Critters

I always like to stay outdoor, even when I was younger, I would read outdoor and bring my homework to finish at the balcony where wind could blow through my hair, but mom did not like that idea, one time my paper was blown away from the 10th floor! And she said I was not focus enough when there are other things going on outside the balcony. Perhaps she was right, I like to look out and see what is going on outside my own little box (apartment), like a bird looking out from its cage.

Having to maintain a garden, it is a lot of work but it is what I enjoy doing. I don't do well in cleaning as far as housework is concerned, but I do cook very well and I enjoy doing garden work, hey you can't be good at everything --- that's what I told Victor, so we'd have cleaning ladies to come clean the house. ^_^

Lately we found this newcomer, a young squirrel; we named him Bill. I guess Bill is young base on the fur on his tail, it is fluffy and small though. We spotted him last week, while we were having a drink outside, sitting on the sofa, Bill went from the left side of the garden to the right, grab a piece of coconut fiber fallen from the trees and walk right in front of us back to his home on the left side of the garden. We freeze on the sofa so he won't be scared, there he walked 3 steps; stop and look around then go another 3 steps; stop and look around again.... until he reached to his home.

On the top of a Queen's Palm, there is pocket left over after we trimmed the big font. There we saw Bill laid down his pillow (the coconut fiber he just picked up from the other side), turn around to find a comfortable angle then lying down facing out. What I mean facing out is the tree has 360 degree angle, but Bill chooses a premium lot with water and golf view, I thought it is a common choice for golfers, did not know squirrel prefers it too.

We saw Bill again last night, when we were sitting out after dinner, he ventured to the right side to collect his bedding again, we freeze with a smile when he walked right in front of us. I guess the constant rain must have ruin his bed.

I remember, I remember a scripture about how God provides, he provides food for the bird even their lives is short; he dresses the flowers even the beauty only last a few days; why won't he knows what we need and provides abundantly?! Look around, resources are all around us and God has provided, it is our responsibility to find what is right for us and which pillow sleeps better! Bill said.

Localize living

Think about it, apart from our twice a year vacationing somewhere, we all live a very localize life.

I am not talking about your office is 40 miles away and you have to drive 5 days a week to work, I am saying if you are basically relaxing as a housewife like I am, or retired like my husband is; you don't travel far from what you need to live a comfortable life.

Most people live within a 15 miles radius and I couldn't agree more, I have my 4 grocery shopping stores located within 9 miles. A selected neighbourhood chinese restaurant + italian restaurant + deli + japanese restaurant within 15 miles driving, also drive 15 miles to play golf at my club, movie / home accessories / clothing / toiletry products shopping are within 20 miles range. What else do I need more? Perhaps to visit my doctor for check-up twice a year, it's about 20 miles drive and that's it.

Hong Kong has changed from a manufacturing base to a knowledge base society, I saw how it happened growing up. When everyone is working in somekind of manufacturing in the 60' to 80's, then the price of the land got very expensive and it was difficult for the factory owners to stay competitive with having a space to house 400 workers, the owners started moving their plants to Mainland China where the land was 80% cheaper and running cost is also lower because of cheaper labour cost in late 80's. Nowadays hong kong house mostly management offices, meeting facilities and sample room or service agents who can do the legwork for you to make certain kind of product.

"The environment do not adapt to you, you adapt for changes", Confucius said 2500 years ago and it still holds the truth today.

If I transfer this concept of moving the company / manufacturing plant from Hong Kong to Mainland China, to an individual home of living a comfortable lifestyle; same theory goes no matter I am moving a company or my own living environment.

It's a big bold move, but it's logical and beneficial if we find the right place; all I have to do is to look for all these restaurants again within a 15 miles driving radius!

Biological weapon

When we first moved into this house, it needed a lot of landscaping work and I introduced 'Ficus Bejamina', naked name 'weeping fig' to use as an extension hedge at the front and the backyard. I won't go that far to call myself a horticulturist, but I pay attention to what grows in where when I am outdoor.

Lately I found I am loosing leaves from the Ficus Bejamina, the top of the hedge looks fine and full, the middle and close to the tree trunk has lost almost 50% of its leaves. I know my worst nightmare have come, this pest named 'Ficus White Fly' has attacked my plants. It got this name but it is actually not a fly, it's in the family of a pest called 'Aphid', which I noticed I have it on the hibiscus at the backyard but I tried not to spray with chemical treatment as best as I can.

