Dinners out and car issues

Busier over the past 10 days or so - time to post!

We had our Wizard card game with Tim and Kathy...Chris won the first game to his crowing delight, then Tim skunked us all in the next game, to everyone's chagrin.  We were back to their place for dinner with Paul and Marilyn a few days later, all enjoying Kath's delicious buns!.  We watched the sky and the zillions of stars after.  There are so many when the moon is less than full. We had a last-minute invite from Bill and Maryellen a day later and another delicious beer chicken dinner with their BBQ'd veggies. We met Rick and Penny there and have had Rick help tweak both our laptops - he's very knowledgable, having taken this up as a sideline after retirement. Our friends are treating us very well lately, and we need to arrange thank yous in return!

We were off to Chitre for the day yesterday, to pay both car and house insurance and to collect groceries. Renewing insurance here takes forever, and is another bureaucratic mess. When something goes smoothly and/or quickly, it is time to rejoice!  After spending a wad on groceries at three different mercados, we started home, both of us noticing the car seemed to be running rough. I opted for a wheel problem, not related to the recent balancing done. Sure enough, about a third of the way along, a huge bang from the rear and a tire had burst. Luckily we were in a stretch with lots of shoulder, and a half hour later, after Chris struggled like crazy to undo the lugs, we were back on the road with our spare making the ride much smoother. While riding home, we were called by our lender telling us the last two payments on our loan were not to be found in his account.  More grief!

At home, we unloaded the car, did the right things with frozen stuff  and the meat, then I laid on the bed with tea while Chris downed a whiskey. Once up again, I searched our loan file and sent copies of the receipts to our lender.  It got sorted out okay because the clerk had deposited our payment to the wrong account! Love this place! NOT.  Advice = watch bank accounts, credit card reports, and check all receipts. We do this regularly and had missed this particular mistake. I mean, who needs the angst?

Animals?  Still have our two who continue to rage around when the mood strikes, plus a varying number of outside pussies who come and go like we're the local diner.  Another patron reappeared Friday night.  Porky Possum came for a sample of cat food and when we got home, we found him comfortably ensconced in one of the cat crates!  Cosy as you please, and not about to shift no matter what we did. Fredi ate, almost beside him and he even ignored her. I tried for another photo which is poor because of light issues, and filming through a door...

Fredi and Porky

Chris has scrubbed and sanded all the window sills and now repainted them. Maintenance done on a regular basis is crucial in Panama - as I say, everything molds or rusts quickly, so don't stand still too long! Or only buy plastic stuff? Next up, getting the outside painted by ??? and Chris installing my closet door after waiting for the track for two years, two months and two days.  Nice to have even numbers. So February ended, March came in like a lamb, and all's well that ends well?  Maybe. Ciao...