Golden/Wyndham finally took down the beer sign today and put up a new one. First, they planted some flowers and bushes around the monstrosity, hoping, I suppose, to disguise the fact that it exceeds permissible size by a factor of 10.

Then, (this is the funny/pathetic part) after they put the sign on the billboard, (I’m not making this up) they posted a guard, to watch the sign all night. Stop by and say hello. Better yet, take a picture, he’ll love that!

It has been dry on St. Croix this year. We have had numerous brush fires on the south shore and around the entire island. It must have been last Friday when I went to work on the east end that Schuster’s farmland ¼ mile to the east of our house burned. I was gone for just over three hours. When I approached home, I could see smoldering areas on the black hillside.

Michael was home and heard sirens, but he was in “Michael land” and paid no heed. He thinks he may have smelled smoke, but was too zoned out to think about it.

Everyone’s been talking about how we need rain (among other things). And today, our cisterns are getting filled and our plants are soaking up the natural nectar they have been sorely lacking. Ahhh, relief!

I am in the house with the dogs. There is thunder and lightening all around as the sound of the rain on the roof creates a welcome roar. WAPA is out, but our solar system is powering the computers. A few of the dogs are afraid of thunder. Percy especially looks uncomfortable and I bring him in to try to comfort him, imagining what his body must feel like going through the beginnings of the chemical destruction of the cancer cells (and others) throughout. He seems to feel better when I sit with him and talk to him.

He’s panting a lot so I try to give him water. He drinks a little and pants some more. I try putting ice in the water and he slurps it down. There must be a lot of heat being produced by the processes his body is going through. I leave the office to check on the other dogs and when I return, the floor is a lake.

I use the machine washable rug to sop up the pee. I don’t scold him because I didn’t see him do it, and I sympathize with him if he can’t hold it. Minutes later, in the living room, I see him standing in the middle of the floor with urine pouring out of him.

I plead with him to let me know if he has to go out and after another few minutes he is at the door. I let him out and he pees profusely on the porch where the rainwater will carry it away.

Good Boy, Percy!

He’s licking at his leg where the tissue was removed for the biopsy. It must be itchy. There are three layers of internal sutures, but no external ones. He’s still panting a lot so I’ll get him more water. And I’ll remind him to let me know if he has to go outside to pee.

We congratulate Ian Lundgren, dear friend and respected local National Park Service biologist on having the results of his long-term study on problems affecting our local corals and reefs published.

Especially of note is the following: “Because tropical corals live very close to their upper temperature limit, global climate change has the potential to cause more severe and more frequent mass coral bleaching events like the one observed in the Caribbean in 2005. Acidification of oceans from increased carbon dioxide dissolved in ocean water is an additional threat to corals related to climate change.”

Go Masshole!! Let’s get our planet back in balance!

We attended the meeting last Thursday evening and were quite impressed with the presenters and the public’s response. There were 60-75 people who took the time to listen a bit and to participate in the process of discussing and sharing the many cultural aspects of St. Croix which must be preserved.

Diplomatic and down-to-earth representatives from US Department of the Interior went around the room asking each person for his/her name and a one-word description for the island of St. Croix.

There was very little repetition in the adjectives used by all of us who were there. My first choice was “diverse”, but I was seated toward the end of room and the word was used before they got to me. Examples of descriptive words used were: “home”, “green”, “welcoming” and “beautiful”. Michael’s was “inviting”, and I used the word “magical” (my second choice was “colorful” if someone else used my first choice - no one did).

Anyway, not much later in the meeting, they asked people to come up to posters on the walls with suggestions that the “designated recorder” could write on each poster. Each poster had a heading asking about unique cultural aspects of living on St. Croix. I went to a poster and added “scratch bands”. Many other people spoke about various Caribbean foods such as “souse” and “fungi”, “mangoes”. Michael’s concern was for the natural areas which need to be preserved such as Annaly Bay, the Southgate Coastal Reserve, and of course the Great Pond and Great Pond Bay.

The best thing One of the best things about the meeting was that it only lasted one hour! We were all given an informational pamphlet with a comment form.

