Chicken joke

Heather's joke:
Why did I watch a chicken cross the road?

Answer:
I was in Chulumal II.

Ha ha.  :)
(Sorry... but this joke did make my family all burst into laughter!)

Turkeys, chickens, and hogs

Some of our new neighbors are turkeys, chickens, and hogs. 

A turkey viewing the ministry building site.

A chicken coming to "visit" Veronica.

Verifying the water pipe location.

Checking out the cistern.

And hogs (one inside the pen and two to 
the right of it) squealing to announce their
presence just outside our lower boundary.

Veronica reading

Veronica has joined the ranks of homeschoolers by learning how to read this year with Michael.

Boundary markers

On the title to our land, the layout is described as going from this rock to that rock, then turning the corner to the next rock, and so forth.  The lawyer suggested we follow the more recent practice of inserting 3-inch diameter pipes about a meter long into the corner, filling them with concrete and a piece of rebar in the center.  We decided to leave some of the bigger, more long-standing rocks in place, since the neighbors are happy with their location.  But we replaced other rocks that have been more recently placed or were problematic.

Heather is trying to find a boundary stone
after a machine came by to level the dirt
road.  This boundary stone in our entryway
was always getting pushed aside by trucks,
so we replaced it first. 

Diego and Yano are putting in a new
concrete boundary tube on the last
piece of land we purchased.
(Check out what huge load is being
carried down the street!)

Here is a closer view.

Procession

We were surprised one evening by loud firecracker pops and music outside our house just after dinnertime.

We could see the statue and lots of people
with candles, singing loudly.

It turned out to be a Catholic procession that had stopped to serenade our neighbors as they carried a statue around the neighborhood, most likely transferring it from one house to another.  They made several similar stops at other houses.  There are so many loud happenings with music and firecrackers in Chichicastenango that we didn't even pay attention until it was right outside our house!

Smoking away bugs

There are biting flies on our property which are a nuisance.  Every time we go out, we spray with bug repellent which we brought from the United States.  One time when we went out to check on progress, we found brush burning near the workers.  They were trying to smoke out the bugs.  I don't think it worked very well, though, because they stopped doing it.

We are hoping this bug problem will be reduced when our fence is finished, providing a barrier between us and the neighboring corn fields.

Lemon trees

When we invited our pastor and his wife to come pray for the land, they gave us two lemon trees as a gift for our new land.  I bought some big pots, and we transferred dirt from our land to the pots.  Now the lemon trees are healthy and growing, awaiting their new home.

The pots are heavy!

Veronica makes sure the trees
are well-watered.