Seriously, this is TOTALLY Big Brother watching us, kids.

I have started doing stuff on tripadvisor  (which I also hate by the way, since they would not let us have a page when we were on St. Croix), and they AUTOMATICALLY got my profile pic from FB without my doing anything….

It’s Way Too Scary for me. After Michael gets here and can deal with it, I’m divorcing both TA and FB……

UGH!!!

Terry Chretien is the owner of Ambrosia Body Care, providing out-call massage and spa services on St. Croix. She rescues homeless dogs and cats who reside with her and become the four-legged hosts of SunDog House, a St. Croix sustainable vacation rental villa.

Freecycle is a group of Yahoo Groups, organized  and moderated on the local level, where people can post offerings of items they have but no longer need, or requests for items they need, but can’t afford, or think other people may have but no longer need. When it works well, its a system by which functional, but un- or under-utilized items can be transfered to a new owner who has a use for them. We have a fairly active Christiansted Freecycle Group.

Its particularly useful for items that almost everyone needs on an occasional basis, but not everyday, and that don’t have enough inherent value to bother bringing them to the flea market, or trying to sell at a garage sale or on ebay. Things like extra plastic hangers, or cardboard moving boxes. I’ve given away extra computer keyboards or speakers. I ‘ve also found it very useful for placing recyclable materials that I don’t want to throw in the garbage, but I don’t have a specific use for: empty paper towel and toilet paper rolls, shredded office paper,etc. There are teachers, and artists, and camp directors, and organic farmers that have a use for these things and can’t always find enough of them when needed. And who wants to go out and BUY cardboard toilet roll innards for summer camp craft projects?

Its also a good alternative to the “East-End K-Mart” phenomenon, where people leave used but functional (or mostly functional) appliances and such outside the dumpsters out in Cotton Valley. I have friends who have scored a large Sub-Zero refrigerator on Freecycle that only needed minor repairs!

But I’ve noticed an annoying trend lately. I mean, from the beginning there seems to have been a few more “I Want…” posts, than “I’m offering…”, but lately posts are getting a little ridiculous. There are people looking for TVs for their kids, computers (not an odd computer accessory, but a functioning laptop!), livingroom furniture, bedroom sets, a stand-up piano, and now car parts… very specific car parts. Someone needs an automatic transmission for a 1976 Izuzu Rodeo. Someone else, a transmission for an ’89 Geo Tracker. Oh yeah, I have one of those in my closet. I was just gonna throw it away, but I’m glad someone can use it.

Myself, I’m thinking about taking up a stringed instrument. Anyone have a spare ’61 Fender Stratocaster, maybe in orange, to go with my old Land Rover? How about a Stradivarius? And I think some nice art on the wall will help get the creative juices flowing. Someone have a Van Gogh or two they don’t need anymore? No? Thats OK. How about a Picasso?

Michael is the owner of  a solar-powered sustainable home for sale on St. Croix, a massage therapist specializing in out-call massage and spa services on St. Croix, and currently opening a spa on Saba.

I have learned quite a bit from having lived for half a century on this planet. And this movie brings a lot of it home,  in a gentle and humorous fashion.

In one scene, Marlin tries to tell Dory that she’s holding him back on his quest to find his son. He tells her she’s “one of those fish that cause delays”, that “they’re called delay fish“, and that “there’s a whole group of them”.

Well, I’m the opposite of a delay fish. I’m a let’s move on this kind of fish. I have little tolerance for foot – dragging and excuses.

After living on St. Croix for almost 17 years, most of those years struggling to make a living in a pathetic economy with an apathetic government, I am extremely tired of waiting for things to happen here.

When I first moved here in 1994, I came with solar panels and the equipment to install a photovoltaic system on my house. After a few months of settling in, putting teen-agers in school and learning the construction business, the system was installed and much of the house’s electricity was being generated by the panels on the roof.

Shortly after I got together with Michael, we had the house we were living in retrofitted with a larger photovoltaic system. We were only able to afford it before all of the rebates and tax incentives (since we’re not delay fishes), because Michael had sold his house and made a decent profit on it. It was even too expensive in the mid 2000′s for most of the wealthy islanders to bother with.

Only after we did all this, did we start hearing people on the talk shows discussing alternative energy. This was good. But it was a couple of years ago, when utility rates here in the VI were soaring through the roof.

The government talked and talked, but did very little. They hired consultants and talked some more, but still we waited to see any real action on their part. We’re still waiting to hear that St. Croix is blazing trails, so to speak, on the alternative energy front…….

I’m not even going to go into the “waste management” authority and how dysfunctional it has been over the years. Then there’s the department “education”, the department of “planning and natural resources”, the department of “licensing and consumer affairs”, and too many others to mention.

We’re finally seeing some progress on the animal welfare front. The Humane Learning Center (340-690-5403) has been going into each and every classroom on the island every year to teach school kids about proper care of animals. Because of the incredible problem of finding good families for most pets on St. Croix, another program called Love is in the Air (340-778-1805), associated with the HLC gets puppies and cats flown to no-kill shelters in the states.

