Dateline Sosua, Dominican Republic-Who's your daddy?

This picture is Danny, me and my two new baby goats that were born today.

If you notice mine has white boots and his has black boots. One time when I had the restaurant he came in and tells me that we had baby goats and one was all black and one was all white and the other was black and white. My waiter Nelson who thinks he is a comedian says that I am the father of the white one and Danny is the father of the black one and both of us probably fathered the black and white one. It was pretty funny but Danny was denying it and we were all laughing.

The next picture is Maria and I holding the two babies. I don't know why I ended up with the black booted one this time:) This is a picture of the two of them on the ground. Real cuties and the two of them are colors I haven't had on the farm and I have never seen these colors before.

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Next one schedualed to give birth is my Sheep. Yup folks I have heard all the jokes already. Yes I keep a pair of boots in my truck!

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I posted pictures of a baby goat born on the farm less than a month ago. He is now as big as my 6 month old goats. I will see if I have a late photot of him now with the others.

Man this is fun. I love raising goats and it is so much fun just feeding these guys you wouldn't believe it. I supplement their food with tops of Yuca which they love. Must be full of vitamins and other good stuff because they go crazy for it.

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Hasta Pronto!

Moscow Circus Playing in Puerto Plata

Timing is everything. Maria asked me if I wanted to go to the circus in Puerto Plata. I told her I wasn't a kid and left it at that. She speaks to her mother and she is going to Puerto Plata for a couple of days to see her family there and I suggested that she bring Maria's son Melvin with her and we can go to the circus together. Worked out great and Melvin stayed with us for 2nights and 3 days and we all went to the circus.

Melvin is 6 now and a great kid. I bought him a want that turned many colors. Kind of looked like a weapon from the space movies. We had Cotton Candy and other junk and had a great time.

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Little did I know that this was the first time for both Melvin and Maria to see a circus. I guess some things I just take for granted and never would have imagined.

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I bought the best seats and we had a ringside box which was great except for the High wire act where I had to strain my neck to see it.

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It is still playing so I recommend if you can see it that it is well worth it.

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Hasta Pronto!

Pirates in the Dominican Republic

I don't know why but there seems to be a thing with eye problems here. I know I had two problems with my eyes getting itchy and swolen and I had to take drops for it to clear up. Man it was awful! I even went to a Doctor believe it or not because it bothered me so much.

I got a call from my numero uno sister who was in the clinic in Puerto Plata and I went to pick her up. Hell she still looks lovely. She is going to kill me for posting this one:)

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Hasta Pronto!

The Gals of the Brittania Pub in Sosua

This is Heydi who is standing with my buddy Patrick. I captured the best shot of the two of them:) Another BEAUTY and I also got the best shot of the two of them. I hope you all are starting to get it! LOL Here is a beauty solo without my buddy Patrick who by this point probably hates me but I hate to ruin a shot of a beautiful woman:) No I want to name this shot Beautys and the beast. That is Ted in the middle the evening bartender at Brittania most nights. However I don't know why I consider myself lucky when I just have the gals in the pictures. There is also another BEAUTIFUL bartender/waitress Eva who I don't have a picture of but I will. I was there tonight but without my camera unfortunately. . 2 beers for 99 peso happy hour and a food special for 99 pesos every night. I had Pasta bolonesa tonight along with 2 Bohemias for 198 Pesos. Can't beat that with a stick and I get to look at beautiful women! Who has it better than me? . Hasta Pronto!

El Tablon in Charamicos Sosua Dominican Republic

These are pictures taken of a section of Charamicos where the Dominicans live in Sosua. They have been given apartments to move to coutesy of the government so they can clean up a neighborhood that had a lot of problems.

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Anytime you heard of a Shooting or Drug Raid this is where it was. The police were affraid to go down there although I wasn't. No one ever bothered me when I went there. The road ended where a river met the ocean and there was a fish store there. Only problem was if you asked for Tuna you got Red Snapper. Well all the people are moved and they bulldozed it as it was happening so no squatters got there first. It was a horrible place but the people that lived there miss it and don't like the new slum that was built for them. I will go to the new place and take pictures and post them here. It is very tight and crowded albeit NEW.

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Oh well, guess this is something that had to be done! They are going to make a dock at the end for the fishermen and a park of some sort. They also need to clean up the river because of all the polution. The Dominicans who live upstream just throw their garbage in the river and it is killing the reef but they cant help the reef till they stop the problem which here is very difficult.

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Hasta Pronto!

