Jaccar Organic and Natural Sorbets is located in Gallows Bay where Peter Stewart’s office used to be. For those who don’t know Peter,  it’s in the same building as SEA and Anything Goes, but on the opposite side, the east side of the Arawak Building. They have a few little cafe tables set up outside and it’s usually a nice breezy place to chill on a humid tropical summer day.

Jacky and Carol are making delicious frozen and non-frozen sweet goodies using local fruits and organic ingredients (read: good for you sweets and treats)!

They are certainly a godsend to us, since we have a place to bring dozens of our (still falling) large and small mangoes.

They have delicious flavors of sorbet and frozen fruit pops; organic candies like gummy bears;  home-made walnut, chocolate chip and lime meltaway butter cookies, unsulfured organic dried fruits, local noni juice and more.

My favorite thing about them is they are consistent in their commitment to health by being good to our planet earth. Their packaging is biodegradable, even the “plastic” spoons and containers are really ones made from corn starch.

We need more small, personal locally owned and run businesses like theirs.

Call them at 340-719-6999 or e-mail jaccarsorbets9@aol.com. Better yet, stop in, say “Hi” and tell them you read about them on our blog! They’re open Tuesday through Saturday 10 – 5:00.

This year, we have had over 30 leatherback activities on the beach where we do day patrols. An “activity” may be just a track left by a turtle coming up on the beach during the night to look for a nesting area, or it may be an attempted nesting, or an actual laying of eggs.

Sometimes when a female makes her way onto the beach, she is frightened away by something  before she has a chance to even begin the process of moving sand. Sometimes she actually finds a place that seems appropriate but the sand caves in or she hits tree roots and hasto start over again. It’s a tedious process, fraught with challengers, danger and uncertainty, but we are fortunate that they are determined to get the job of passing on their DNA to future generations done.

We have a special permit to work with the endangered species, the Leatherback turtle, the Green turtle and the Hawksbill turtle.

So far this year we have excavated six or seven leatherback nests and one hawksbill nest.

This is how it works. For months, beginning in April or May, volunteers walk along a beach in the mornings. When we notice a track in the sand made by a sea turtle, we decide whether the track led to a successful nesting activity, which we call a “probable lay”. If we think the turtle was able to complete the nesting process, we determine where we think the nest is in the sand. This takes some practice because we don’t dig into the sand at this point. We have a gps, which we place on the approximate spot, and we use a long metric measuring tape to triangulate the point between two numbered stakes near the vegetation line on the beach. We record the gps coordinates, the distance between two stakes, the vegetation line and the high water mark,  and any other interesting observations, such as whether the nest is likely to be washed away because it’s too close to the water, or if there is a risk of predation by mongoose in the area, or if it might be affected by light pollution from nearby houses or hotels…..We also leave a numbered tag on a tree or bush behind the nest are to help us remember where the nest is when it comes time for the eggs to hatch.

We walk the entire beach checking for these activities. Some tracks left in the sand do not lead to actual nests, as I’ve mentioned above.  We call other types of activities either a “dry run” where a nest may have attempted but was interrupted, or a “track only”, where the turtle just came up onto the beach and left without doing anything.

Between 45 and 60 days later, we look in the sand in the marked areas for tiny turtle hatchling tracks coming from a depression in the sand. Sometimes the tracks are obliterated by rain or wind, and we just find a depression in the sand. Sometimes we find a disoriented hatchling or one that was caught by a bird and dropped. Any of these things tell us that a nest has probably recently hatched and we need to dig somewhere in the vicinity.

We look back at our recorded data and start digging where we think the nest is. Michael is the digger and I record the findings on another data sheet. Sometimes we find live hatchlings which we release into the water at an appropriate time, and sometimes we just find hatched shells and under developed eggs which never hatched. The number of hatched shells we count tells us how many baby turtles made it out of the nest, and hopefully into the sea.

The leatherback nests we’ve excavated this year have had between 30 and 55 hatched shells in each, and the hawksbill had 92.

Check out the great pictures on this website if you haven’t already clicked on the last link above. Michael and I saw our first actual turtle nest hatch when we were on our honeymoon trip in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, in Broward County, Florida, where many of these pictures were taken.

A couple of weeks ago, we got a call from someone interested in renting SunDog House for a while. The young woman who called lives on St. Croix, has been here for a couple of months and she is due to give birth at the beginning of August.

Her mother wants to be here a short time before and after the birth of the baby. She would be coming over from St. Thomas and staying here with a friend. The girl’s father would also come at some point and stay here.

We were excited that we would be getting some local guests, people who understand island living and don’t have some of the ridiculous expectations that some statesiders have. She said she’d speak to her mother and get back to us.

