Rest’rants and other t’ings. No time to report right this minute. By the end of the week tho. Stay tuned!

First, let me thank Lisa for calling the radio station to tell the public about the National Park Service meeting in Christiansted last night. I rarely get to read the paper, especially on the day it comes out, so I would have missed something that we’re very interested in if she hadn’t called. Thanks Lisa!

There were maybe a dozen and a half people there and it started off being a very informative and (thank goodness) brief and relevant session. The National Park Service presentation was about the options available to add a substantial portion of the south shore of St. Croix to the National Park System. At the end of the presentation, though, a disgruntled young man (whom we believe has commented with many aliases on this blog in the past – we could just tell by his speech patterns – he writes exactly as he speaks) asked questions about MOU’s and agreements with the local government. He challenged the park service representatives to reassure him that the history of the enslaved people who lived, toiled and died in these areas would be studied and made available to the public. We totally agree, as did the NPS people.  One of the dear, patient audience members reminded him that the park service gave this presentation largely to get more input from the community, that there were forms that he could fill out, he could take some to his friends and have them fill them out, and all concerns would be taken into consideration by the NPS.

He just wouldn’t stop. We had to get up and leave. Partially because I don’t have the kind of patience the other people there have, partially because it was like a refrigerator in there, and we were starting to turn blue, and partially because we needed to have dinner some time before midnight. Note: We have seen this guy speak at a public hearing in favor of the Robin Bay project, which is very confusing to us. We wonder why he is in favor of letting a stateside developer come in and destroy historical areas to build  a casino/resort/golf course , but against preserving the natural beauty and historical sites included in the Castle Nugent project because it’s the National Park Service, who is consistently being accused of “keeping land from the people dem”.

So we left and he was still talking…….

Anyway, just thinking of all this beautiful acreage being preserved for posterity rather than being raped and pillaged by development makes my heart swell. It gives me goosebumps. And it’s one of the very, very few things in life that can make me sit down, close my eyes, and take a deep hopeful breath. Just like I’m doing now.

The options offered by the park service can be seen here. And they need input. We love ” Alternative C”. which would preserve the most land and extend into the sea to the barrier reef. It would also allow “the golden boy” a graceful way out of his proposed piece of crap development, and it would place a park headquarters on site.

We applaud Caroline and Mauro Gasperi, who have been under tremendous pressure from family members to dispose of much of this land. It has taken the park service years to get this far, but that’s the process. With luck, the NPS hopes to have this project completed by the end of the calendar year.

Please take the time to look at the NPS options and submit comments to help St. Croix remain the unique cultural and natural gem that we have always loved.

We see her every now and then between Tipperary and Cheeseburgers. She’s a rotund, elderly island lady, who walks with one of those canes with four little legs down at the bottom. Sometimes she’s wearing a big funny hat. Always, she’s walking in the middle of the road.

Today as we drove to Chenay at 6:45am to walk the beach for our turtle patrol (it’s nesting season and we’ll do three mornings a week – later in the season, we may help with night patrols), we saw her walking toward Tipperary from the Cheeseburgers side. She was in the middle of the road, and she was carrying her cane. Michael wondered aloud what she was doing carrying a lamp, because that’s what it looked like. She wasn’t using it to help her walk, she was carrying it.

Months ago, after I had gone by this area a few times in one day, I saw that either someone had called the police about her, or the police had driven by and seen her standing or walking in the middle of the road. It’s a very dangerous thing to do. Some of the drivers around here go too fast, and she could get hit or otherwise casue an accident. Anyway, there were two cops there and one was yelling at her.

Crazy!

Aaahhh! Finally! We have a goal, a purpose, something to reach for which inspires us to get stuff done around here.

Guys have been working in the spare bathroom re-tiling the shower floor. It’s taking a little longer for the thinset to dry because the weather has been damp. Holes have been drilled into the decorative front porch blocks to allow for drainage of rain water which historically has sat there creating mats of dog fur in the corners. Hopefully this will help.

Other guys have been over to give us an estimate on fixing the sliding glass door screen in our bedroom that hasn’t worked right since the Centerline Corporation screwed up our order.

Michael has pulled out an old, dying citrus tree which gave awful fruit, and another dead fruit tree which didn’t survive this last dry season, even though I watered it. He has also replaced a faulty light fixture on the front porch.

New gutters will be coming next week. To prepare for that, we must remove the ones that are there and scrape, prime and paint the fascia boards on the north and south sides of the house. This we will do this week-end, by golly.

The kitchen has been painted. Next will be the massage room and the living room, then the bathrooms and office and laundry room. Then the rest of the exterior of the house. Well, the exterior might come between some of those other rooms depending on how we feel and the weather, of course.

And we have checked out what kind of tiles are available for 1100 square feet of porch plus two sets of steps. We’ll ask around for tile guys to get that going once the exterior is painted.

Shutters need to be installed on three window on the west side of the house.

I have also finally figured out what to do with the front yard east of the driveway, and south of the paving project we did last year. Decorative edging, weed eradication, planting some of the Hibiscus I have in pots (and maybe some of the crotons)and lots of mulch are in order. I need to also thoroughly weed the cat yard and re-mulch it.

Today, I went in to the SBA to check on a small business loan. I’ll find out more later in the week.

And, last but not least……it’s mango season. I’d better start processing!

Since our trip aboard the Roseway was not going to be the trip we purchased and we cancelled it, we decided to head to St. Thomas to visit with friends and take a couple of days in the British Virgin Islands.

I visited Virgin Gorda in October with my daughter, and wanted to share time with Michael at Guavaberry Spring Bay. We also wanted to look for a boat, so Tortola was the preferred destination for that.

So sunday, we took the seaplane to STT. Debbie picked us up at 9 am and took us immediately to a deli where we met Melissa. They all had breakfasty type foods while I drank V-8. I wasn’t hungry yet. Ed arrived on his bike just before we were going to leave. After that, we went to another restaurant so I could have a bloody mary and Ed could have breakfast. I had a croissant, too, and Buel, another massage therapist came to see Michael and meet me. We were a raucous crowd by then laughing and catching up on things.

