Garden Blogger's Bloom Day March 2014

Desert rose (adenium)

Vanda orchid

Welcome to Garden Bloggers Bloom Day where gardeners from around the globe post what is blooming in their gardens. I was by my friend David for dinner the other night and was stunned when I saw his desert roses. They were spectacular!  I didn't have my camera on me so I went back the next day to take some photos. And the pool......it was stunningly beautiful!  We are in the dry season and the plants that thrive are in full bloom around the island.  The Desert roses, Bougainvillea and  Frangipani  are showing their colours.  To see more of what is blooming please visit Carol at Maydreamsgardens .

Thank you David for allowing me to share your blooms. It is Saturday folks so get out there and GARDEN! Have a great weekend!

Sunday in the garden

 My shade house has become a jungle, I plan to transform it as soon as I am finished with the house renos.

 One of my favorite Heliconias

 Lettuce ready to be harvested

 Scallop squash

 Cucumbers

 Milkweeds (asclepias) waiting to be transplanted for the monarch butterfly.

Jamaica Poinsettia
I am paying more attention to the garden now the house renos are almost finished. On Saturday my hubby and some helpers drained the round pond and cleaned it.

 See the two albino sharks and Moby Dick in the middle swimming together.

It was a right mess and had been so for several months. The pump was not working properly and hubby took it to the repair shop. The shop tried opening it and broke the case housing the pump because the screws were fused together. It is still there waiting to find a similar used housing. So last month Hubby went to visit his mother in Miami and brought back a new pump.  Now the pump and filter are up and running again with a clean pond to boot.
Have a great week my friends!

Bathrooms

I am having some issues with blogger so I decided to create a new post on the bathrooms. Below is a sneak peek of downstairs  bathroom.

 

My bathroom upstairs is still in its final stages just the wash basin and faucet to be installed. I found my mahogany slab and now the mirror looks out of place. Luckily I have some mahogany to make a frame to go with the vanity. I will relocate the mirror to another bedroom. My favorite carpenter Remington is working with me and it is a joy to work with him. 

Renos update

 

Hello friends and bloggers, it has been some time since I have written anything, those of you following my blog would know why.  Today I am blogging about the house renos.  The above photos show how it all happened. I am still working on the inside and have almost finished the downstairs bathroom.

RIP Sandy

Sandy passed away this morning around 7.00 am. He was at home surrounded by his buddies. Sandy brought tremendous joy and laughter to those who came in contact with him. I buried him in his favorite spot near the pond he loved. I would like to thank all of you for your comforting messages you have sent me. I am still trying to come to grips with his passing.

Sandy

Today I am writing this with a very heavy heart. My beautiful dog Sandy is fighting for his life. It has been a week he has been at the vet. I noticed  he was laying down a lot and thought it was a result of his shots the vet gave him the day before. He was not playing with the other dogs and then I saw him vomiting. I saw him with a big dead rat lying at his feet the evening before so my husband and I took him to the vet the next day. They quickly put him on a drip and started treating him for rat poisoning. His chest was very congested and he was badly dehydrated. The vet said it might not be rat poisoning but some other poison. She told us that if it were Gramoxone herbicide poisoning that there is no treatment and in most cases it was fatal.  It all depended on the amount ingested. Recently I was speaking to the man growing veggies in the field next door who told me he sprayed his weeds with some type of weed killer.  My heart sank, Sandy was always in the field bringing home discarded veggies and eating them.  I have not slept properly since he has been at the vet.

 My husband and I go twice a day to visit him. He ate some chicken two days ago and stopped the next day. Yesterday I made some chicken and pumpkin soup and he drank some. This morning the vet reported he had diarrhea last night and this morning but there was no blood and that was a good sign.  I took some  more soup with blended chicken but he didn't take any.  We took him outside for some sun and fresh air. This was his third time outside in two days.  He is not out of the woods as yet but he is  much brighter and happy to see people. His heart rate is faster than normal and the congestion comes and goes. His medication was changed yesterday and we are hoping for good news.

Upstairs update

The Honduras pitch pine floors have been sanded and finished.

 Bathroom tiles are down tiler worked until 10 pm on Saturday. I can recommend Rommel, a good tiler he is and he worked with me.  Sandy also helped himself to Rommel's chocolate and disappeared.

 Shower floor in a river stone tile.

 Waiting on a quote for a glass surround if it is too much money I have some ideas using non traditional materials.

I will call the plumber to install the toilet and shower hardware. The sink will be installed last because I am looking for an old tree stump to use for the sink base. If that doesn't work out I have a few more rustic ideas to try out.  The last project will be the bedroom closets and that will be completed early in January.