This time, I had to ask my landscaping company to apply a chemical solution, which I don't like but I had to. This is a very expensive insecticides costs over $130 / 5 gallon, but my landscaper said I don't need to use the whole package of it, he would apply it to the tree trunk and it should be good for 6 months to 12 months.

now after he applied the chemical, I introduced a biological weapon which is an enemy of 'Ficus White Fly', my beloved 'Lady Bug', it is actually a type of beetle which eats the eggs of the bad ones. Hopefully my biological weapon would work and save me from using chemical again.

people do strange things

people do strange things, perhaps other people viewing me as I am the one doing strange things too. I don't know, just a thought.

Yesterday I was expecting this person named 'Bill' to come and see the outdoor furniture which I listed on ebay classified, this set of teak furniture has been sitting in my garage for over 2 years. Getting rid of the set would give me a lot more space to maneuver in the garage for storing boxes in the mean time while showing the house on the market. He told me he is driving from Ocala, sent me an email at 12pm stated that he is on his way. I thought may be 3 hours to 4 hours drive would get him here, ends up he arrived at 6pm.

He is a tall guy, coming by himself with a big pick-up truck and a trailer, I would say he is over 6 foot tall, medium built but limping a little bit. I tried to avoid staring at his wound on his forehead, there are 2 round wound located at the middle of his forehead and there is still dried blood around it, obviously are new wound, and when you see a precision cut round hole in the middle of the forehead then you'd know it is a surgical cut, not by banging your head on the corner of a cabinet, he went through a brain surgery I said to myself. Victor did not know and joked with him: "What's wrong with you, fell off from a ladder?"

We opened one of the boxes, show him the set and the sturdiest arm of the chair; I immediately know it's sold even he tried to bargain me for $100 less, I told him you know it is a very honest price I listed and I won't take a dollar less, he knows I am the negotiator and keep telling victor I ran the show. The truth is if someone has to drive 4 hours to get to you with a trailer, he is not going home empty handed, as simple as that.

He dressed like a basketball player, with jersey and shorts, you'd think he is a redneck with a pick-up truck when you see him; but when he speaks, you know he is educated with good manner. He told us about his retirement home close to ocala, his wife is still working but now they have this beautiful lanai, he has to decorate it while his wife is still working in Oklahoma, that's how he came across my classified ads on ebay. We told him we bought the set 2 years ago after the tornado hit the house, but we were able to salvage the old set, this new set sits in the garage untouched.

We took him to our backyard, he loves it and he said it gave him new ideas of his own backyard; ends up he wanted the teak cushion storage box, I sold it to him for $550, then he asked me would I let him go if he is $30 short, I said ok no problem; funny thing was he reached to his pocket for the $520 and after he paid me; he dropped a $100 dollar bill on the floor then Victor and I were laughing at him.

Anyway, we all help in moving the boxes into his trailer, during the middle of the moving, I noticed he is grasping for breath and his face turned very red, I said let's stop and rest a bit, I gave him some water and we rested for about 5 minutes. I should have ask him to come inside the house where it is cooler, have him sit down to rest on a comfortable chair instead of sending him home for a long journey again.

I worried, so I told Victor to give him a call at 9:30pm, making sure he is alright. He sounds fine victor said, he said he is 1 hour away from home and feeling fine, then he told Victor he is a retired heart surgeon, it must be scary for us to see his face turned white while moving all these furniture!

we couldn't help ourselves but thinking: "Why would a heart doctor do all these things for outdoor furniture???"

so much work to do

There is so much work to do to prepare the house on the market. I thought I make a list of it would make it easier, the truth is when you start doing it, there comes the difficult part. We just fixed the leak of the spa, the coming attraction is to fix the small leak on the roof, the next thing on the agenda is to fix the wooden piece under all gutter because it was rotten away, the next thing is to tidy up the garage and paint it again, put away personal items in boxes in order to show the house better.....etc.

We just finished a big trimmed of the yard, both front and back undergo a huge hair-cut and you could see that pale of bushes in the front waiting to be collected, I am sure the town of palm beach doesn't like me already because this is the second week that I put out tons of vegetation garbage. The fact is the garden looks a bit more tidy, a bit more under-control but it is still very lush-looking. I spent the last two days trying to clean-up the outdoor, digging up dried-out plants, clearing up the insect's nest around the ceiling especially those made from wasps and spiders, cleaning up the statues that covered by algae......etc. lots of work and my elbow is hurting me now.

