Brundageba

Ours arrived at MBE.  That's the addy SOC Sec and IRS have for us.  Been here 11 yr and so far no issues with it...knock on wood.  Thanks for your pointers though!  I WILL pass it  on to our young folk friends  just  qualifying for Medicare.

Agree.  Hematology expert there... and meds that can increase the Red Cell Count.  Worth research

Thanks for the reminder Evelyn.  My husband is on his way now to MBE with a donation.  Every little bit will help !

Culturama of Chiriqui produced the book as one of their collection.  I wonder if that operation is still functioning.   Have you tried the publisher?

Impreso en los Talleres de Arte Grafico, SA in David?   It used to be available on Amazon but no more.  I know Price Pederson did have her speak at the library so maybe he might know how to get in touch with the author.   I guard my book with my life !!!

2 hours ago, Uncle Doug said:

There is a species of bee here with no stinger. They are a bit of a nuisance around hummingbird feeders,  but otherwise not really a problem. They are only about 50% of the size of the bees we need to wary of.

I think it's probably wise to assume that any gathering of honeybees is potentially killer bees. I'm one of those guys who has built up increased sensitivity to stings over the years, and I have no doubt that it would take less than a couple hundred stings to outright kill me.

I am far more worried about bee stings than snakebites living here in Boquete.

My husband stepped on a bee once and his entire face got so swollen he would not be recognized...tongue as well .  I had benadyl in the house and as a nurse knew that you can take enormous doses of it without harm and so gave him 100 mg then 50 mg orally every few minutes until I could see it was  not progressing.     Max dose is 300 mg a day but I have assisted doctors in the ER administering as much as 500 mg .  I would not recommend it...but when it comes to maintaining an airway in serious anaphylactic  shock a large dose of benadryl is the least of your problems.  Once a patient loses consciousness you have lost the oral route of medication administration and may shortly lose his airway. Ambulance EMT support here is not what it is in the US or Canada. 

   This is an on-line picture but pretty much this is what my husband looked like.  As I remember the whole thing took about 30 minutes to peak.  He immediately made an appointment for an allergist and started de-sensitization treatment.  We do have an epi-pen in the house now.   Fast response is key to survival.   Benadryl can be obtained in the pharmacy and as well though Amazon

Serious!   Heads up in Boquete.  Bite? Run to enclosure if you see others swarming...like inside your car.  Shut the doors.  Assess the situation and honk for help if you think you need it.  Once one is swatted and killed the others swarm and after that it's bad !

Let me know by private message.   We'll connect.  March school starts.  Heavy burden on the top of grief for her.  We feel really bad about this.

Alison 

Bill and I would love to contribute to some help.  This is awful for this young wife and her 4 kids.  

Hope he's OK...bummer.  (fingers crossed)

43 minutes ago, Moderator_02 said:

https://www.newsroompanama.com/news/lawmakers-staff-will-have-to-clock-in-comptroller

GREAT !  ...and buy a few textbooks for the schoolkids.

Bummer there are no tiles this year

Ok so it looks like a Facebooker took a real news report from Telemetro of over 700 Cubans  and Haitians at the Panama border with Colombia  en-route to ( apparently) the USA and exaggerated the number to 30,000 people in this migration.  Panama definitely does not want to be stuck with them so the talks with Colombia and Costa Rica are now occurring so as to try to figure out what to do with these people. 

It's hard to imagine 30,000 people there in the jungle marching into Panama.   How are they eating, sleeping and taking care of basic needs?  That's an entire city of people.

2 hours ago, Penny said:

Now, if they could only find a use for all the glass wine bottles we empty.

Yes.  Making something useful out of the garbage seems to me to be a worthwhile venture.  Between the plastic & the old wine bottles Boquete could have a thriving cottage industry

Double thumbs up on that.   I do hope they find it successful.  Lots can be done with plastic and God knows we have an abundant supply never-ending

Heck of a deal.  Beautiful location.  