After that, Debbie took us to see the new spa she’s working at – Nice! We stopped to pick up some food, then headed to a fabulous villa that Melissa manages overlooking Magen’s Bay. We had a spectacular afternoon there, then went to Deb’s for a second before heading to a pizza place before it was time to catch our late ferry to Tortola.

We got to Tortola around 10pm and spent the night at Nanny Cay Hotel. There are a lot of boats at Nanny Cay Marina, so we figured we’d find a broker and look at what was for sale. Well, it was Whit Monday in the BVI, a holiday, and all of the brokerage firms were closed. Ha!

Okay, we walked around and talked to a couple of charter company people who helped us quite a bit. We only had two small bags, but one was very heavy, so before we went to look at a very interesting boat, we stopped at the ferry dock to ask if we could leave it there. One of the nice ferry comapny employees told us that we could certainly leave our bag in the loading dock area under cover and “nobody gonna mess wit’ it”. So we did.

We walked around some more and found the boat of our dreams in a charter fleet. We spoke to an owner of another model from the same maker who LOVES his boat, and then we walked back to Road Town to catch the ferry to Virgin Gorda. I was really thirsty and talked Michael into going to Pusser’s for a beer. It was happy hour and they made us drink two. We got to the ferry dock two minutes before it was time to board, but our bag was gone!

Michael frantically tried to find someone who could help us while I tried to stall the ferry. I spoke to one of the attendants who said that the bag may have gone to Anegada on the ferry that left 20 minutes after we left it there. Unfortunately, by the time our ferry people contacted the anegada ferry people, the ferry back had already left. The bag had no external or internal identification. And the ferries only go to Anegada 3 times each week, so the next ferry back wouldn’t be until Wednesday.

In one of the communications between the ferry services, it was determined that a bag fitting the description of our bag was indeed on Anegada and had gone unclaimed. As we approached Virgin Gorda, our ferry captain told me to speak with the receptionist at Guavaberry who would call the other ferry to get the bag back to us. We were laughing like madmen, because every single stitch of our clothing was in the other bag. The only thing we had with us was our snorkeling gear, a few toiletries and some reading material. And the next day, we were scheduled to go on an early, all-day sailing and snorkeling trip. But we didn’t have swimsuits.

Fortunately, even though we were late checking in at Guavaberry, Valerie was extremely helpful, calling all of the ferry services and eventually learning that the people who own Neptune’s Treasure on Anegada, go into Road Town every day, and would take our bag with them on Tuesday, and the bag would come to Virgin Gorda on the ferry and be in our room before we got off the charter boat. She also had a “lost-and-found” box with laundered swimsuits we could borrow. We were fortunately able to find suits to fit us, and everything ended up the way they said it would.

We got back to our room at Guavaberry, and there was our bag! Thanks to the ferry captains and employees, Valerie, the Neptune’s Treasure people (we stayed with them on Anegada a couple of years ago -great place!), and the taxi driver who brought the bag from the ferry.

Amazing!

On our recent trip to the other islands just to our north, we saw this sign on a ferry:

“Note: All trash and refuge must be deposited into the reciprocals on board the vessal.”

We didn’t go sailing on the Roseway because they changed their itinerary at the last minute to take them to Jacksonville, FL. We weren’t planning on going to America again so soon (we were just there last June/July), so we opted out of the trip, which would have taken longer than going to Bermuda. I can’t leave my doggies and kitties for that long.

Ceilings have been painted and now we need to paint entire exterior and interior and tile all large porch spaces and two sets of steps to porch areas. Lots of investment. Lots of time and money investment. I’ll try to enjoy every minute of it.

Reef Jam was a success I guess. We didn’t go because we had paying work. I guess Kurt Schindler was forced to show up because he and his wife were some of the main organizers of the event. Michael went last year. I had to work.

Went to the restaurant of the bitchy owner/hostess last night because Michael got a gift certificate from one of his co-workers. Otherwise we would have dined at home. That woman cracks me up. She so obviously despises us. For what? Who knows!

We walked in and waited for someone to come and seat us. She came out of the kitchen with some dishes, set them down, looked at us, and turned around and went back. How welcoming! During the evening she went to talk to people at other tables and totally ignored us! Too funny!

The seas were calm over the week-end, so we went to Buck Island on Origami Monday. We took the ugly putt putter, because it gets us there and back faster than the kayaks, and I had to work in the afternoon. Water was murky, I guess the green muck from the Orinoco River is still with us, but I hear it’s better than it was a few weeks ago. Wreggie’s favorite fish ( a big snapper) was there at the farthest mooring buoy, as usual.

The skies have been gray and yucky and it’s been humid as Ned’s ass.

Another guy we knew committed suicide over the week-end.

Let us rejoice in singing “I BU PRO FEN!  I BU PRO FEN!……..”

After an incredibly stressful week beginning with attempting to paint the ceiling, then scrubbing the moldy porch ceiling with Michael to make sure the pressure washing would be satisfactory for the painters, moving almost every piece of furniture (not to even MENTION all the other crap inside of and surrounding it) inside and outside of the house, and moving heavy potted plants out of the way, and then back to where they belong, my body decided that it was time for a break.

So my back gave out on Friday morning (I’m such a Wreggie wanna -be). The sharp, excruciating pains did not cease not matter what yoga stretches I tried. I had 5 (yes FIVE) massages scheduled for that day, and after having spent thousands of dollars on the ceilings this week, I needed to replenish the kitty with a couple of hundred anyway.

My first massage was at a home where the client actually has his own table, so no lugging (phew!) I was still walking funny, and he, despite his 80+ years noticed (shit!) and said something. I tried to make light of it, but I knew I was in trouble. Fortunately, my 11 o’clock canceled, so I had time to get home to meet the guy who will restore my great grandfather’s oak roll-top desk (to the tune of around a grand). I had a minute or two to remove all the crap from it before shoving a bit of grub into the gullet.

But before he arrived, I remembered the Ibuprofen that I had left over from my surgeries in late ‘07. Okay, the drugs are expired but I popped and 800 milligramer and I was feelin’ finer. Not 100% but maybe I’d be able to make it through the day without having to have Michael take over. Sing along now, “I BU PRO FEN!…..”

