Apparently spikes aren't enough

We had spikes installed on the top of the fence in our backyard a few months back. Apparently they need to be sharper, longer or full of electric shocks. Last night Dave woke up at 3:00am and heard some water running, so he went to investigate. He figured that it was the sprinklers & was confused why they were on @ 3am instead of 10pm. The sprinklers weren't on, but he did find a broken pipe spewing water. He turned the water off & we went back to bed. This morning the gardeners came and I told them the ground may be too wet for them to work because of the broken pipe. The ground was fine, and the gardeners even fixed the pipe. They said from the looks of it, somebody had stepped on it. After looking at it myself, I'd have to agree (it was too dark to see much last night). It was a fairly new pipe and the type of break looked forced. The pipe is attached to the cement fence in the backyard, so we thought maybe somebody had tried to climb the fence while stepping on the pipe. Then we found a small step ladder set up next to our old washer (it died & was recently replaced), which happens to be next to a different part of the fence. It looks as though somebody was probably trying to break in last night. The step ladder is never by the fence. I'm so glad that the doors were all locked (although the alarm wasn't turned on... we always turn it on when we leave the house, but only at night when Dave is out of town), but I'm still a bit concerned. The apartment was broken into in December (our friends were living there at that point) and it looks like spikes don't scare people away, so now what?

Don't drink the water!

Today I was helping a friend with some English translations and pronunciation. She is the best dermatologist in the city (at least this is what I've heard from others) and will be giving a presentation on some studies she has completed in Buenos Aires next week. Before helping her I knew that Antofagasta has a very high skin cancer rate (the ozone is very thin here, so that makes sense), and I also knew that I shouldn't drink tap water in this city. Little did I know that there is a connection between the two. It just so happens that high doses of arsenic can cause skin cancer, and that is just what is in the tap water! I'm glad we've been forking out the money to buy bottled water these last 2 years.

Dave needs new clothes

Meridian's board of directors unanimously recommend that shareholders tender their stocks to Yamana at an even higher offer than before, so it looks like this is going to be a done deal before long. Guess Dave's wardrobe full of Meridian Gold clothing is going to need to be updated or patched over with the Yamana logo.

Our time in Copiapo

Here are the pictures from Copiapo. We spent time with people that Dave knew from his mission, as well as a co-worker and his family. September 18 is like the 4th of July in the USA, so we had a lot of good food & parties. If you click on the image a brief description will pop up.

Ava dancing the cueca, the national dance of Chile

Does anybody know how to rotate the video so that it is not sideways? How about adjusting the color, contrast, etc? I'm not very smart with computers.

Confused?

I know that at least a few of you are... I am a bit as well;). As far as Dave's job goes, a Canadian gold company (Yamana) really wants Meridian... so badly that they don't really want to take no for an answer, so they keep raising the $$$ for what they are willing to pay for it (basically what they would pay the people that have Meridian stock). So far not enough of the share-holders are willing to take the $$$ for their stocks because they think the stock is worth more. Now Yamana has offered more $ & extended the deadline. They already have quite a few shares, so it looks like they may soon take over Meridian. Did that clear things up at all? If you're still confused, sorry... check the internet for more info.

How will this effect us? At first we didn't think it would be too big of a deal because we think Dave would be safe in his job. But now we're starting to think about all of the little details (mostly because this is a Canadian company). Would we have to pay Canadian, US & Chilean taxes? Would we have US health care or only Canadian? We really don't want to be withouth US insurance. Would we be paid in US or Canadian $? With our visas would we have to spend any time in Canada during the year? How would our mail be forwarded? Would it be sent to Canada and then Chile? Anyway, maybe Meridian will remain Meridian. All I know is that I'm not quite ready to leave the ocean.

Forever sick

Poor Jinnie... if it's not one thing it's another. 2 days ago she finally popped her 4th tooth- it seriously took forever to break through! Since Tuesday morning Jinnie has had a high fever, has been very lethargic, only wants to breastfeed & drink water, and has been crying a lot. At first I thought it was from teething so I wasn't too worried, but since she has continued to get worse & the tooth is through we went to the Dr's today (again... I'm beginning to think that Jinnie prefers the Dr.'s office over our home). She has thrush & the herpangina virus (lovely name, I know). Thrush is basically a yeast infection in the mouth, and herpangina is hand, foot & mouth disease minus the hand & foot (she has pussy blisters in her throat). It's no wonder she hasn't wanted solids. She has new meds & should be fine in 1-2 weeks. It's just so sad to see Jinnie so sick all of the time. Hopefully she will have a healthy streak after this.

End of Meridian?

Yamana just raised their offer for Meridian, extended the deadline to October 2, and changed needing 66.7% (I was wrong in a previous post when I said it was 60%) to 50.1%. I think there will be some changes in the near future... not necessarily with Dave, but with the company. It stinks that we have to wait...again.

