Summer vacation is almost over. School starts next week. Actually, Im going to miss the first day of school because Ill be in the States. Its time to go back again. This time we are only staying a week because we have a lot more fish to take care of, two new cats, and school is starting.
But, now we have 13 less chickens. My mom, dad and Clara butchered the white chickens last week. It was really disgusting. I went and saw after they were dead. It was really sad. I know thats what kind of chicken they were, and they were really annoying, but it still feels bad when things die.

Last week, we went to an awesome farm! It is a family farm with several generations of their family members living there. So the cousins get to live by each other and see each other everyday. They even home school there. The grandparents that settled there came from the States almost 40 years ago.
I really liked the kids. They even had a boy named Quen. There were three other nine year olds like me! I had fun with Athena and Uran. They showed me some baby goats that were only three days old. They know a lot about living on a farm.

Also, this week some casita guests left a coconut. At first, I didnt know what it was. They dont look like they do in grocery stores or on t.v.
First of all they are covered with a straw like substance. Its very tough so you have to peel it with a knife or machete. Then you find the coconut way deep inside. Then, you have to crack that open with a hatchet. It was a lot different than I thought . We were talking about whether the coconut was a seed like an avocado, or if it was more like a pit. Google says its a fruit, not a nut. Im still not sure.

The guests had already taken the coconut milk out, so it was just the coconut. We fed it to the chickens and they loved it! They eat everything but lemons and onions it seems.

The big trucks are coming and going here, while the new casita gets built. Its fun to watch, but I really wish we didnt have to dig the land out. It looks like the hillside has a painful wound.
They are moving most of dirt to an area that has a big landslide during the hurricane. Its mostly a red kind of dirt
My dad says that means there is a lot of clay in it, so its not good for using in the garden. Thats too bad because my Granny sent a lot of flower bulbs and my Mom and I have been planting them. They are bulbs from North America. Some of those bulbs need it to get to a freezing temperature for at least one night, or they wont bloom. I cant wait to see which ones do.

This blogs interesting creature is a chameleon! Chameleons are cousins to lizards, only they can change their appearance to blend in with their surroundings. They have camouflage. My Dad found one on the Quad and it was yellow!

This week was very busy. We have had friends in the casita. Their names are Molly and Gary. 
Molly brought me some spanish books. She knows I have to learn spanish because she reads this blog!  She is really good at picking books for kids because she used to be a book seller.  These are just a few of the books she brought for me. 

We had three days of rain. It just kept coming down. When it does, the dirt  and mud come into the canal and then drop into the sediment ponds. So it was time to clean the sediment ponds this week.  My dad, Jonathon and I did it.  Unfortunately,  my boot got stuck while I was shoveling and I ended up falling in the mud. It was like incredibly stinky quick sand. 

I read about how to survive quick sand in my worst case survival book. It says to lay down a stick or branch and hold on to it and to spread you body as big as you can so you are kind of floating on the top. I tried to lay my shovel down but it wasn't really deep, and I didn't really sink down so I guess it wasn't quick sand, just mud. 

We talked to the people at the feed store about our white chickens. They told us they are definitely meat chickens - for eating, not laying eggs.  They also said we needed to to butcher them soon or their hearts would explode. Their bodies are to big for their hearts.  The chickens are 14 weeks old. We were supposed to butcher them when they were 8 weeks.  The feed store also said they wouldn't lay eggs but I noticed when I picked up the eggs this week that there have been some very small eggs too. They're called pullet eggs. They are usually the first eggs layed by hens. Like practice eggs.  

My dad said on Monday, him and Martin and Jonathon are going to butcher them. I think its very sad.  My dad says if we don't, their hearts will explode anyway and nothing good will have come from their lives. If we butcher them, then several families will have food because of them. It makes more sense that way, but its still sad. 

Peter and Jo were still here too. When they first got here, I got to teach them how to play Quirkle.  Then, when Molly and Gary were here too, we all played together while my parents made dinner. It was Molly's first time playing Quirkle.  She is now a Quirkle shark. 

Molly and Gary and Peter and Jo are gone now.  But we have new guests in the casita for two days. Emmie and Tim. They're from England and have really cool accents.  They sound just like our friend Kevin. I think Bobbie understands them better. 