As seen in a previous post, The “Animal Welfare” Center is confusing and angering much of the public by saying one thing about what they’re doing, but doing just the opposite. That’s really too bad because they really need the support of the community. Unfortunately, they can’t understand that lying to the public is not the way to go about it. We’ve tried to explain this to them to no avail.

On another front -  great news! There will be electric cars coming to St. Croix in the next month!

Alas, after almost 17 years living here, I have become burned out. Good things will be happening here in the coming months and years, but it has taken too long and I need to leave this place.

SunDog House is on the market, and we’re starting a new business on Saba.

Saba has historically been a progressive island. It is part of the Netherlands, also an historically progressive country. The people we spoke to when we were on Saba in December expressed a real interest in having us move there and add massage therapy to their tourism product.

Everyone we’ve been in contact with on Saba since then has been very supportive of our intention to move there and start a massage therapy company. THEY WANT US THERE. Unlike most of the people here who don’t give a shit one way or another, and often throw roadblocks in our path.

Since we have been so supportive of the St. Croix community for so long, and have gotten so little in return, we are going for it on Saba.

I’ve recently decided that an excellent description of me is that I live “with a sense of urgency”.  I guess this is because, as an Aquarian, my thinking is, and always has been ahead of its time – at least as far as what I see around me is concerned.

In my own life, there has always been school work, and/or husband and kid(s) and dogs and cats to prepare food for. Let me move on this – It’s urgent.

Also, I am appalled at what mankind (I’m going to use that term because men are greedy bastards) has done to our amazing and beautiful planet. Too many people either cannot or just will not see what their desire for convenience or what have you does to the natural systems around them. I need to plant trees, collect data for the sea turtle projects, identify birds for the Christmas bird count…. Let’s move on this – It’s urgent.

Lastly, my mother died at age 55,  and I have just turned 50. I’ve gotta get moving here – It’s urgent.

I know that because of my alternative lifestyle I will live longer than she did. I just want to make sure that I don’t waste a second of the years that I have left on any losing proposition  – It’s urgent.

I guess one could actually call me an Urgent Fish.

Terry Chretien is the owner of Ambrosia Body Care, providing out-call massage and spa services on St. Croix. She rescues homeless dogs and cats who reside with her and become the four-legged hosts of SunDog House, a St. Croix sustainable vacation rental villa.

This past week, we have heard Gretchen Sherrill on the radio telling Michael when he called in about the 4 puppies we caught at Divi, that they would be taken care of because there was “plenty of space” at the shelter.

She was lying through her teeth!!!

Two days after that, we received a call from the shelter saying that two of them would be PUT TO DEATH if we didn’t come back to pick them up.

We have had these puppies for less than a week. They are adorable, VERY adoptable and are looking for a good home. We already have 10 dogs and 2 cats, so cannot keep these sweet and loving pups.

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HELP!!!

Terry Chretien is the owner of Ambrosia Body Care, providing out-call massage and spa services on St. Croix. She rescues homeless dogs and cats who reside with her and become the four-legged hosts of SunDog House, a St. Croix sustainable vacation rental villa.

I’m naming two right now: the one in front of Forbes’ house in the south-bound lane will be named “Howie”, and the one on Lowry Hill Road in Tide Village will be “Stretch”, since, even though it doesn’t go across the entire road, with the pile of run-off in front of or just behind it depending on which direction you’re traveling, it makes it seem like it does.

Come on folks, give me one for the bottom of Sight….and then there’s the run-off speed bump at ManyPaws…..Cheese an’ bread, meson!!!

Terry Chretien is the owner of Ambrosia Body Care, providing out-call massage and spa services on St. Croix. She rescues homeless dogs and cats who reside with her and become the four-legged hosts of SunDog House, a St. Croix sustainable vacation rental villa.

I read in one of our local papers that the local chapter of the American Cancer Society (ACS) was taking applications on a certain day from 9 am to 1pm. I called the number to make sure. I was told that it would be on the day after the published day during the hours of 9:30 -1:00.

On the appointed day, during the specified hours, I called again to make sure they were there. The line was busy. I called at noon. When I finally got through, I was told that they were closing for the day. When I protested saying that I had called the day before and was told they’d be there until 1pm, they asked me how long I would be and told me to hurry.

When I arrived, there was an employee in the next room on the phone tahkin’ ta she guhlfren’ an’ so (hence the busy signal when I tried to call earlier?). The woman taking the applications was rushing because she had to go pick up so-and-so (her child at school?). An older woman who came in just behind me was turned away and it wasn’t even 12:30.

Needless to say, I was more than a bit miffed. But I got my little piece of paper telling me to go to the Imaging Center to make my appointment (and my little goodie bag with a little pink ribbon and blah blah blah- why do they waste so much money on this crap and not on actual service?)

I went over to the next building to make my appointment and was scheduled for a mammogram on Friday, October 8.