The guy took the desk, I vacuumed and washed the floor where it had been for years (it’s too heavy to move when I’m cleaning) and I took off to do two massages at a beach hotel. It was unpleasant carrying my table and a bag full of sheets, towels and massage oils. So after the first session, I popped a 200 grammer. The pain was still pretty severe, but I made it through the next one. I was not able to carry my table and bag back to the car, though and had to hobble to the car and drive it as close as possible to the stuff. I then took one item at a time.

My last stop was at a home where there are steep steps up to the main house. I popped another pill and made it up with little trouble. The rest of the day was okay, no lifting or carrying involved, but the remnnants of pain remained.

Today I cut the grass, weed whacked, grocery shopped and moved a bunch more crap around and out. Sing along now, “I BU PRO FEN!…”

I was never a beliver in drugs before the surgeries, but I am now a total convert. Bring ‘em on! I don’t have time to be down. I can rest when I’m dead!

My brother sent this e-mail a while back (he gets points for that):

Menopause Jewelry

“My husband, being unhappy with my mood swings,
bought me a mood ring the other day so he would be
able to monitor my moods.

We’ve discovered that when I’m in a good mood, it
turns green. When I’m in a bad mood, it leaves a
big frickin red mark on his forehead.

Maybe next time he’ll buy me a diamond. Dumb ass.”

From this morning’s e-mail box (thanks, Snikki):

Just in case you are having a rough day, here is a stress management technique recommended in all the latest psychological journals. The funny thing is that it really does work and will make you smile.

1. Picture yourself lying on your belly on a warm rock that hangs out over a crystal clear stream.
2. Picture yourself with both your hands dangling in the cool running water.
3. Birds are sweetly singing in the cool mountain air.
4. No one knows your secret place.
5. You are in total seclusion from that hectic place called the world.
6. The soothing sound of a gentle water fall fills the air with a cascade of serenity.
7. The water is so crystal clear that you can easily make out the face of the person you are holding underwater.

There!! See? It really does work. You’re smiling already. Feel free to forward this if you know others who might benefit from this technique.

I adore my husband. He’s brilliant and capable (and other awesome things that a husband should be ) .But he can’t create time, and there are too many projects that need to be done around here, NOW, before the house starts falling into the abyss. We talk about them and talk about how “we’ll start doing them next week”, but again, the time creation thing has us stumped.

So since it’s currently the “off season” I thought I’d catch up on a few of the projects that have been neglected because others have priority. Last week, I moved some stuff off the kitchen counters and started to paint the ceiling.

The ceilings have not been painted since the house was purchased in 2000. Every year since then, I’ve said, “We’ll paint the ceilings this year.” The ceilings are high, and they’re that awful T-1-11 crap (don’t know how to convey that exactly…..tee one eleven), which is parallel 3 inch slats with ½ inch grooves between each one. And the grooves, when they get to the walls and the structural beams, make little holes, which must be filled in with paint. The grooves must also be filled in with paint.

Anyway, it is an awful job. It took me two hours to do a small hallway and a tiny part of the kitchen. I was a mess. My back was killing me and my neck was killing me and I was covered with paint and grouchy. So I decided that I’d be much happier writing while others who are much younger and more qualified than I were painting.

So I called my old buddy, Frank. I met Frank when I first moved here and worked for a construction company. Frank left island for a while, but he’s been back and is once again in the painting business. Frank was available to look at the job just a few hours after my call. It was great to see him and his foreman, Luis.

That same day, after Frank and Luis came by, Frank called with an estimate. Michael and I nearly keeled over when we heard the numbers! It was three times what I expected! So Michael started promising me that he’d do it and blah blah blah. But I stood firm.

If Michael tried to do this, it would not be pretty. He’s still working on Land Rover engines, moving parts to proper storage containers, getting a biodiesel system together, etc. etc., and I’d rather have him doing those and other nice husbandy things, thank you very much. Besides, the grass will need to be cut now that it has started raining again.

So we spent the week-end pressure washing the porch ceilings and moving stuff around and out to get things out of the way of the painting guys. Just pressure washing one of the porches was enough work to convince Michael that it’s a good idea to spend the money to have others come in to paint.

So, they’re here now, and going like gangbusters getting the ceilings painted. They were supposed to start outside, but it’s been raining on and off all morning. I cleaned out a couple of rooms and they’ve already gone through them. Now I need to move more stuff out of the way……

So deal with it.

I absolutely REFUSED to get involved with Facebook. I have enough to do.

BUT, I was nosey about something in an “I’m trying to be helpful” kind of way, and I signed up. And only gave absolutely rudimentary information. No picture or elaborate description about myself and my life. If someone wants that, they’ll have to work harder for it.

So ugh! Now I’m getting “______ has added you to his/her friend list” notices in my e-mail box from High School and College friends. What a mistake that was!

How and why have these people suddenly decided to “reach out”? It scares me for many reasons.

First of all: There’s a really good reason I live here in St. Croix, USVI. If I’d wanted to be involved with all the people I knew in High School and College, I’d have stayed there in America and kept in touch. I feel that I have so little in common with anyone from my past that being in contact would just either piss me off or depress me. Sort of like when I speak to my father on the phone. If I want to be “in touch” with someone, I want to be able to see and touch him/her. If someone wants my attention, s/he needs to come visit. Period.

I have enough to do and enough people here, on St. Croix to admire, sympathize with and just generally give my precious energy to, that adding baggage from the past is neither necessary nor desired.

My life is full enough. I don’t need to go to reunions (I’d rather have a root canal) and Michael had to drag me kicking and screaming to one of his family’s regular “reunions” last year. It was scary enough. Thank dog I did not get an invitation to what would have been my 30th(!!) high school reunion!

I wonder about how needy others are, that they wait like vultures for someone whose name they recognize to come up. I’ve felt like I’m being pounced on. Too weird for me!

When I graduated from High School, it was like cutting a stifling umbilical cord. Although I had some great friends there and I loved school, there was a whole new world waiting for me. And I didn’t need the baggage. I remember one of my friends just sobbing pitifully.

But I was done with that stage of my life. On to the next one! C’mon let’s get going!