I could see the house is ready for party now, that is how I judge the level of showing-ready. The garage is still need some help but I have so many items in there which I could not throw away before, now that I have ebay classified, it helped me to get rid of things that I do not use and collect the money I paid for the item. For example I just sold a chest-freezer on ebay classified and an old food processor, all together for $150, I remember I paid $200 for the freezer 2 years ago and I do not need it in my garage anymore. This older couple is opening up an ice-cream parlor so they need freezer, they drove from north of orlando to my house to pick up the freezer! Could you believe people would drive such a long way to buy an item that they need if it is a good price? Today I have this gentleman coming from Ocala to buy the outdoor furniture set, it has 7 pcs all together, I purchased it 2 years ago after a tornado damaged the house, somehow I was able to salvage the old set so this set was never opened, still sitting in its boxes in my garage. It included a 3-seater sofa, 2 single seat sofa, 2 side tables, 1 ottoman and 1 main coffee table. I would rate this teak outdoor garden set has 5K of retail value, comes with Sunbrella outdoor cushion and it came from the same source of Smith & Hawkins at that time, I am selling it for $1699 only what a steal!

Local news coverage

'Hook a Kid on Golf' makes a difference to youngsters

The local news channel 5 came to the golf course to film the process of 'Hook a kid on golf' on last Wednesday, the reporter stayed there to film and interview for probably over 2 hours. Here is the report on news channel 5 at west palm beach, trimmed to about 60 seconds interview.

If you didn't see it, click on the link above to see the News Channel 5 story about our program!

Victor is constantly at the background picking on the kids! You could hardly see my back walking around when the second girl starts talking, I was wearing light green shirt, capri pants and a green bucket hat. I am very relief that my as* did not look too big on the screen, but my back is certainly huge, could use a 15 lb weight loss program......

Ah.... swear I am going on a diet once the house is sold! I found 6 more white hair on my left forehead on saturday, right after I came back from the volunteering program, obviously the kids did use some of my brain juice. Very soon I would have to go look for a hair stylist so that I could dye my hair like my mom used to do, I have always afraid this day would come, that I could not be comfortable until I visit a hair stylist, this day is getting very near. But for now, I am still pulling my white hair out!

my name is Stanley Rivera

Hello, my name is Stanley Rivera.

My master gave me a Spanish last name because people found me in the Bronx, New York, while I was wandering on the street. I had no idea how did I get there, I only remember very little things about my childhood, I know I hated orange cone which they put it on the street during road work area, I would chase that cone, bite on that cone and shake that cone until I have no energy left.

I was on the "to kill" list at the Bronx, but the people at the animal shelter put me on a test, they play video of fierce looking dogs barking and jumping at me, my reaction was to hide behind the volunteer's leg during the whole testing period. Then they decided I should not be "killed", they think I have a mellow heart.

They are very correct, I might look strong and big, but my heart is like a toddler. I enjoy to play, run on the lawn and chase birds. My favourite food is romaine lettuce and broccoli forest, every time my master throw me a piece of lettuce from the big cold box it just make me so happy. My teeth are all filed down so I don't like to chew on meat at all. My master said perhaps I was a bait dog, bait dog means they use me to train another fighting dogs, to ignite their fighting spirit to a certain extend that I might be killed and I would not have equal power to fight back because my teeth were all filed down. I do not understand why was I chosen to be a bait dog, but I was lucky that I was transferred from the Bronx to Connecticut's animal shelter to wait for adoption.

I guess my look is too scary, people do not want to understand me deeper. I was following the chairwoman of the shelter for 2 years, stay at her office while she goes to work everyday, had to stay by myself over the weekends or holidays. Luckily, one day I saw my master speaking to the chairwoman, then he took me into his SUV with the crate, I started living in his house from then on, it has been almost 4 years now.

My master got 3 daughters and 2 of them have dogs too, there was this tiny chiwahwah always pick on me, she bit me on the nose all the time, out of reflects I shook my head that time, and she was on the wall! Good news was she did not get hurt, the next day she was trying to bite on my nose again!

I think I am a lucky dog, someone rescued me and gave me another chance to live a life that I dreamed of. My master said I am a pure breed, well I do not know how to pronounce that name, something like British Bulldog Terrior ...... not so sure hey who cares.