Well, that was an interesting experience. First, one of my small, floppy boobs was placed on a cold platform and kneaded like a lump of dough into the correct position by the very nice female technician. I had to stand in a very strange and not very comfortable position after another part of the machine squished the poor old mammary gland into the shape of a ghost – like pancake.

The process was repeated on the other side and then I was done. It only took about 15-20 minutes including undressing and redressing.

I was told that the results would be sent to my doctor and to me the following week.

As of yesterday (almost a month later) I still had not received them.

So I called to ask where they were and was told that they had been sent out on October 20……So…..where the hell are they USPS ?

Terry Chretien is the owner of Ambrosia Body Care, providing out-call massage and spa services on St. Croix. She rescues homeless dogs and cats who reside with her and become the four-legged hosts of SunDog House, a St. Croix sustainable vacation rental villa.

At SunDog House, for much of the last year or two, the WAPA bill has been in the negative numbers. With the photovoltaic system, we frequently produce more electricity than we use.

The problem comes when the guy(s) who read the meter either don’t read them, or they read them incorrectly. We are then billed for something we haven’t used.

This bugs the crap out of me since I work really hard to control my usage and spending in order to balance our precarious budget.

Last month, the meter reader didn’t read our meter because the bush was too high and he didn’t want to walk down the little path to the meter. So we received an estimated bill. According to WAPA, when they send out estimated bills, they base the estimation on the average of the previous three months usage.

Not in our case, though. Because in our case, the bills are usually in the negative numbers.

Unfortunately for us, sometime last year, twice in a row, the meter readers read our meter incorrectly and added about 1000kw of usage. So Michael had to call and after much frustration the situation was rectified.

Anyway, what WAPA does for us, is this: since the lazy-ass meter reader didn’t go down the little path, our estimated bill was estimated from  back  when we had a gazillion dollar electric bill last year.

Is there any wonder that I’m going off the deep end?

Me sit an’ watch de chirren run to de wahtah trippin’ in de juice box an’ beer can an’ t’ing

Me sit an’ eat me chicken leg, undah de tree enjwyin’ de wahm breeze

De smell o’ de Pampah wi’ shit in de bush waf’ in de breeze

Me t’row me plate o’ food in de bush wi’ de Pampah fa’ de animal dem to eat

Life E Good, Meson!

Nex’ time me come – de beach i’ clean up!

Mus’ be de schtupid white people dem wha’ patrol de beach

Me cyan keep leaving me shit aroun’ fa dem to keep cleanin’!

Yah, we like i’ so!

Anyway the VI Energy Office has been advertising on the radio that they will give up to $5000 to people buying a new energy efficient vehicle. Wow! That’s a chunk of change!

They have been giving rebates on appliances, even televisions for quite a while, so when we needed a washing machine for SunDog House, we chose one with a good energy star rating and were promised a $200 rebate. Cool!

We went out to Frederiksted with the paperwork to apply for the rebate and were told that we’d receive our check in “10-12 weeks”. This was February 19.

However, since I have lived here 16 years, I knew I needed to make sure that would happen. So I kept a copy of the application with the name, phone number  and extension of the woman in charge, in case the time went by and we didn’t get the money. I put it in a prominent place so it wouldn’t get lost in the black hole.

After 12 weeks (the end of May), we still hadn’t received our rebate. So I called.

“Oh, the checks have been delayed, the next batch will go out at the beginning of June,” said the nice lady. She took a few minutes to look up may application and found that it had been approved.

So we waited, and at the end of June I called back. The nice lady was apologetic and said that she didn’t know when we’d get our check but she’d look into it and get back to me.

Riiiight…..

I’d probably still be waiting for her call if I hadn’t called back. By this time I was pretty irate. I did let her know that I would be contacting the inspector general of the federal DOE to let him/her know that the VI Energy office was spending money to advertise rebates, but then taking an inordinate amount of time to send them out.

She said the next batch would go out at the beginning of July.

We finally got ours then. But I still contacted the inspector general of the federal DOE through their website.

First, here on island, there was the Buck Island tour company that had a new “green” boat built. It already had two sailboats (sailing is the greenest, non-manual mode of transportation on the planet), but this new “green” machine has electric engines in addition to its diesel ones. Interesting, but not “green”, in my book.

Then, there are the new “alternative energy” companies. Whatever. A bunch of people have jumped on the bandwagon that one guy started here on St. Croix YEARS ago. But few, if any, have the experience to put the systems together properly and in a timely manner. They get front page articles in the paper, though. I’d also like to see how many of the people selling “green energy”  products actually use them. That would show me some true commitment.

The Alpine Energy Group is a whole other can of worms, which I may discuss in a future post.

Now, for the past few months, a local grocery store has been calling themselves “completely green”. I spoke to the owner a while back, after I heard the radio ad about this. I was excited and asked if she’d be putting solar panels on the roof to run the refrigeration, etc. Well, no, but they’re not using styrofoam containers anymore for their take-out items, and the plastic bags are degradable, too. Well, that’s a start. But no wind generators and no solar panels, so no “completely green”.

Okay?