Virus is a possible. But Giardia is another possible.  Giardia is very common in well water and the months it is highest are Summer months.  Until there is a definitive answer, the possibility of a water borne gastroenteritis can not be ruled out.  Water testing for Giardia can be done.  It's commonly done in the USA for well water supplies by the US Health Departments.  If the tests for Giardia are done here on all the water sources where the gastroenteritis cases are high and they come back negative, then virus is a stronger possibility.  This would be standard public health practice where water supply is suspect and especially well water and untreated mountain water. (BTW Giardia cysts are somewhat resistant to chlorine.)

If you do not have a water purification system in your home then you should be boiling water for drinking.  I would assume the majority of the populous here do not have these systems installed , nor water storage tanks and are drinking water direct from the pipe.  For the poor without storage tanks, to be washing hands and bodies when they are not getting water to their homes is problematic. 

I guess because Coliform bacteria was not isolated in the water, the water is then deemed "good"...thus the title: "Bad Water" would not pertain to the topic.  Well not necessarily.  That is why Minsa still recommends boiling the water.  I guess a title could be:  epidemic gastroenteritis hits Boquete and surrounding towns....cause yet unknown.    

When we took our water sample in to be tested awhile back a test for Giardia was not done.  They said they do not test for that.  So if you don't test for it, it will not be found.  Just a thought.

"But after analysis by auditors of the General Comptroller of the Republic revealed that there was a patrimonial injury to the public treasury of more than 29.5 million dollars."

At first it mentioned 6 million embezzled.....wow 29 million, consider that!   

OK so look at this fellow.  Does he look happy, worry free and enjoying the fresh mountain air of Boquete?...nope.  So what's it worth?

Back to the mega array in Chiriqui; who pays?....   I'm not certain my $25/mo electric bill will stay $25/mo.

Hawaii is majorly invested in both solar and wind power generation.  It also is a State that collects State income taxes in an amount that almost equals the Feds. When you receive your electric bill from Hawaiian Electric you see 8 individual charges that in the total amount,is your monthly bill.  Various fees for service and adjustment fees and others I'm not sure what they are...but the Electric Company states the fluctuation in your bill amount depends upon their cost of the electricity produced.   In other words the consumer is paying for their cost of production variations. That's how they explain it on their webpage FAQs .  Between taxes and an enormous  charge for electricity, the consumer ends up paying...big time.  Pretty much the same scenario that JohnF13 described...PLUS the visual changes we saw in Hawaii in what was once a pristine vista...now cluttered with Wind turbines on the tops of mountains.

When Bill and I lived right around the corner from Waimea Bay it didn't look like this.  The island hills are now cluttered with them.  

https://livestream.com/accounts/376536/events/2598395/videos/36915080/player?autoPlay=false&height=360&mute=false&width=640

Interesting video from the 2013 Global Initiative meeting which speaks of the plan to create parks such as this one.  

I located this site: GRS.   A consortium:   Gransolar and Cobra Instalaciones.   The article was titled " Panamanian Project IKAKOS.   The entire massive project was described.  What is curious was at the end of the article on the proposed timing, start and completion:

"The IKAKOS project is expected to be connected and to start supplying power to the Panamanian national grid in December 2017 and its complete completion is scheduled for May 2018. Once completed, it will have the capacity to feed approximately 22,000 homes and will save 56,836 tons of CO2 per year, equivalent to 12,630 cars."

  All very good questions you asked John. Under the guise of saving money, my hunch some entity is making a ton if it on it's production. 

Update:   I use tea tree oil I put in a 2 oz bottle with a dropper...maybe 1/4 bottle oil ( or less)  and fill with water.   OK so I shake that and add one dropper of that to one bucket of water I use to wash the dog .  ( actually I use 3 buckets of water ...one with soap, 2 for rinse )  I add one dropper of this diluted tea tree solution into each bucket.   It's very diluted !   ok after  I finish washing the dog and rinsing... my hands and arms slightly tingle.  It's the tea tree oil.  I've been washing the dog like this for well over a year.