Our New Baby

Thursday, we had a violent rainstorm, with lots of lightning and thunder and high winds. When it had subsided a bit Reyna, our maid, told us that there was a small animal, probably a squirrel, crying on the ground. I went outside in the rain, and found what appeared to be a very long tailed rat lying in a puddle of water under one of our Ficus trees. I got some gloves and brought the little fellow inside. He was almost dead, with a lowered body temperature, and thoroughly soaked. Nora dried him and wrapped him in a rag, and put him in a box under a warming light bulb. At one point, we thought he had died, but gradually he started showing signs of life. Nora took him to a nearby vet, who confirmed that we had indeed become the proud parents of a male baby squirrel who was in remarkably good health. Nora returned home with a hungry baby, some baby animal formula, a tiny bottle, and a determination to see this baby live and return to the wild.

We embarked on a crash course to learn how to raise and prepare for release a baby squirrel. We learned that they eat only about 5% of body weight per feeding, and for a 3 1/2 ounce baby, that isn't much. They compensate by feeding frequently. We also learned that cute little baby squirrels grow into very annoying and destructive adult pets, so "Squeaky" will be returned to his backyard forest as soon as possible.

This morning, one of his eyes was completely open, and the other a thin squint. His ears are no longer plastered to his head, and the teeth which were barely visible 3 days ago are now 1/8 inch long and sharp as needles. He has learned to drink the formula with gusto, but goes nuts over a finger tip with a bit of Karo syrup on it.
Those sharp little teeth will soon force us to find a different method for giving him Karo.

Buying a New Car

A bit more than a month ago, Nora experienced an embarrassing and potentially dangerous situation, when our Chevrolet Vivant Econobox refused to climb a slippery hill in Cerro Azul. She did eventually get up the hill, but we realized she needed a 4X4 and she refuses to drive my 19 year old Jeep Cherokee, so we started looking. We wanted a comfortable 4~5 passenger SUV with lots of luggage space and a price tag under $30,000.00. It should also not be much larger than our Vivant. We also wanted one that wouldn't become a nightmare of trying to find parts and service for.

Our first stop was Ricardo Perez where we found the Toyota RAV4 and the Daihatsu Terios in our price range. We immediately dismissed the Terios as being too small, but put the RAV4 on our list of possibles.

Next, we looked at what Silaba on Calle 50 had to offer, and Nora vetoed both the Chevrolet and Kia models. At our next stop, we were both smitten with the Nissan XTrail, which we found well within our price limit and with a huge cargo area. Even better, there was a new left-over 2008 model in the color we wanted and with a six-speed manual transmission at a substantial saving over the identical 2009 model.

Next we took a look and test drive of the Suzuki Grand Vitari, which we both really liked. The sales lady hinted at a good discount, and I really liked that it had undercarriage protection and a real transfer case with a 4X4 Lo option, the only one of the SUVs we looked at that had real off-road ability. But, luggage space was small, and we really don't need real off-road, and if we do, I could just keep the Jeep. When the sales lady gave us a price, that substantial discount turned out to be $600.00 off list.

So, we decided on the XTrail, and began the serious negotiations. There we ran into a brick wall. PanaMotors refused to budge on the quoted (admittedly discounted) price, and since there is only one Nissan dealer in Panama, it is fruitless to try to get any competitive bids. Since we really wanted the XTrail, and it was several thousand dollars less than the competition, we decided to stop the negotiations and buy the car. I faxed the proforma invoice to Pentagon Federal Credit Union, where my financing had been pre-approved, and within a week had a check in hand.

Expecting to take delivery within a few days, we went to the dealer and learned that registering a lien in Panama is not simply a matter of telling the registration authority that you're financing the car with Soandso, Inc. We needed a signature from a PFCU officer on the original, serial numbered, vehicle transfer form, and a letter in Spanish from PFCU requesting the registration of the lien. This proved to be yet another exercise in bureaucratic frustration. After many phone calls, and many promises and lots of excuses, we finally got the forms back two weeks after we had paid $59.00 to Fedex to overnight them to Omaha.

Oh well, just another day in Paradise. By the way, Nora loves the car.

Off to Texas

We're off to Texas for a couple of weeks. We'll spend a day in San Antonio seeing the sights, then a couple of days in Austin with my brother, Paul. After that we'll drive to Lufkin to have dinner with my brother Ron and sister Annette. On the 21st we will be in Hemphill to help my Dad celebrate his 89th birthday. We're going to hang out on the banks of Toledo Bend lake with my sister Linda and brother Richard and maybe catch some fish. And since I learned not too long ago that I am a great grandpa, we may be lucky enough to take a third "5 generations" picture, for which I'm getting a little too close to the Patriarch position for comfort.

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