Category Archives: Pets
Costa Rica: A Good Place to Have a Pet
We’re waiting for the biopsy results on Buddha’s tumor. “It looked like a fatty mass,” said Laura, our new vet in Puriscal, “but we won’t know for about two weeks.” The tumor, about the size of a tennis ball, was … Continue reading
Lucy Lieu
Here in rural Costa Rica, few dogs enjoy the privileges of their northern cousins. In the towns, disease-ridden dogs drag themselves from doorstep to curb, in search of scraps. Many dogs run wild, and still others sit all day chained … Continue reading
Coyotes Come to Call
The first time I heard them, they sounded like a pack of hungry puppies. They yipped, wailed, barked and howled into the night: a convocation of coyotes. I obeyed a sudden, irresistible urge to howl along with them. Here in … Continue reading
Rooster today, feather duster tomorrow
0savesSave BufferBack in August, I wrote about a chicken who adopted us. She laid us a few eggs, and though they were tiny, we had dreams of an endless free supply. We bought some chicken feed, named our girl Henny … Continue reading
“The rankest compound of villanous smell that ever offended nostril.” **
“I smell garbage,” I said. From his seat outside in the carport/terrace/studio, Jack replied, “It’s not me!” Jack can’t smell and doesn’t care much when I complain about odors. There was a noxious smell in the kitchen a few months … Continue reading
You CAN go home again
In Spanish, the word casa means house; as far as I can tell, there’s no word that means home. In English, we differentiate between house and home, but often use the two words interchangeably. Lately, I’ve been wondering: How can … Continue reading
Chicken Little or Henny Penny?
The stray chicken is back. Actually, she’s been pecking around the house ever since the lately departed Osa tried to eat her. I don’t see her every day, but she’s here. Often, the first sound I hear in the morning … Continue reading
Osa, Adieu
Hobbes has come out from behind the sofa. Who knows what’s going on in his little pea-brain, but I suspect he knows that Osa is no longer lurking outside every window and door, waiting to give chase. The Himalaya Anxocare … Continue reading
Osa, we hardly knew Ye
We admitted defeat this week, and wondered aloud to her owners, Mike and Sandy, if there had been a plan B for Osa’s care. We’d grown fond of her, but neither Hobbes nor Noir had. And that’s why I was … Continue reading
Chicken-chaser strikes again
The chicken-chaser struck again yesterday. It happened moments after I drove around the bend towards our house and saw Buddha, waiting to guide me in, as always. That’s the German shepherd in him, I imagine. He likes to prance in … Continue reading
