. The tree branches were moving like crazy and there were a bunch of animals moving around up there. I could only get glimpses of long tails and was pretty sure they were monkeys until I finally got a good view of one of them. Turns out there were about twenty coatimundis of all sizes roaming around the treetops. Then a few hours later Kelley heard a bunch of toucans in the same trees. There must have been fifteen toucans in the trees above the patio. We’re not sure what berries or fruits are in the trees right now, but it sure is attracting the animals.

This tiny frog jumped on our bar out back the other night while we were eating dinner. As close as I can find out, it’s a type of Glass Frog known for their see-through skin. This is a very tiny frog, as he is sitting on my finger. They must have some very powerful legs because when he jumped off my finger he must have gone six feet or so.

I’ve been making my clam chowder for close to 40 years now and everyone really seems to enjoy it. The problem is that for some reason we can no longer ship cans of clams into Belize and there are no fresh ones available here. So I’ve had to substitute clams for another seafood that is readily available here. That’s right, now I’m making lobster chowder. It’s a little different than clam chowder, and it might even be better, but I can’t decide. Since it usually makes a big pot, we almost always invite some friends over for a little “Chowdah” party. And of course, there was some sourdough bread to go along with it.

We ended up with a lot of dragon fruit this year and 90% of them were pink on the outside and a deep purple inside. The other 10% were yellow outside with white flesh inside. The purple ones have more of a berry flavor and the white ones remind us more of a kiwi. They are both very tasty, but the white ones are not as visually impressive when making them into a recipe. Just when we thought our dragon fruit was about done for the year, the plants are getting more blooms. So it looks like in a month or so we should get a few more.

For the past year or so our black peppercorn plants have only produced a couple of strings of peppercorns. It’s been just enough for us to try, but that was about it. This year, the plants are doing good and well on their way to producing a lot more in the years to come. At this point, it’s looking like we should have enough to maybe fill a few pepper grinders.

A while back I saw something called moss art (look it up). It’s where you take moss and make it into living art on walls and fences. I figured this was right up my alley, so I thought I’d give it a try. After finding a recipe online, I went to work to create a sample picture. First, you take some moss and wash all the dirt off of it. Then you put it in a blender with yogurt, beer, a little sugar and blend it up. I think the yeast from the yogurt and beer must help keep the moss growing. After that, you just paint it on something and keep it moist. I made a test picture of a toucan about a month ago and so far it’s doing well. If this works, who knows there might be an entire living moss mural on the side of the garage next year.

Yes, we have a lot of beautiful creatures down here in the jungle, but there are just as many others that will give some people the heeby jeebys. So if the the creepy crawly ones make you squirm you might want to stop reading right about now.

Here is some creepy crawly stuff just in time for Halloween.

Just in time for spooky October, the Golden Orb spiders have started showing up. They are a very wicked and colorful spider that grows to about three inches in length. The Golden Silk Orb Weavers are best known for their unique golden silk, which is not only visually appealing but also boasts incredible strength. They say that the strength of the web is comparable to steel and can stretch up to 140% of its original length. They are a non-aggressive spider, but they are venomous and their bite is somewhat like a bee sting. It seems that this time of year is about the only time we really see them and then they are gone.

Since Halloween is coming up, here is another picture and a little more info about the orb weaver. The male spider is considerably smaller than the female. Once they mate, in a split second the male spider catapults himself away from the female. If he does not do this immediately then he is captured by the female and eaten.

Just a little more stuff to make your skin crawl. We had a visit from the cleaner ants. Cleaner ants as they are called in Belize, usually show up every couple of years. They migrate through by the billions and clean up all the insects, webs, and mites.

When they start coming in and around your house about all you can do is leave for a couple of hours and then they will be gone when you get back. The other day when this happened we just left and went out and grabbed some lunch. When we got back there was no sign of them and most of the dead bugs were gone. Unlike other ants, these get in, get out quickly, and don’t get into your food, plus they clean up all your dead bugs.

We see a lot of big holes in the ground where tarantulas live. You can tell if a tarantula is home because he will put a web over the opening of the hole. If there is no web then he is out and about. Usually, they come out at night, but this one was out in the middle of the day. The Mexican red rump tarantulas can grow up to 6 1/2″ and live up to 40 years. This one really didn’t like his picture taken as he would raise up his rear end and then also put his front legs up at us.

The Huntsman spider is another large spider that we have down here. They are active hunters and will seek out insects, snails, frogs, and lizards. Even though they have eight eyes, they can not see anything at a distance. They are not aggressive unless provoked, and if you were to get injected by their venom it would just be a little localized pain and swelling. Still a little scary when you see a spider that big.

We are having a problem with too many geckos in the house. When we had a few that was fine because they ate a lot of the bugs, but now there are too many. They are laying eggs everywhere and shitting on everything. We have tried catching them and taking them away from the house and it was even suggested that we put eggshells around the house so they think there is a bigger predator around. Nothing has really worked until now. We decided to put snakes in the house to eat all the geckos. It did take some getting used to seeing snakes crawl around on the counters and across the TV when you are watching it, but it seems to be working. I assume once the snakes eat all the geckos they will leave the house, right? Just kidding there are “NO SNAKES IN THE HOUSE”. Don’t let this deter you from visiting us, as we rarely see most of these creepy creatures around here. October is just a good time of year to post some of these pictures, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!