Once upon a time, I was a daily blogger. I sometimes even blogged multiple times in a day. I was inspired by the island of St. Croix and my life here with Michael and the dogs and cats. I loved writing about places we’d go and things we’d do.
It was a creative outlet. And it was therapeutic for me, especially after “the miscarriage”.

In the last couple of weeks I’ve been thinking about the futility of it all. Has anything I’ve spent my time blogging about made a difference?

There are still a few things I haven’t done on St. Croix, even after living here for almost 15 years. Maybe that means I don’t really want to do them. The one thing that stands out in my mind is horseback riding. Being an animal rights person, the idea of making a gentle. docile animal carry me around when I have two perfectly fine feet and legs for walking and hiking does not thrill me. So, although I love horses, I do not at this time feel the need to get involved with them.

I’m trying to think of new stuff to write about. We’ve gotten involved with politics, the arts, sports, music, and history and culture among other things. If there’s something we’ve missed, let us know, or chime in yourselves.

Anyway, we went to Buck again on our kayaks for mother’s day and had dinner at an okay restaurant. It was wonderful to spend time with my daughter and my very special hubby on a beautiful day in paradise, but I just wrote about that a couple of weeks ago.

Oh true, every detail is different, we laughed about different things this time, and saw different people, but if I were a reader of this blog, I’d be bored by….. yet another post about yet another perfect day kayaking to Buck Island.

Ooops….unboring item: Michael and Nicole brought me to Gems Direct to show me their mother’s day gifts for me. I only got to look at them because we couldn’t take them to Buck or leave them in the car while we were out there. Their thoughtful and much appreciated gifts are an absolutely lovely bouquet of roses from my sweetheart, and a magnificent moonstone and brilliant paraiba tourmaline pendant set in white and yellow gold from my amazing daughter.

Back to “blogger’s block”: I have a few subjects in “drafts”, but I haven’t been inspired to finish them since I started them.

Yes, we’re still, “Livin’ on St. Croix”, and if you haven’t been following since shortly after “the miscarriage”, there’s a lot of fun stuff in there. And again, please help yourself to a shot at blogging if you have something worthwhile to add…..

Then let your computer do it for you! We read about this in a local paper today. We couldn’t contain our mirth.

Why don’t we think of things like this? I wonder how many subscribers they have.

I especially enjoy the muslim page, where your speakers are turned toward mecca. And I thought religion couldn’t possibly get any more ridiculous!

…or is it?

I was brought up in a world where honesty was the best policy. Period. So I have a real hard time kissing up to assholes.

I guess I should just stop here.

However, once again, we have vultures trying to get a piece of what we’ve worked for over ten years (12+ to be more precise).

new concierges (I just get sooo tired of them) have recently contacted us to arrange for Massages at Villas that We have been to for Over Ten Years (see above). And they get upset when we require contact with the actual people we will actually be massaging.

Massage therapy is a very personal issue. Every person I massage is an individual with an unique body and special requirements. Michael and I treat each and every one of our clients individually. And we so appreciate the trust that each and every client places in us.

Therefore, our business does not translate well with a “concierge service”, unless that particular service actually knows us personally and can answer questions from both sides.

When will a concierge actually get a massage from us so s/he can thoroughly explain how wonderful a massage on the beach (or at a fabulous villa as opposed to in a sterile cubicle) truly is? Only Anna and Wendy at www.gotostcroix.com have, and can give people a first-hand experience. We love those Ladies!

I may lose some business,  but today, I responded to a “concierge service” with the following:

We massaged some triathletes last week, and as one of them approached the massage table he said, ‘Oh, you’re the professional ‘ass rubbers’”. To which I replied, “Absolutely! We rub ‘em, but we don’t kiss ‘em”.

The triathletes were all very happy with their massages.

Is honesty truly the best policy, or should I kiss all the asses too?

I’d just feel so dirty!

…it rained the day after the triathlon.

We massaged a few athletes out by Salt River in the morning and it sprinkled on us toward the end of the third session. As we were getting toward home, there was a nice downpour, and then a break, and then some nice steady showers.

“Cool!” I said. “If it rtains like this all night, the roads won’t wash out and the plants will be so happy and we won’t have to worry about …..” Last week as we sat at the Pickled Greek having dinner, firetrucks went by, and we could actually see the flames on the hillsides across the street from the restaurant. Too scary!

Anyway, the rain stopped for the evening. But during the night we woke to torrents and wind gusts that blew rain into our bedroom, causing me to jump out of bed to close the south facing window. The frogs started to squawk and I didn’t know if one was sandwiched between the panes.

I wonder what race director Tom Guthrie has to do to make things work out like that?

Lots of bikes on the roads, runners at all hours, and work for us!! Yippee!!

Read all about it here.

Meanwhile, we’re washing lots of sheets and making up more massage oil…..Later!

Some readers have been waiting for this, others couldn’t care less, I’m sure.

After spending all day at the Earth Day Conference at UVI, we ran home, fed the kids and ran back to Complex for the CZM hearing of the Robin Bay Realty, LLC development called “Seven HIlls Beach Resort and Casino“.

A smarter venue, to be sure, than the little room at the airport. There were many empty seats but the auditorium is huge. We saw lots of familiar faces, of course, and sat among our fellow “tree huggers”.

I was not very impressed with the presentation. Although others were, it looked to me, at many times like a “Chinese fire drill” (please excuse the politically incorrectness), with developer people standing up when called and walking around and then sitting back down, while another one popped up and went to the podium. This was done a few times without some of the stander/walkers actually saying anything. It was pretty amusing to me, but I was feeling punchy after sitting and listening to people talk and squawk all day.

The CZM committee members actually asked pertinent questions for the most part (some questions indicated that they hadn’t read or understood parts of the application), but received less-than-satisfactory answers in many cases. One question involved the ugly square boxy buildings which will be the hotels. For some reason, the architects are from St. Thomas and they designed buildings that do not look like they belong in our beautiful territory with all the lovely historical structures we have.

Another question concerned parking spaces and rest rooms for the general public along with beach access. Another one asked about burying powerlines and installing traffic lights. I don’t recall anyone asking about minimizing night-time lighting to prevent disorientation of  endangered sea turtles, but their coverage of this subject was lacking at best.