Its getting better with the wild cats.  I can now hold one of them and the other one almost lets me pet her. She always changes her mind and runs off when I get really close.  This one is Saladin. 

And here is the interesting insect of the Blog.  I think its some type of Beetle. There are lots of different Beetles here. 

This week has been full of animals! Its been really sunny, and one of our friends told us when its too hot and the grass dries up, the cows and horses dont have enough to eat in their yards, so sometimes the farmers will let them out to go find grass along the road or the river. My mom and I went to San Marcos the other day and we saw this horse. It followed us all the way down Rio Blanco road.

I told my mom I thought it was a stray that needed a home at our house. She told me she thought it was a good reason to keep the gate closed.

When we were walking down the street in San Marcos, we saw a bird that had hit a window. It had a weird eye, so I think it probably didnt see the window. It let me pet it before it flew away.

We went to a restaurant for breakfast when we were in town. The usual Costa Rican breakfast has eggs, gallo pinto rice, fried banana, natilla (like sour cream) and toast. I think its boring but my mom likes it. Sometimes she even makes it at our house.

The next day, we saw our neighbors cows having a 'beach day' across the river from our house. Theyre funny to watch.

One morning I woke up and saw mapache prints on the river bank outside our door. My room is literally ten feet away, but three stories up. I could have seen them!

Its baby lizard season, so there have been tons of baby lizards everywhere. Ive been catching them and letting them go. They're very fast. I think they all hatch brown, and then turn blue or green when theyre teenagers. I havent seen anything but brown lizard babies.

And when we went to the Dairy in Monday, Abels horse was in his front yard. It let me pet its nose. Abel rides this horse a lot.

Yesterday, a really strange thing happened. A bird flew into MY window and knocked itself out. I found it laying on the patio downstairs and I held it for a little bit. When i knew it was going to be okay, I put it in a box the rest. I stayed there so no other creatures would get it. When it felt better, it flew up into our rafters and stared down at us. Im glad it didnt die.
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I havent written a blog since my birthday!  Sometimes, I have to wait for my mom to add the pictures and make sure my spelling is okay.  And sometimes, she takes a long time.  But thats not the reason this time. This time, we have just been really busy! 
We had a great Christmas!   I missed my family in the states but we have friends here that are fun to spend time with.  After opening some AWESOME presents, we went to our friend Tony's house. We had homemade pie made by Frances too. She makes really good yogurt.   

We have been doing a lot of fish stuff too.  It was time to clean ponds again, and move fish over to new ponds while we get ready to put the baby trout into real ponds and out of the tanks.  I have learned a lot about trout. Did you know male and female look different? Here is a picture of our trout. One male, one female.  The one on the right is female.  

I know its female because the females have much more reflective scales and look more more silver. The boys are more brownish. The males faces are longer and there is a lot more pink color.  They also have bigger mouths and look like they are crabby all the time. The males also have a lot of freckles.  

When you're cleaning the fish, they look pretty much the same but some of the females have an egg sac. Inside the egg sac there are hundreds of tiny orange eggs called 'roe' and they are really soft and squishy! Some people eat the roe, they call it trout caviar. I have never tried it before.

When we are cleaning the fish I like to look into their mouths. They have really sharp teeth and their tongues are white.  In one picture it looks like it is biting my moms finger. 

I have also been busy with some new animals, a species called Cats!  We just got them this week, and they are four months old.  They are pretty shy right now. They like to hide under the couch, or the wood stove.  They are called 'marmalade' color because they are both orange. But the mother is a tabby, it's name was Blacky. I like having cats, but that makes me have more chores like feeding them and changing a litter box! I cannot wait until they get friendly with us and we can hold them. Right now they only let me pet them. 
My Aunt Karma got me a book series that has a cat called Saladin. Its very powerful for a cat.  I think I'm going to call the one without the white chest, Saladin. 

I have been playing with my B-day/Christmas toys.  I got some really cool stuff. I got a lot of art supplies, a gold panning kit, a swiss army knife, a machete, a gerber utility knife and a lot more! I at least wear one knife a day but  usually two, my machete. Its very helpful to have tools when Im working outside. 

I found this dead dragon fly in the green house. The spanish word for dragonfly is libelula.
I thought it would be a good interesting creature of the blog. I think the pattern in their wings is really cool!  

Thanks for reading my blog!