LADIES IN YELLOW

This was taken Saturday evening in my condo just before we went to dinner to celebrate the one on the left's birthday. Unfortunately the restaurant she choose which is the fairly new Italian Restaurant next to Bliss in Cabarete is now closed and for sale. We went there once before to celebrate something and had a nice meal but alas wasn't going to happen this time. We ended up having typical Dominican food at a restaurant that we have been to many times before and it was a great meal so it turned out ok anyway.

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Afterwards we went downtown for a drink or two and I had a lovely night.

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One time I took these sisters to the Butcher to buy some meat to cook up and as they were arguing back and forth about what to buy the Butcher says to me "They look exactly alike, they are so cute, I want them both". I couldn't help but laugh because that is exactly the thought that has gone through my mind many times in the past.

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I have had friends who didn't know one think she was the other and mention my name so evidently many people think they look alike. One time we were at a restaurant where one of them worked and the other one and I were having drinks. The cook calls her to the kitchen to take food out thinking it was the other sister. Hilarious!

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Hasta Pronto!

Dominican Kids Update

I am pleased to say that the money raised for Dominican Kids are funding the tests needed prior to these 100 Operations. .

We also funded their Dental Clinic in Maranatha previously.

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Feel free to contack Robert for further information or if you would like to donate individually in addition. They have many ongoing projects that I would like to be a part of and hope that some of you all do as well.

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Hasta Pronto!

--------------------------------------------------------------- The surgical team arrives on this Saturday, May 10, 2008 to perform surgery on about 100 people. Will you help us to pay for their blood and heart tests that are necessary prior to surgery? To donate you can use our website or print off this email and send directly to our mailing address below. Thank you for your help and may God bless you! 30 Us Dollars each is the cost for a total of 3000 US dollars Robert Nelson http://us.f526.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=robert@islandimpact.net Island Impact Ministries - in the Dominican Republic http://www.islandimpact.net/ DR Phone (809) 571-4078 DR Cell (809) 601-4336 Providing Health Care for the Poor. Promoting Education through Child Sponsorship . Preaching God's Word for Life Change.

Saturday night dinner with my Sisters

Saturday night I had dinner with two of my lovely sisters. We ate at Baileys and then went out for a little bit. The one below had to work early in the morning so we weren't out for long but it was fun.

Afterwards we all went back to my house to go to sleep. It is fun having both gals over instead of just one. More fun when they are drunk but not this night! They are so pretty and love to get their pictures taken. I try to always have my camera with me! Not even a beer to their names and they are having the times of their lives!

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Tomorrow night we are going out to dinner again to celebrate the older sisters birthday. I am looking forward to it already!

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Hasta Pronto!

Fiesta De Herman

Well as always Herman throws a great party. It is great to get on Hermans "A" List for that reason! This excuse was the completion of his addition and improvements to his villa and that starts with this wall:) It doesn't end there though! Besides the wall in the front he built a office just off the kitchen which I didn't even see while I was there this time. I have only seen it unfinished.

Below is the Gazebo from the inside. It is a 3 level Gazebo with the first level being a studio apartment, the second level is below and in the other pictures which is a big living room and kitchen. Open windows to get the breeze and HUGE. There were 35 people inside at any given time.

These are musicians he had playing for most of the day. They were cool and people enjoyed them. Even some dancing! All this terrace area is brand new and a lot more I didn't photograph. I will have to stop back and take more pictures to post. This is herman with the pigs head. Hell that was just about all that was left after everyone devoured the rest of the guy. It was a great party and Herman did a fabulous job on the design and finish of the addition of Villa Macau. Anyone who gets to stay there will thoroughly enjoy themselves. Contact me for reservations. Up to 5 bedrooms, a pool, lovely gardens and grounds and everything you would want in a luxury villa rental in the Caribbean.

Hasta Pronto!

This is a picture of Maria I took at Doug and Lindas house. The house in the background is 18000 sq ft and it is two doors down from where I am going to build my new home. Mine of course is going to be a little smaller:)

This next shot is of just Marias head. Man I love that smile!

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This shot is of the next door neighbor where I am going to build. You can actually see where I have cleared to build my barn which will start this month. Also you can see where the house is going to be which is to right and just below the house in a clearing.

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This picture is of Hermans house from Dougs Driveway. You can see the new gazebo front left and not much else that is new except some terrace from this angle.

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My Cuz Brett stayed here a few months ago and thoroughly enjoyed the house. I was speaking with him today and he reminded me that I haven't updated the blog in a while so this is dedicated to my Cuz Brett! I love ya baby!

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Hasta Pronto!