In any case, the deadline for letters from the public concerning this development is tomorrow. Most of the public testifiers were in favor granting them a permit.  For what it’s worth, here’s what I wrote and faxed to (340) 773-3343:

To: CZM Commission

Department of Planning and Natural Resources

#45 Mars Hill

Frederiksted, VI 00840

April 29, 2009

Dear CZM Commissioners,

I attended the hearing for the Robin Bay development on Wednesday, April 22 and have a few observations and suggestions.

Although I realize we need jobs for our people, we also have an obligation to be sure that our people and our future generations have a healthy island to live on. All the money in the world cannot buy good health.

The state of the environment on and around St. Croix is terrible. Before attending this CZM hearing, I was at the day-long Earth Day Conference at UVI. Many DPNR representatives were there and Dr. Noorhasan spoke about the need to “protect our land”.

Unfortunately, we have been doing a poor job of that. This huge development will cause much upheaval in the natural systems in the Robin Bay area. The hotel buildings are excessively tall and commercial-looking, an issue barely addressed by the architects after being asked by commissioner Peters about their aesthetics. Threatened and endangered bird species have been seen and counted in and around the ponds in this area and will undoubtedly be affected by “high-rise”-type construction. Do we want our children and grandchildren growing up in a world without the numerous beautiful bird species we have seen and listened to the songs of through the years?

Also, as you know, golf courses need constant chemical treatments to keep weeds out and fertilize the special grasses on the course.

Not only will chemical treatment poison the land, it will eventually run-off into the sea and further damage the already stressed and endangered coral reef species in this sensitive area. At the Earth Day Conference, Dr. William Coles was emphatic about the need to conserve and improve the health of the few remaining healthy corals around St. Croix and the US Virgin Islands.

Despite the fact that most of the testifiers at the hearing had a positive reaction to the developers’ presentation, the developers failed to give specific answers to questions about other important issues such as lighting which would adversely affect sea turtle nesting, not to mention the “fishermen’s plot law” regarding access.

Public input during the meeting spoke about the “professional manner” in which the developers presented their case. Well, we’ve all seen very professional-looking politicians lying to our faces (Bill Clinton, George Bush…..)

To summarize my concerns about this project:

The developers at the presentation did a lot of pandering to the committee members and frequently avoided directly answering questions or said, in effect, “Okay, we’ll fix that”.

Granting a major development a permit based on promises to do it right next time, after they have failed to plan accordingly, would be a huge mistake. Please don’t make this mistake.

Just look at the Christiansted by-pass project as an example. After 30+ years of planning, it has not gone the way it was supposed to.

We cannot afford to destroy any more of the natural environment in hopes that it will all turn out alright. For the sake of the seas around our island and our planet which will try to feed our future generations, please require more concrete answers before granting Robin Bay Realty, LLC a major permit to develop the Seven Hills Beach Resort and Casino.

Respectfully,

The recent “hot” weather has not particularly bothered me. I haven’t been stuck in traffic in the middle of the day, our house is nice and cool inside (despite the lack of air conditioning), and it has been very breezy again.

Nor has the dry, parched landscape had much effect on my sunny disposition. We still have water in our cistern and my flowers are looking fine because I’ve been watering with the gray water from the laundry every other day. I enjoy the exercise I get from carrying buckets of recycled water around the yard (with help from the furry children, of course).

I’ve been feeding the sugar birds and the hummies (we now have two types that come to our feeders – the Antillean Crested and the Green-throated Carib), and we have a pair of green herons now. I love hearing their calls, just as I love hearing the guinea fowl’s raucous squawks, and the roosters crowing. The lively neighborhood birds add much appreciated natural music to my days.

Sunday, we went on a ruins ramble with the St. Croix Landmarks Society, and learned a lot about Estates Diamond and Ruby. The historical structures have mostly been destroyed over the years, but there are large sections remaining of the sugar factory, the windmill,  the well and the Greathouse. There are also ruins of the tiny stone houses that the slaves lived in, but they are in the “bush”, not on the manicured grounds like the other buildings.

While we were there,  we also got to watch a pair of kestrels on a wire nearby. One was eating a lizard while the other looked on. It was a fabulous day and there were about 100 people in attendance. George Tyson, David Hayes and Maurice Thomas, who actually grew up on this plantation gave historical information as we rambled around the grounds.

We are so fortunate that St. Croix has people willing to share their knowledge and experience with the rest of us.

This morning the usual talk show became like CNN did on September 11, 2001 for me.

While he was speaking to a caller, the host received a memo stating that Judge Francis J. D’Eramo had been shot in the Schooner Bay area.

Later, details from reliable sources came in with facts that his body was discovered in his condo at Schooner Bay, but he hadn’t been shot. Here is an interesting Wikipedia entry.

We would often see him out and about with his two beautiful young daughters. Our condolences go out to all of his  family.

Wednesday, April 22 was a long, busy day for us. I actually had to get up before 5am to bring my lovely daughter to the airport. Yup it’s that time of year again. Her annual jump out of a plane (and hopefully not go splat!).

When I got back home, my darling hubby was cooking breakfast.      (Woo hoo!!)

Shortly after we did the dishes, it was time to head out to the University of the Virgin Islands’ Great Hall for an Earth Day Conference put on by the EPA. We saw a few people that we knew, but I was disappointed that only about 1/4 of the seats were occupied.

The speakers were from Puerto Rico and our beloved territory, the USVI and they spoke about the state of the environment in the territory and world wide. We were given reusable shopping bags containing compact fluorescent light bulbs,  pens, and lots of brochures and reading material (too much paper wasted on people who are interested in conserving) . However, there was only one other person in attendance (besides us) who brought her own beverage cup. The rest of the presenters and listeners drank coffee or tea out of the styrofoam cups stacked up by these beverage dispensers.

There were also individual plastic cups of juice, which many of the presenters took,  (and can I say disgusted us!) along with an EXTRA plastic  drinking cup to pour the juice into !!!.

Did I want to scream or what?! It was  friggin’ EARTH DAY for crissake!!! And our (the USVI) UNIVERSITY prepares a spread of food and drinks with NOTHING environmentally sensitive to serve them in or on!!!