She called back a few days ago wanting to come and see the house and bring a deposit for a week-long stay. It’ll probably be a longer stay, but we’ll start with a week. We’re flexible.

She and her fiance came over on Wednesday. They met Goliath and Mini (we kept Ruby and Harvey out back because they can be a little rambunctious and I didn’t want a pregnant woman being tripped by the two of them playing rough around her), and got the tour of the property.

They thought it would work, so we printed out a rental agreement, etc. and they went on their way.

The following day,  she called back and spoke to Michael on the phone. I could tell who it was and I cringed thinking that they had changed their minds and wanted to cancel. Michael told her he’d speak to me and we’d call her right back.
What he needed to speak to me about was the fact that they sort-of forgot to tell us that they wanted to have a home-birth, and would it be okay if they had their baby at SunDog House?

Yeah, I’ve got goosebumps again, and I’m getting all verklempt.

Someone wants to have a baby at our house.

This is Big Juju.

Bees had been living in an old metal barbecue grill just on the other side of the fence from the house we rent across the street from SunDog House. I was afraid that if we moved the puppy, Harvey over there, he would, in his playful puppiness disturb the bees and get badly hurt if they attacked him.

So we called the Honey Man.

Michael spent part of yesterday opening the chain-link fence (and fixing it so it could be closed up again) so the bee expert could easily access the nest.

I am absolutely in awe of what this man does. Bees are such an integral part of life on Earth, and he is so skilled and knowledgeable about how to live in harmony with them, that I get very emotional just thinking about it. I feel that he’s a High Priest, deserving of the utmost respect and admiration. He is a second generation beekeeper, and his 9-year-old son is following in his footsteps.

There were thousands of bees in this nest. They had been there for many years, and they were just getting ready to send out a bunch of new queens. The Honey Man said we called him just in time.

I had a few errands to do this morning, but he was still here when I returned, and I couldn’t stop watching him. He was just outside of the window of what we now call “Hairy House” because the dogs usually have free reign inside and out. For this occasion, however, we moved them all back to SunDog House.  Michael and I watched from inside to avoid getting stung.

The Honey Man painstakingly sorted through the buzzing swarm, cutting pieces of honeycomb and scooping bees out of his way, working with a small smoker to calm them when necessary.

He will come back either tomorrow evening or Monday evening to move the bees that return to the wooden hive he used to replace the metal one that they’d been using. Until he’s finished with this task, we will stay with the dogs at SunDog House.

Some days, like today, the birds are very active. We can hear at least a dozen different calls. There are the musical songs of the pearly-eyed thrashers, the king birds, the mockingbirds and the zenaida doves; the urgent cries of the kestrels, the killdeer and the least terns; the raucous caws of the night herons, green herons, little blue herons, the great egrets, the cattle egrets and the guinea fowl; and the chirps and buzzes of the sparrows and bananquits. There are often rooster and peacock crows carried by the wind.

Hearing all this makes me incredibly grateful to live where we do. I love the lack of  the artificial hustle and bustle of cars and people. In its place we have the natural sounds of the real world. The world that was here before us and continues  to provide for the myriad creatures who do their part every day to keep their species’  thriving.

They work really hard. Every day.

They inspire my respect and admiration. And they deserve it.

Firstly, we haven’t been going anywhere new (we haven’t been going out much period).

Secondly, I had this bizarre thought that if we supported places, they would in turn support us. Well, I was way wrong.  So I stopped writing restaurant reviews.  All we ever got in the way of support were  a few “atta boys”.

Even if the restaurant owners or manager themselves don’t like to get massages, maybe they could buy gift certificates for family members, or staff birthdays or tokens of appreciation…….I mean, if we have to deliver a GC to your restaurant, we might stay for a snack, drink or even a meal…..

Lastly, I get bored with writing all the little particular details about everything these days. “The Change”, you know.

Anyway, the other night we had sushi at Angry Nate’s.

The sushi was okay, but the service was fantastic. Possibly the best service we had ever had anywhere, ever.

I could go on about the details, but I’d bore myself to death, so I’ll cut to the chase.

The wahoo sashimi was right off the boat, tender and fabulous. The mahi sashimi was tough and gristly. The nigiri was perfect. And the rolls were good except for the fact that there was too much rice. Way too much.

Presentation was lovely.

We had the spider roll – love the tempura soft shell crab -  I had to remove much of the rice from the outside though,  so that I could get it into my mouth and feel that wonderful subtle crunchiness that makes it my favorite.

The bagel roll (we hadn’t tried one of those anywhere before) was also good, but excessively ricey.

If there were less rice, we wouldn’t fill up so quickly and we’d order more food, bringing our bill up.

The price was certainly right. We had all that plus two carafes of sake and the bill still came to under $50.

