#8 Sleep Schmeep

Squeak . . . squeak . . . squeak . . . squeak . . . squeak . . .

Okay, fan off.  Maybe the oppressive heat would be easier to deal with than the incessant squeaking of the fan all night.

"Qui-quiri-qui!  Qui-quiri-qui!"

If only there were an off switch for roosters!  Apparently nobody has given the Dominican roosters proper job training because they don't seem to realize that they're supposed to be silent during the hours of darkness.

Adjusting to a new bed is challenging enough without the additional distraction of persistent noises from within and without, although I really had it good.  Poor Pete.  He did his best to keep silent about his dilemma, but after spending two nights sleeping on a box spring he couldn't hold it in any longer.  One wonders how the housekeeping person could make up a box spring with sheets and blankets and not detect something amiss.  Lo and behold, Roscoe was sleeping on two mattresses like the princess and the pea!  A little shifting of bed components and all was made right on that front.

But those roosters.  Sheesh!

Whatever hindrances there may have been to a good night's rest, there was always good, strong Dominican coffee to put the pep back in the pooped.  Too bad for me that coffee has always been on my short list of beverages that are better left for someone else.  Try as I might, I could never develop a taste for the stuff, so when we were graciously served hot dark coffee every morning around 10 a.m. on the work sites I appreciated my team members who were more than willing to bail me out as soon as the hostess turned her back.  Wednesday morning, however, I found myself with no teammates close at hand when the kind lady began serving the coffee.  Oh, what to do, what to do?  One thing I could not do was to set the cup down and leave it untouched.  Should I surreptitiously pour it behind a bush?  My conscience kicked into overdrive as I nonchalantly stood around with my squishy cup of coffee in hand, looking for all the world like I was just waiting for it to cool down.  In those few minutes I made a decision to be the boss of my mouth and just drink it.  For the first time in 34 years a sip of coffee passed my lips.  One thing I had to be thankful for was that there was only about 3 oz. so it didn't require too many swigs to get it all down.  And having survived the experience and lived to tell about it, I decided that for the rest of the week I would drink every cup of coffee that was put into my hands by a generous Dominican extending hospitality in the only way that perhaps she could.  While I didn't enjoy the taste of the brew, I did appreciate the benefits of the caffeine that helped restore some of the energy that the roosters stole from me in the night. 

Coffee being served

 

Proof to my family that I really did drink it

 

Coffee being taken back home by Regi & Kristi

 

With all that energy I was able to learn some new skills and be as helpful as possible for an aging girl who knows far more about cooking and gardening than construction.  Hanging around and staying alert for opportunities to be useful earned me the chance to use a hammer drill to bore out some holes in the concrete porch for putting up a railing.  And I got to pound a chisel with a hammer a few hundred times to rough up the smooth concrete on the porch so the new stuff being poured along the edge would have a good surface to bond with.  No doubt those tasks could just as well have been done by one of the men, but they were kind enough to recognize the longing in my eyes to be put to work, and so Mark found jobs that even I could do that would be more help than hindrance. 

Mark starting the porch project

Roughing up the surface

 

Drilling with an audience

 

Dick sets the pedestals into the holes

 

Noah fills the frame with concrete

 

Mila sits on her porch which is coming along nicely

 

Scraping dried concrete off boards

 

Grapefruit tree provided lovely shade for working under

 

Avocado tree provided shade as well as fruit for our dinner

 

Everywhere bananas

 

Disgruntled hen didn't appreciate being caught

 

Sleep schmeep.  Somehow all the energy we needed was there when we needed it to find enjoyment in the work, in the play, and in the special people to people moments.