I start to lose hope often these days. This type of thing does not help me.

The presenters were mostly very self congratulatory and politically correct, but much of what they were saying was, “Hooray for us, we have amazing potential, but we are just barely fulfilling our requirements to preserve the environment for our children”.

As we’ve seen here on St. Croix, despite the fact that Paul Golden has received certain permits through convoluted channels, [he has been allowed to erect a huge sign well outside of acceptable parameters (with no specific permit), build a huge fence with an immense gate denying people access to the beaches (this is against VI code - T.12, § 403) and dig up the Great Pond Area, because he has received other questionable permits and the people at CZM and DEP continue to say "He has permits", declining to specify WHICH permits he has)] our Department of Planning and Natural Resources and Coastal Zone Management Departments fall very short of doing the job they are paid to do, which is, according to Dr. Nadine Noorhasan, Director of the Division of Environmental Protection, “We gotta protect our land!”

Actually though, Carl Soderberg, from PR spoke about population growth being a major stressor on the environment. We rarely hear that from Caribbean people, and I was impressed. It seems that most island folks just love to see everybody having more and more babies. Mr. Soderberg showed us lots of tables and numbers, but there was a lot of information which wasn’t really explained, because there wasn’t enough time.

Hugo Hodge, Executive Director of  WAPA spoke, as well,  and when Michael asked questions about the “net metering” program, Mr. Hodge used examples of windmills generating power at night when WAPA doesn’t need it, when in actuality, our solar panels generate excess electricity during the day (peak hours), when WAPA needs it most. Mr. Hodge also stated, when asked about net metering customers getting cash back at the end of the year rather than losing all of the credit they’ve  accumulated over twelve months (our meter is spinning backward right now, even on an overcast day on St. Croix because we are producing more power than we need – we have been for many months -  and are selling it back to the utility) that individual consumers/producers will not have credit at the end of the year! That’s total baloney!

Hodge was funny, though, when asked about the RFP that WAPA has had out for alternative energy production. He justifies the foot-dragging that’s been going on by saying that it’ll actually be better to deal with a company that can make it through the current economic climate because it’ll be a more stable company to deal with. So WAPA just keeps burning that oil……Aaaargh!!

Don Buchanan and Bevan Smith of the Virgin Islands Energy Office were honest about their accomplishments (in the face of extreme ignorance and adversity, I might add) and I felt they were the only two scheduled speakers from the VI who weren’t in denial about our problems. Don started his presentation with a great quote about how the war in Iraq will cease, but the war on nature cannot because money talks, and it does not speak for the environment. I don’t remember who he said said this, because he was saying so much and I couldn’t write everything down and listen at the same time. Buchanan spoke very bluntly and quickly about there being perhaps a “glimmer of hope” for us with the Obama administration. He spoke about Thomas Friedman’s books, including his newest called, Hot, Flat and Crowded, and also Glenn Beck’s, An Inconvenient Book. Whew!

A couple of our senators made perfunctory appearances. Better than nothing I guess.

We learned about our groundwater situation here in the USVI (not great) from Sigredo Torres-Gonzales, Groundwater specialist from the Us Geological Survey. With the rising of sea levels caused by climate change, our fresh ground water will become more brackish in the coming years.

Paige Rothenberger was supposed to talk about the coral reef situation here, but she did not show up, so Dr. William Coles, endangered species specialist, filled in for her. He was actually quite brief and to the point for the most part about the stresses on the fragile reef systems around our island. He spoke of sediment run-off, improper boat anchoring and boats hitting the reefs, garbage getting caught on corals and choking them, and the latest threat from lionfish among other things.

With all of the problems our reefs are already facing, it makes me crazy to see more huge developments being planned for our island which has some of the few remaining coral reefs in America. We can barely handle the environmental challenges we already have, yet people think nothing of creating more and more.

I wish that the people in DPNR and DEP would be allowed by the governor to do their own jobs instead of ignoring the serious issues in the name of “jobs for the people” in the cases of allowing developments in very environmentally sensitive areas. I wish there would be common sense in government instead of the usual politics and “politricks”.

The last speaker we got to hear was Sindulfo Castillo of the US Army Corps of Engineers. He had some great information and I wish we’d have had time to speak to him afterwards, but we had to get home to feed the kids before returning to tat part of the island for the CZM hearing for the Robin Bay development.

This was the “first annual” US.EPA Earth Day Conference. I don’t know if I’ll go again next year. All of the speakers were informative and did a good job of presenting, but I’m more about action than talk. And in my opinion much of this was just giving lip service to the environment.

Sunday, after we finished working, we came back east to check out the new place they’ve been building  just past Southgate.

Well, the best thing about it, is that it’s pretty much finished and it looks a little better from the outside now that it has two tiny porches outside of each of the upstairs bedrooms, and a large wrap-around deck outside of the living room. I’m hoping the landscaping grows quickly.

A few observations:

There are large sliding glass doors on the western side of the house. The afternoon sun in the west will make it hot on that side. Strange that someone building a supposedly “green” home, would do something which would cause the cooling system to have to work harder. Common sense would dictate putting larger openings on the east side, where the cooling breezes come from and smaller ones on the hottest side of the house.

The living room/dining/ kitchen area are about the same size as ours, but the ceiling is lower, and there are 6 (yes, six!) ceiling fans, 4 in the living room area and 2 in the kitchen. Can you say overkill ?! You can hardly see the ceilings because the fans are all crowded together.

The master bedroom is east of the dining area, and there are 3 or 4 windows in the bedroom which opens into a laundry room/closet/ bathroom. It seems to be a nice room, but we’re confused by the placement of the washer/dryer – in a hall leading to the closet/bathroom. The bathroom faces the main road and there are two large windows which look right into the bathroom/shower! Bizarre!

The two upstairs bedrooms are small, but each has a big walk-in closet and a sea view. There’s also another large bathroom in a hallway between the rooms toward the front of the house, and a large attic/storage area to the rear.