So there. Give Angry Nate’s a visit for sushi on Sunday or Monday night when Dashi is closed. Just ask for less rice in the rolls.

Well, let me tell you. It’s largely because we don’t buy up all of the newspapers and fill them out ourselves or give them to our clients /friends and family members to do the same.

A couple of years ago, I actually bought one of the papers with the ballot inside and muddled through all the categories and sub-categories and other crap, but it felt like such a waste of time, that I just gave up.

We probably get a few votes from our good clients who take the time to go through the maze, but most of our clients are busy, active people doing much to support the community. They don’t have time  or the patience for games like that.

And neither do we.

And with all the mosquitoes, because of all the rain, deh gettin’ faht noh, meh son! I tellin’ yoh!

But we love them!

The poor creatures, though…..

They are eaten by just about anything bigger than them. They somehow manage to flourish.

On many an occasion, we have seen a kestrel or a pearly-eyed thrasher carrying a lizard back to a nest to feed its young.

Our cats eat them, our dogs eat them, and we have heard that other reptiles and amphibians eat them as well.

An educated friend  had a college professor refer to small reptiles like them as “ecological popcorn”. They’re a fun and convenient snack for just about everyone. (And Mother Nature doesn’t even have an advertising budget!)

Yet they continue to survive.

Last year we had one hanging around our “dining table”.  At first we called her “Lizzie”, but then we remembered the promise we had made to Michael’s boss and renamed her “Harvey”.

She’d always be around the table either keeping mosquitoes away from our ankles, or ants away from our food. After a while, she became so brave that she’d jump on a hand or an arm if she saw something she wanted. We started catching bugs for her and feeding her bits of what we were eating. We even set a little plate out for her.

We lost track of her, though, when we started preparing SunDog House. We went on vacation to my favorite BVI, and when we returned she was gone. We had a bit of “empty nest syndrome”. We worried, we lamented, but then we got busy.

We hope that her offspring will continue to evade the predators and keep dengue away.

One reason is that I enjoy having options.

Like when I say to Michael, “Wanna go to (name almost any of St. Croix’s fabulous restaurants), or eat at home?” He’ll say with his usual adamant decisiveness, “Either way’s fine with me.” Then I’ll say, “Okay let’s go out to ____, so I don’t have to cook.” And off we’ll go.

Last week, however, we bought a bunch of beautiful locally grown produce at the farmers’ cooperative market (spending under $20) and it has taken us the entire week to get through it all. We bought eggplant, green pepper, beets, okra, cucumbers and cherry tomatoes. I got some cilantro at the grocery store and we had celery, onions, garlic and carrots, so there were a million lovely vegetarian possibilities.A friend gave me a huge papaya that took us three days to eat. We actually grilled some of it – yum!

We made mango gazpacho with some of the cucumber and tomatoes and cilantro; we steamed the eggplant and mixed it with green pepper and onion to serve over pasta or make into mini pita pizzas; we used more tomatoes for breakfast egg sandwiches; I fried the okra for dinner last night (that was the entire meal); and Michael steamed the beets to make his famous beet salad. He will create dinner tonight because I will be working late.

We’ll still have stuff left. I’ll probably make another batch of mango gazpacho and we’ll have it for lunch on Friday. We’ll go out for dinner some night this week-end, and be a little less avid at the farmers’ market when we get there.

When there’s too much food in the fridge I can’t easily find what I’m looking for.

Quite a few years ago while I was asleep in bed, a centipede walked across my foot. My subconscious knew exactly what it was and I woke with a start and kicked that leg hard so the critter went flying out of the bed and into the corner of the room. The lights were turned on and I was able to kill the bugger before it did any damage.

Last night, I received my first actual centipede bite. We had been sleeping for a couple of hours when I felt a pain in my lower left calf. I said aloud that I’d just been bitten, but Michael thought I was talking about a mosquito bite. It didn’t hurt that much at first, but I did shuffle around to turn the light on because I was pretty sure what it was.

Michael was startled by the bright light, but he got up and moved the covers aside exposing the 4-inch long culprit. He grabbed his flip-flop and hit it. The centipede merely sunk into the soft sheets and quickly wriggled away. My leg was starting to hurt by now, so I went into the bathroom to get something to put on it, while he tried to find it again.

He finally did and was able to dispatch it quickly while I applied “wounded warrior” to my injury. It soothed and cooled the bite for a minute. Then I put benedryl sting stop on it and Michael got me some ice. It was throbbing and painful, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep for a while. Finally after an hour and a half of reading, we were able to drift back off.

This morning it was still a little sore, but we walked the Southgate beach in search of turtle activities (a leatherback had come up during the night!), and the leg was fine.

My first real centipede bite in almost 16 years of living here. And without warning. I need get my mojo back or something….