charliedoggett.net
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| Orange-chinned Parakeet zoomed in on him in my Strangler Fig Tree My garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Orange-chinned Parakeet zoomed in even more My garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica |
Most are very timid and it is difficult to get close enough for a good photo. See my collection of birds in my BIRDS PHOTO GALLERY with nearly 200 shot in Costa Rica, a hundred in Nicaragua, plus more in Panama, Guatemala and Mexico. Central America is full of colorful birds!
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| How the Heliconia looks today! |
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| The same one posted on July 27 – Just a bud! |
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| And one of the first flowers I see when I walk out my garden door. |
I had two different prescriptions for these two free testings, but filed them away and forgot about them. Last week I went to the clinic in Alajuela and told them I was supposed to get an EKG. They can’t do it without a prescription from a CAJA doctor. Well, I’ll tell Doc on the 12th, figuring I didn’t have one.
This morning at 7 was my appointment at the clinic lab for my blood work. I’m there by 6:30 (walking) and wait an hour to get to front of line where they tell me they can’t do it without a prescription. I walk back home and dig through my CAJA folder and sure enough, there it is AND the prescription for the EKG! I’ve become a FORGETFUL OLD MAN! Tired and sweaty by now after the two mile round trip walk, I call a taxi and take both prescription (I’m going to Alajuela after the lab and finish this stuff today!)
I’m back at lab by 8 and with my blood given and out by 8:30. Walk to bus station and in Alajuela’s Clinica Marcea Rodriquez with my prescription for a EKG by 10:00. I’ve about got this testing licked I thought! I’m escorted to the cardiology waiting room of musical chairs where I’m only 3rd in line. Good prescription they tell me but you must have a cita, an appointment! So after several minutes on her computer she tells me my appointment is 26 December at 11! My helper who walked me over there said, “Oh! You’re lucky! It’s this year!” 🙂 Well, I have an earlier EKG from a private doctor, so I’m not worried and it is no skin off my new doc’s back! Go with the flow and learn the system!
Part of the Pura Vida spirit of Costa Rica is having a “What? Me worry?” attitude. All of this kind of stuff is seen by so many people here as God’s will and you just take it as it comes! But it would have helped a whole lot if I had remembered that I had prescriptions and where I put them!
I ate lunch at Taco Bell in Alajuela (we have no fast food in Atenas) and bus had me home by 1:00 – very tired!
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| In the back corner of my garden beyond the big Heliconias and behind these Red Gingers are some tall green, leafy plants, not flower-like. |
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| If you get close, you see they kind of look like tall, leafy stalks, similar to corn, but that is not a corn cob in the back! It is the flower! |
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| If I stand on the hill above my garden and look down 1 of 4 is peaking out. |
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| This is one full-grown Maraca or Shampoo Ginger Flower |
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| Another Maraca or Shampoo Ginger |
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| And a Baby Maraca or Shampoo Ginger |
In my pre-move travels all over Central America I saw these unique tropical flower and always thought they were the most unique. Thanks to my gardeners and especially Alfredo, I now have a plant that has grown well and spread in my garden. I can now walk out my back door and see them, well, with a little searching! 🙂 They are somewhat rare and not available in all the Veveros (plant nurseries), but my good gardener Alfredo found one in his uncle’s yard for me! Be nice to your gardener and he will be nice to you! 🙂
I’m just starting my garden photo gallery but it has quite a few photos already!
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| A team of 6 young men come every two weeks to cut grass, edge beds, weed, and trim shrubs, flowers or trees as needed. That’s Cristian above. 6 guys swooping over my yard in an hour. Neat! And at just $50! |
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| They save my back and other potential aches and pains as well as time, and they do it fast and very well. I am fortunate! And they are my friends! This is Alfredo above. |
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| My back garden is still the centerpiece, but the whole yard is a garden! I love living here among the tropical plants with doors/windows always open! |
I’m just starting my garden photo gallery but it has quite a few photos already!
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| This Grasshopper, like the Leaf-cutter Ants finds my garden to be a cafeteria or at least a dinner plate! |
See my “Other Insects” Photo Gallery
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Unknown Moth
Inside My House, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica
NOTE how the different light seems to change his color.
All four shots are different colors in my eyes, especially with back-light.
And to tell the truth, the one above one is dead while the others are alive. Some die in my house nearly every night this time of year. Many butterflies/moths only live a few days naturally. |
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| Unknown Moth Inside My House, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Unknown Moth Inside My House, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica |
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| Unknown Moth Inside My House, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica |
I am calling it a moth because the antennae have no little ball on the end like butterflies. The other characteristic is a “furry” body which is hard to tell in these photos but looks like it could be, especially in the top photo. Plus I cannot find it in my new most complete butterfly book for Central America and none of the brown butterflies or moths online match it, so I call it “unknown moth” for now.
Link to a video about Atenas, where I live, by CATUCA, the “Chamber of Commerce” type organization here.
I’m having computer problems and can’t post my trip photos right now. It may be a long time before I get it fixed, so don’t know when! I’ve never been happy with the ASUS Computer that Best Buy in Mt. Juliet TN sold me and I may have to look for another one here in Costa Rica – grrrr!
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| Dina Yellow butterfly My garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica On my “Once de Abril” flower |
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| Dina Yellow butterfly My garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica On my “Once de Abril” flower |
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| Unknown Insect, similar to a Green Orchid Bee except for red tail Caught accidentally while photographing the above Dina Yellow My Garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica |
Here’s a Dina Yellow seen in my garden last year:
http://costaricadecisionprocess.blogspot.com/2015/05/leuce-yellow-butterfly.html
I know, I’m starting to repeat butterflies and even some birds, but hopefully the next few days will be fresh photos as I travel again. John Rasbury is here from TN and just bought a house here in Atenas to rent out as part of his income when he comes back later to retire somewhere in Costa Rica. The next four days we will be in Guanacaste (northwest corner of Costa Rica) where he will look at possible other rent houses in Tamarindo and Flamingo Beach. I’m tagging along and then we will be tourists and do a birding float trip in Palo Verde National Park on a river. Hoping for some new birds in a part of the country I have not been yet.