This house has excessive amounts of storage space and the rooms feel cramped even without a lot of furniture. One of the people we took the tour with looked at each room and said that they could have moved a wall here and there to provide more living space without taking  much away from storage. She’s absolutely correct, and she is currently renovating an older house elsewhere on island. It will have solar hot water and the windows facing the breezes are becoming French doors with a nice open veranda.

Anyway, the entire southern-facing roof  on this “solar house” is largely photovoltaic material which will create much of the house’s electricity. The builders are guaranteeing 80%. There is an inverter to change DC to AC, but no storage batteries. They are participating in the “net metering” program with WAPA. But that means, if WAPA goes out during the night, the people who buy the house have to rely on their propane generator rather than stored energy from batteries.

Also since they have a propane generator, one would expect a gas stove, clothes dryer, and maybe even refrigerator to reduce the amount of electricity needed. The whole house could be probably be powered by the photovoltaic system if the dryer, fridge and stove weren’t electric. The house is for sale for $495,000. (One of the guys we took the tour with kept saying, “$150,000, tops!”)

Despite the  many problems I personally see with this house, it is a good idea. We hope that more projects (especially big ones, like the hotel/casino projects) actually begin with alternative energy production in mind.  I just wish that people with enough money to build something like this would have more common sense.

Senator Craig Barshinger just called the radio station to try to explain the reasons for ousting Foncie. He explained that the position of senate president is that of a “unifier”, of sorts, and that Foncie is more of a “Maverick”, which is why they voted him out.

I personally love a “Maverick” and hope that Foncie, Craig and Nellie (since we’ve seen more of a “lemming” situation with the other new “senators” – Sanes and Thurland) can continue to do the work of the people rather than continuing the trend of the “unified” body which has been sucking  the blood out of us and our children.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

Margaret Mead
US anthropologist & popularizer of anthropology (1901 – 1978)

Repeal act 6905 and save our children and our islands!

Last week, our illustrious legislature voted to remove senate president Adlah “Foncie” Donastorg.

This is extremely upsetting to those of us who were thrilled to have an animal friendly and environmentally friendly ally at the top. Donastorg historically has been instrumental in getting animal cruelty legislation enacted and has been in favor of developing a comprehensive territory-wide sustainable development plan to ensure the health of the environment.

A HUGE disappointment is rookie senator Sammuel Sanes, who voted to oust Donastorg. He claims that it’s about being a “team player”.

WHAT??? Just last week, he was on the radio saying that he was working for the people. I didn’t hear him asking the people what they thought of this, though. Sounds like he just wants to stay popular with the rest of the boys.

I have recently started losing the faith I had in Craig Barshinger, too. And, unfortunately, Michael Thurland voted with the veteran senators against Foncie.

Nellie O’Reilly, with her innovative attitudes toward her new job, did not vote as the “good ol’ boys” wanted. We hope she will continue to be strong, as they will inevitably put pressure on her to vote their way on issues in the coming months.

Stay strong, Nellie!

Saturday night we went on the SEA (St. Croix Environmental Association) amphibian-finding walk through the rainforest. FUN! There were a few kids and a BUNCH of grown-ups listening for frogs as we traipsed through the dry stream beds (guts) in the dark. We dodged branches and vines and spider webs for an hour or so, stopping every now and then to learn about which frog was making what noise. Fascinating! Jennifer Valiulis, who works for the Division of Fish and Wildlife did a great job of explaining frogs’ importance and the dangers they face due to human ignorance and negligence. She was kind enough not to word it that way. That’s my sentiment.

We got to hear a white-lipped frog making a couple of different calls. It was a beautiful night to hang out with fun friends and we learned quite a bit, too.

But then……the green Rover was giving us grief. More air in the fuel line! NOT FUN! Michael was able to start it, and we hoped to make it into Frederiksted so we could at least catch a taxi home if it wouldn’t cooperate. Friends Bryan and Jen and visiting family members were kind enough to follow us out of the woods, and we just made it to a diesel pump at a gas station before stalling again. We’d try adding fuel in case it had gotten low and crud from the bottom of the tank was fouling the fuel pump. Michael put a few gallons in, started her up, and away we went.

We had originally wanted to have dinner in F’sted, since we rarely get out there. But we opted to head straight home so we wouldn’t be stuck out there all night. We made it about a mile before it stalled again. Fortunately, the Queen Mary highway has nice spots on the side of the road to pull over. He got it started again after fiddling under the hood for a while. At one point, a tow truck passed by. We were sitting in the stalled vehicle with the hood up, so we flashed our headlights at him, but he just kept going….Not fascinating!

Started the thing up again and went another couple of miles before having to stop at a light and stalling again. Okay, we’d try to make it to the Chicken Shack, get something to eat and call a tow truck from there. Nope. Didn’t make it that far. Michael called Dave the Rover Guru to get phone numbers of tow trucks and I called while they discussed fuel line issues.

It was 9pm on Saturday night, but Mr. Pelle, the tow truck guy showed up in 20 minutes and took us home. What a date!

Sunday morning, we had appointments with some nice ladies staying at a very cool villa overlooking Salt River. It’s one of my favorite villas here on St. Croix, very well-maintained and beautifully furnished. They had been here a few times before. (We love our repeat guests!) We set up our massage tables in a lovely gazebo with cooling breezes and an incredible view.

At one point during our first massage, a kestrel landed on a coconut palm branch around 15 feet from where we worked. Kestrels are so beautiful! Another kestrel flew over to take a lizard from him and fly away. It was awesome! We could see all the colors of her wing feathers in the bright sunlight.

Over the next couple of hours, we saw the mother kestrel come back to the nest in that tree to feed the baby birds that we could hear but not see. The father would then leave to go hunting again and return with something for the mother to go eat, while he stood watch, and then she’d return to feed the nestlings. It happened over and over while we worked on our clients.

What a great team taking care of those babies!

We played more than usual last week-end, but we worked more than usual the week-end before. We are mostly working this week-end too (with actual paying jobs – woohoo!!!), so……next week-end, we may play, but we’ll be off in a couple of weeks on our Bermuda trip on the Roseway, so we may just do a lot of around the house maintenance before our  long trip and stay in BDA.