A few minutes at Linda and Dougs house in Sosua

Sunday afternoon I stopped after leaving Hermans Party I went over to Dougs house with Doug. Maria was taking the pictures.

When we walked into the house the doggies had already had their way with the toilet paper and the house was full of it:) It was a riot and Doug didn't even flinch so he must be used to it. I would hate to pay his Toilet paper bill every month! We were sitting outside and through the window they had this big painting and I didn't know if it was painted on the wall or not it was so big. Had to actually go in to make sure it wasn't. Below is their lap pool with a bumpout so others can be in the pool while someone is swimming laps. This is the type of pool I built in Cabrera in the bigger house. I don't know if I had mentioned this to them when they were talking about building their house but it is the same in principal as what I built. This is the toilet paper monster. He has a taste for the absurd:) They have a very nice home and it will be looking at my home when I finally get to building it. I can see my next door neighbors house from their pool deck and my property where my barn is going and where my house is going. I have a building up but it was hidden by the trees. Hasta Pronto!

Goats and Sheep have a new Gazebo in Sosua

I just got this completed this week. The frame is concrete and the roof is Cana taken from my Cana Palm Trees on the property.

Goats and Sheep don't like the rain and I haven't had shelter for them before but now they have some from the rain. It is 5 meters by 5 meters which is about 16x16 and I am willing to bet that during a heavy rain all of them will be under this.

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Tomorrow we pour the roof on a 120o0 gallon cistern which is a water holding tank. We have community water but they only turn the pumps on 2-3 days a week so we need a lot of storage.

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My friend has a pool that holds about half of that according to him so that is a lot of water. I am also pouring concrete collumns above it to build a cana roof there also.

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This is the evergrowing project and I am trying to make this a place I will love in the future slowly now.

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Hasta Pronto!

Herbert

This is my buddy Herbert posing with a few of the ladys in the bar one night last week. He just left and I am sorry to see him go. I love hanging out with him and of course giving him a hard time for just about everything.

After I finish posting the blog and am going to make an offer on real estate that he and I are going to buy. Wish us luck although I think it isn't a hard bet on this one. Herbert, come back soon!

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Hasta Pronto!

Trujillos Cars at Camp David

These are Trujillos cars on display at Camp David in Santiago. Trujillo was a dictator that ruled here until he was assasinated in the 60's. He was a vicious ruler but there was law and order then. Now it is like the wild west but I still like it for the most part. This was his son's Chevy. The next one is a Willy's that he rode around in. He was the chief of the Armed Forces. This was the boss's Caddy with me standing next to it. I know you will hardly notice the car with such a handsome and distinguished gentleman standing next to it:) Doug Hicks took this shot. I am not usually in my photos because I am the picture taker so here is a rare view of me! . We had a great day and Doug was a pleasure to ride with. He is a great rider and that made it a pleasure. We did a trip that would have taken me with the rest of the guys 3 days to do. . Doug use to be a Professional Hockey player and was said to be the reason Bobby Orr retired (joke out of dougs mouth). Doug was his last defense partner if my memory serves me right. Doug is still a athelete and does everything I can't do anymore and probably couldnt do it back then either:) I look forward to my next trip with him. . Hasta pronto!

Sunday Motorcycle Ride

This is my buddy Doug. Doug has been threatening to go riding with the rest of us for a while now. We finally made it on Sunday. This shot is where we stopped for lunch at a Hotel in Santiago called Camp David.

This is the view from the balcony where we ate lunch. I had a decent salad and a Ice COLD beer which was great after a half day HARD motorcycle ride. This day it was just Doug and I and it was better that way because we did a whole day affair and most of the other guys crap out in half a day. Usually from the bruising:) We started the trip at Pedro Garcia which is where I ended a trip another day with Will. We were close to cresting a mountain and a dark cloud came over and Will crapped out on me because he said he had a bald tire and didn't want to go down the hill in the rain or when it was wet. I told him I was going to hate myself for turning back because I needed to see the other side of that mountain. We were at a very high elevation and I needed to see what was just around the next corner but alas, I didn't because Will appled out. This time we went over the top and it was well worth the trip. This is a picture coming back down the other side of the mountain. Man this is such a cool country, I plan on seeing every freakin inch of it before I die.

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There are times when we are so deep in the campo I feel like these people have never seen a white guy before. It is usually right after that that I see a white kid running out of a house:) It always surprises me!

This was on the other side right near the top of the mountain. Look at all those pine trees! Talk about elevation. We drove around every nook and cranny and we eventually got back to the road called the touristica which runs from Montellano to Santiago where we headed for lunch.