Great investment for less than $100!

I'm pretty sure that one of our greatest investments thus far has been our portable DVD player. We arrived home a few hours ago from Copiapo, a city 6 hrs from here, and the drive was great! After napping for a couple of hours the girls were glued to several movies the rest of the time, each with her own headphones (except for Jinnie of course, but Ava was good at keeping her happy with Cheerios). It was wonderful! Growing up we had a TV/VCR in the van... I wonder if my parents loved it as much as we love the DVD player.

I'll post pictures & stories from our little vacation in the next few days.

Oh, one more thing... people that are worried about overpopulation have not driven through northern Chile. There is almost nothing here. Other than a few cities (towns, pueblitos, etc.) it's just desolation. I'm not kidding. Wahoo for the ocean.

Another wait?

Grrrr... Yamana has extended its deadling (again) until the 24th of September. They have 34% of the votes, and need something like 60%. I hate the unknown of the waiting game.

2 more hours

The company Dave works for, Meridian Gold, is in the middle of a possible hostile takeover. Yamana has until 8 tonight to get enough stockholders shares to win this battle. It should be an interesting evening.

A long video (fyi...Hailey does have a shirt on under her costume)

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Do I owe you $$$ because I'm a gringa?

I think that sometimes people here expect me to give them money because I'm not Chilean. It really is obnoxious! Like today... a guy helped me when I was parallel parking in a tight spot. I gave him double what I usually pay people to help me park or watch my car (which is already above what a Chilean would have paid). And did he thank me? No. He yelled at me because I didn't give him enough money. What?!?

Unfortunately this isn't the 1st time this has happened. We used to have a person that would come to the house ever 2 weeks to wash our car. Well the last time he washed the car (it was about 7 months ago... we don't let him wash them anymore for obvious reasons) he came back a few hours later & yelled at Susan (the maid) because he didn't think we paid him enough (it had always been enough before... we really weren't cheating him). He pretty much yelled at her for a long time, then when she left to go home he followed her & continued the yelling. Well today while I was being yelled at by the parking guy, Susan was being yelled at by the car washing guy. He wanted to wash our cars (which weren't there... Dave & I were both gone). Since there were no cars to wash, he wanted money or food. Because it isn't Susan's house she can't give away our stuff. She told him this & he was very angry. She ended up hanging up on him (there are gates around all of the houses, with speaker phones to communicate when your door bell rings).

Another bad experience from a while back: a man came to the door asking for food. I took some cans of food out to him. He said he needed a can opener. I told him that I would open them for him (I wasn't going to give him my only can opener). So I opened them, put the contents in Ziplocs & took them back out with a plastic spoon. He looked at the bags in disgust & said he didn't want them, he wanted cookies. Whatever! I was so bugged! He obviously didn't get cookies.

I could go on & on, but I'd better stop. I really do like helping people. It's just been a frustrating day being a gringa (gringo is for boy, gringa for girl). I know that I am very blessed to have been born in the United States, but that doesn't mean I can solve all of the financial troubles of the Chilean people. I just want everyone to be nice. I'm done venting now.

Tubes aren't a cure-all

Grrrrr.... Jinnie has an ear infection. Weren't tubes supposed to magically take care of this problem? It also looks as if she has allergies, but we're not entirely sure (as in she is on meds for them, but has not had the blood test to see if she really does have allergies. Basically she has had ear infections & a really bad cough (to the point that she coughs so hard she vomits some nights) for 1/2 of her life. Right now she is on ammoxacillin (spelling?) , antibiotic ear drops, 2 different allergy meds that she breathes, 2 ointments for a rash on her neck that she has had since she was in the hospital getting tubes, a diaper ointment for a yeast infection, Tylenol for her fever, and the occasional Oragel (yes... she is getting a new tooth right now as well).

Her dr's have also prescribed a cough syrup, a cough suppository, allergy drops, an RX fever reducer, and visits to a chiropractor. We tried the chiropractor 2x. People in Chile swear by this treatment to get rid of flem trapped in the chest. Basically Jinnie screamed while laying on the table, while each side of her chest took turns being pressed, massaged, exercised, squeezed, tortured, or whatever you want to call it. Let's just say I had to sit down because I just about passed out. Not only did we both hate it, her ear started draining puss after... so did the chiropractor cause the ear infection? Everyone here claims no, but I don't believe it.

Anyway, the meds that she's actually taking seem to be starting to help. She hasn't had a fever today. She only woke up once last night screaming from pain. She hasn't vomited during a coughing fit for almost a week. Pus is no longer draining from Jinnie's ear. She wasn't very lethargic today. Maybe we're on the mend.