Dear Uncle Doug

August 16, 2011

("Uncle" Doug is a friend, and has an interest in the beach-front home also owned by “Big Deck” Doug & Pam, my brother Jack, and another partner.) We all love it when he decides to visit on one of his infrequent trips here, and we all adore him.  He’s a private guy with a great big heart and brings down fun gifts for the local kids. He also loves his gadgets and boy toys and has hauled a number of his treasures down here over the years. Uncle Doug was last here in early March, and Todd and I really enjoyed his too short of a visit).

Dear Uncle Doug,

I want you to know, a while back I went where no sane person has gone before – I cleaned and organized your closet…I hope you don’t mind, but I needed to find places for the latest batch of gizmos you brought on your last trip (some of which are pictured below).

My, my….I’ve never seen quite a such a collection of stuff!  The disco ball was a great idea (not sure Pam is going to go for this if you hang it in the dining room), and every house here needs a special event outdoor-spinning-searchlight, and - really - you never know when those twenty or so phosphorous necklaces will come in handy…..Okay, okay…so, maybe I made some of this stuff up.

On the other hand, the walkie-talkies, the high beam flash-light, and assorted outdoor extension cords (taking shot in the dark here, but I suppose at least 300 feet) have potential. As a matter of fact, several times since we’ve been down here, we’ve borrowed the flashlight during power outages, or to chase a rambling beach cow out of Jardines de Olon at night.

I scrounged up several boxes and have your goodies sorted into those – labeled “electronics”, “gizmos & thingamajiggys” and “WTF?” is it. I think you’ll be pleased next time you get here and I did my best, though I admit I suffered a long moment of indecision into which box to put the light-up yo-yo’s

However, the quad and the big red inflatable ball you bought during your stay presented even greater challenges. The quad didn’t really match the décor of the dining room, and the ball was taking up quite a bit of space in the living room (though Todd & I were eyeing it as a potential emergency water vehicle during the Japanese tsunami alert shortly after you left). And for sure, the local neighborhood kids had some fun rolling around in your backyard in it. We eventually loaned it to Mike Sager, who borrowed it for his son Alex to play with while they were at their nearby beach home.

Taken the day of the tsunami alert.
We were all certainly thinking  that
it might make a good
"Tsunami Life-vest"

When Jack and the other Doug were here in late June, Todd and I went to retrieve it, using Big Deck’s truck. We took Daisy with us. After the night of the tsunami (when it took both Todd and I to forcefully “fireman”  lift Daisy into the truck, we have been working with her some to ride in the back of the pick-up – usually up to the hills, and several times to Curia. I mean, all dogs like riding in cars, right? Despite her original hesitancy (and one of us sat in back with her at first), she has come to enjoy “going for a ride” and we have been able to let her ride short/safe distances by herself in back…..That is, until we went to get the big red ball. Todd and I had already decided I would ride in back to hang on to the inflatable ball on the return trip so it wouldn’t blow out, but there was hardly room in the pick-up bed for Daisy after we got the ball loaded, let alone me…but it was do-able. Unfortunately, before I hopped in with Daisy and the ball, we accidently snagged one of Daisy’s paws in the back gate as we were closing it. Of course, as soon as she started whelping, we quickly unlatched, but she was traumatized. It took us another half hour to get her back in the pick-up bed, and I had to hold onto her and the ball back to Olon. Not sure she will ever willingly agree to get in the truck bed again, though we have been trying and trying to convince her this only happens when “BIG RED INFLATABLE BALLS” are involved.

Daisy on patrol at your
place.
Photo courtesy of
Jack

The quad was another story. I’ll confess here that Todd and I couldn’t resist taking it out for a couple of spins (mind you, with the most altruistic purposes of getting rocks down by the Point for your property). Daisy loved running alongside. Let me tell you, she has natural “herding” and “birding” instincts, but until then, Todd and I had no idea how FAST she can run. It’s amazing. She can almost keep pace with the quad going full throttle. I’ve never seen a faster dog – she’s really an incredible runner and loves to run.

Anyway, Todd and I wanted to store your quad in locked/indoor location, and decided that our friends Barb and Robert who recently bought their Curia home earlier this year (and making astounding progress to be moved here full time by the end of the year) wouldn’t mind if we locked it in the bodega on their property for awhile. The morning Todd rode it up to their place to lock it up, Daisy naturally galloped alongside, despite Todd going as fast as he could to lose/discourage her. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to find Todd after he had gone around “front” (the non-beach side) and he hopped on a bus back to Olon.

About an hour later, Todd and I were enjoying “beer-thirty” at Jorge’s on the Beach when we noticed Daisy straggling back south from Curia (about a half hour brisk beach walk away), utterly dejected and worn-out. She was so tired she didn’t even notice us sitting nearby until we called to her.  Poor thing, but was she ever happy to find us again and bounded around us like a dog on a pogo stick.

We just love her to pieces; she loves hanging at your place especially because from there, she can keep a REALLY good eye on the beach and potential cow or donkey intrusions that threaten to harm any of us.

Uncle Doug, we miss you, and hope that all is well.

Leigh & Todd