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After lunch we went to the highway and took that to the airport and returned via the Moca - Sabeneta road which is another mountain pass similar to the touristica.

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We stopped at the river in Jamao El Norte and I showed Doug where the mountain population in that area goes swimming and drinking and otherwise spending their Sunday. He never knew it existed.

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We ended taking the El Choco Road from that road back to Sosua and of course stopped at the farm to see the goats and sheep. I also got to show Doug the construction since he has last been there and I think he also enjoyed that.

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Hasta Pronto!

Gals of Pedros

Hey Boyd, this Buds for you! These are a couple of the gals that work in Pedro's who I happened to catch on the camera today. This is Maria who is one of my sisters. This gal below is Rosy and she is a bit camera shy. Took like 20 shots to get one good one. She works mornings and afternoons along with her sister who I didn't happen to capture to computer today but I will. She looks good going also:) Bet you never noticed!

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Hasta Pronto!

And now its time to say goodbye to all

This is Fred who was one of the originators of Pedro McMurphys Irish Sports Bar in Sosua. They built it and sold it in 3 months. Successful plan!

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Fred returned today to Vancover BC and we have had small going away parties for 2 days now for him. I will miss the guy for sure. He was immortalized on one of our Motorcycle rides when he crashed and burned. I didn't get to see it because I was helping another guy get up off the ground a 1/4 of a mile away at the time but when I got to Fred he was in the River washing off all the blood. He has the Scars to prove it:)

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When I asked him if he was ok he smiled and said sure but he must have been one hurting puppy and sucked it up big time. Hats off to Fred and I for one hopes he returns SOON!

He has already threatened to buy a bike on his return and get back in the saddle! Great guy, lots of fun and will be missed! BYE FRED!

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Hasta Pronto

Little problem

Slight problem in our electrical room at the condo complex. Water pipe broke and flooded the room. Hope we don't have lasting damage from this. Water and electronics do not get along well. This pic was evidence for the insurance company. We dried everything out but had to turn off all electric to the complex when this happened. Very dangerous.

Hasta Pronto!

New cistern, new Pasture

This is the start of the building of a 12000 gallon water holding tank. It doesn't look that big now but when I take the next picture tomorrow you will think completely different. I have a friend who has a 6000 gallon swimming pool. This is bigger. The pictures below are pictures of my new animal pasture. I didn't even think when I originally bought this place that this land was mine but alas it is mine so I since I had to fence again I made a separate pasture so I can rotate the animals so I don't destroy what I have. The first day I put the kids here for the evening they all had swelled stomachs the next morning. They all were HUGE. I commented to Danny who works here full time for years that my goat named Perro who was pregnant and eating like a horse would gain 500 pounds in one night:) You can see these guys are healthy and looking great. Everyones FAT:) This is only about a little over a quarter of an acre but the ability to put them here for nights for a week helps the other field recover. . Hasta Pronto!

Papas got a new son

This young man was born between Saturday night and Sunday. I knew he was coming because the mama who I call Perro which means dog is one of my favorite goats. She is always healing when I am in the pasture. When I got to the finca on Saturday she got out of the new pasture and the workers building my cistern put her back in. When they told me this I went into the pasture to see her. She was trying to get out while I was there which was very unusual because she thinks she is a dog and she loves me.

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Well I identified these actions as she was nesting. She had orginally fit her big ass body through the barbed wire into the next farm and then came back around to the old pasture where she had spent her whole time so I figured she was trying to nest in advance of giving birth. I took her back to her old pasture and left her there with plenty of food and water. On Sunday a bunch of us went up to Playa Grande to the beach so I asked Herbert to stop off at the farm first so I can check on her. She had this beautiful little boy waiting for me on my arrival and a real sweetheart he is. He is HUGE for a 1 day old or less baby goat. Mama is big and carried very big. I thought she was having at least two. This is going to be a big boy. All his mamas milk for himself and the start was amazing! . Welcome to the farm little guy. . Hasta Pronto!

Saturday night dinner

Saturday night we had dinner for about 8 people in my condo. In attendence were my friend Howard from NYC, my friend Herbert also from NYC, My friend Herman also from NYC, Boyd and Lannie from the outback of Canada, Maria and her brother Kiko and of course myself. There were supposed to be other people but they had other plans and couldn't make my last minute dinner. Maria made her famous San Cocho which in fact is actually a famous meal:) Herman made some sort of Vietnamese Spring Rolls and of course we had a ton of wine and port at the end. Everyone said they had a great meal which I certainly did and went home with full bellies. I have to thank Herman for the photos because the dope that I am didn't take any myself. Hasta Pronto!