We have purchased a 20 foot shipping container which now sits in our back yard. This is for storing all the Land Rover parts that have been making our front yard look like a ghetto or a  junkyard, or a junkyard in a ghetto, since the blue rover was finally disassembled. And we have a new storage shed adjacent to the carport for storing tools and keeping biodiesel making equipment cleaner and dryer.

Life is good!

We have unfortunately not participated in any of the St. Croix Food and Wine Experience activities this year. The events sounded wonderful as usual, but we just did not have the extra bucks to do it.

We went to the Pickled Greek last night to see how Peter and crew did for their first one. They placed second in the appetizer category. Congrats to Aaron and the back of the house!

Now back to work repotting an hibiscus…..

We’ve long been concerned about the trend of ever increasing disposability of modern products. But frankly, we’re stumped by this latest development:

“Be Who You Are and Say What You Feel Because Those Who Mind Don’t Matter and Those Who Matter Don’t Mind.”
– Dr. Seuss

Have I mentioned recently that I’m not particularly fond of kids?

“Yes”, you might say. “You wrote about a child abuse incident just a while back…..”, you might add.

Well, for some odd ball reason, the universe decided to play another joke on me (happens all the time, but I won’t go into detail about the rest of that right now) and sent a BUNCH of kids my way this past week-end.

Thursday night we were at Luncheria and two kids came over to see Biggie. They were polite and he allowed them to touch him. Then they came back with some toys that they showed us and described the cool things that these toys could do. There were a zillion other people there, but these kids came to talk to me. Bizarre! But they were nice and polite, and so it was actually fun.

Sunday was a super kid day. We went down to the beach here at Great Pond Bay and saw some of our friends from the area. There were less than a dozen people, but one is a kid we met last time we were down there. He’s 8 years old and he has the coolest boys name. I totally love his name, and I went snorkeling with him in the shallows for a long time. He’s a very cool kid, and a big fan of Sid, the Science Kid. He’s a sweet and very smart boy from a nice family and I had a great time with him.

Later, we went out on the Roseway and met a lady and her four kids. She’s a science  teacher and her students have been going out on the Roseway, so she wanted to bring her own children out, too. The oldest girl is 8 years old. And she wants to be a forensic scientist. How cool is that?!

Anyway, I spent a good part of the trip talking with her and her Mom and siblings. One of her sisters, unfortunately got seasick, and their Mom had her hands full with the baby. They were all very cold (so was I) toward the end of the sail, so I tried wrapping them up in a tee shirt that I bought, but it was pretty small to wrap two kids in, so I ended up hugging them and shielding them from the wind in an attempt to keep us all warm until we got back to the dock.

I really didn’t know there were nice kids out there. I thought they were all snotty, screaming nuisances. What a great learning experience for me! Maybe there is hope for our island and our world…..

We are constantly amazed, and often chagrined, at the inconsistency with which laws are enforced, or not, in the Virgin Islands. In the last few years the Legislature has enacted some new laws, like the automobile window tint restriction and talking on cell phones while driving restriction, that were widely publicized and enforced vigorously, for about 2-4 weeks. Now you see dark windows and drivers yakking away all the time, especially on/in government vehicles. Every once in a while some otherwise law abiding citizen gets targeted and fined, but the vast majority of violators are ignored. Then there is the failure to enforce more significant crimes like murder, rape, domestic violence and abuse, and our pet peeves, CZM regulations and animal cruelty laws.

I find it odd that one particular law seems to be complied with and, apparently enforced, with zealous fervor: The restriction on serving liquor on Good Friday. Most citizens believe this applies to any and all forms of alcohol. We haven’t attempted to purchase over-the-counter medications, like cough syrup, that contain trace amounts of alcohol, but last year, just to be on the safe side, a merchant refused to sell me a non-alcoholic beer. Now, when Peter was opening the Greek and received his liquor license, he was warned about this law and the severe consequences of serving spirits between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm on Good Friday, but the enforcement officer explained the law is commonly mis-understood, and technically only applies to “spirits” or “Distilled liquor and drinks prepared therewith”. So really, beer and wine would be OK, but try explaining that to a terror-stricken store clerk. 

This year we received an email from the St. Croix Yacht Club, explaining that alcohol would not be served at the club from 9:00 to 4:00 in compliance with VI Law. Out of curiosity, I tried looking up this law, to see for myself if it only applied to hard liquor, or was all encompassing. I checked Michie’s Legal Resources, an on-line compendium of various state laws. Turns out there is a Title of the VI code, Title 8 of 34, devoted entirely to the sale and control of alcoholic beverages. NOWHERE in Title Eight of the VI Code does it mention Good Friday, or any restriction of sales on any holiday. “Hah!” I thought. This one law that everybody complies with and is vigorously enforced doesn’t even exist. I replied to the yacht club email asking for a citation of the law in question.

We happened to see the yacht club manager on Good Friday and she informed me that although she didn’t know the specific statute, she had two lawyer members looking it up for her. We got an email later on Friday citing the statute. Apparently, it was slipped into a section of Title 1, General Provisions, dealing with holidays. I looked it up on Michie’s to see for myself. Title 1, Chapter 11, Section 171b was written as such:

(b) Distilled liquor and drinks prepared therewith shall not be served in public places of refreshments between the hours of 9:00 o’clock in the morning and 4:00 o’clock in the afternoon on Good Friday. Whoever violates this subsection shall be fined not more than $200 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both. 

It appears beer and wine were excluded from the law, but nobody knew. BUT, I discovered something else. In 2005 the 26th Legislature quietly repealed this law, and NOBODY knew that either! In Michie’s, right under Title 1, Section 171, it clearly states:

§§ 171a , 171b. Repealed. Mar. 5, 2005, No. 6727, § 17, Sess. L. 2005 

Just to be sure, I looked up Act 6727 on the VI Legislature’s website. Sure enough, Loraine Berry and the gang repealed the Good Friday alcohol restriction. Just goes to show you how backward we still are in the VI. We ignore, or fail miserably to enforce, many laws on the books, but continue to vigorously enforce a law repealed 4 years ago – enforce it even beyond its original language.

You don’t have to take my word for it, here’s an excerpt from Act 6727: Click on it to get the whole .pdf from the Legislature’s site

Act6727