If you were not able to attend, but are interested in making comments about the island of St. Croix and which areas you believe should be designated as National Heritage Areas, you are invited to send your thoughts to: Cynthia Nelson - Project Manager, National Park Service, Denver Service Center, 12795 Alameda Parkway, PO Box 25287, Denver, CO 80225.

Questions on the comment form are:

1.) What benefits and concerns do you think a National Heritage Area designation would bring to your community?

2.) What traditions, customs, beliefs, and folklore set St. Croix apart from all other places?

3.) Identify the unique natural and cultural sites that tell the nationally important stories of St. Croix, and explain why they are significant.

There’s been a lot going on that I will be reporting in the next couple of days…..the meeting at the Legion Post last week, the CZM workshop we attended today, Percy’s chemo, household project priority upgrades, more restaurant reviews, etc. But for now, this is an easy post:

Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller

Edit from Michael 7/31/08:

The next one from today is as good if not better, so I decided to add it in.

Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller

©2008 Wiley Buy this comic for your site or publication? Buy one time reprint right?

These comics are re-printed with permission of Universal Press Syndicate. We get them everyday in our email from GoComics.com. You can too! Or view the Non Sequitur archive online.

Friday afternoon while I was at work, Michael discovered that Percy had swollen lymph nodes in his neck. He felt around a little more and found some in his groin as well. When I came home, he told me about it, but by that time it was too late to call the vet.

First thing the next morning, though, we called and brought Percy in. It took Dr. Paul Hess seconds to determine the probable cause of the swelling. He believes it’s canine lymphosarcoma, cancer of the lymph nodes. But he will do a biopsy on Monday to make sure.

If this is the problem and Percy is not treated, he only has 30-60 days to live. With chemotherapy, however, most dogs maintain a good quality of life for another year. Some bounce back and enjoy many good years with sporadic treatment and very few side effects. Dr. Hess is an expert in the field of canine oncology and has all of the chemotherapy drugs on hand. There will be 5 different ones over the course of a few weeks.

Percy’s young and he’s always been healthy and active, so we’re sure that he’ll come through with flying colors. And no more lumps…..

… so don’t hold your breath.

You may have seen this huge billboard going up on the South shore. It is not yet clear whether anyone has obtained an Advertising Device Permit for this sign, but it is certain that the sign exceeds the allowable dimensions by a factor of 10. The “Advertising Device Regulations” promulgated on June 8, 2008 by Darryl Smalls, Commissioner of DPW, states:

3. Advertising devices (signs) dimensions must not exceed 4′ x 4′

This sign measures 10′ x 16′. But hey, why start following the laws and rules now?

I just want to know if he’ll come through with the beer.

We were in town the other night to check out the public hearing on spiny lobster importation sizes. We were the only ones there. Michael and Goliath and I were the “public”. There were three people there to conduct the meeting. At the St. Thomas hearing, there was only one member of the public who attended. Okay, I guess it’s not a big deal for most people. I thought we’d see at least some local fisherman wanting to weigh in on the subject. Oh well, it was interesting for us and Goliath got a ton of attention from the lady who was here from Puerto Rico.

The lack of public interest there is not what bothers me. What does bother me is the fact that when we had tuna sashimi at the Deck Bar (it was fantastic, as were the sushi rolls Maggie prepared for us), and asked whether it was caught by our local fisherman in our waters, we were told that no, it came from FL. It may actually have come from our waters but if it was, it came through a distributor there.

Our local fisherman have been having difficulty catching tuna recently, and this is the sad part, because there are Japanese floating fish factories in the waters down island taking everything they can from the sea. Many of the migratory fish don’t make it back up here.

When we were in St. Vincent, we saw evidence of this. Not only did we see the trawlers, but when we snorkeled, we saw only tiny reef fish. The governments down island have sold water rights to other countries in exchange for having  marketplaces or soccer stadiums built. This makes me sad. Because the island people who have already very little (the agricultural economy seems to be less healthy than it had been in the past, as well), cannot now find fish to feed their families.

We have heard of other island nations selling their votes in favor of ending the moratorium on whaling to Japan as well.

It makes me wonder about the future of our little planet. It truly does.

We have been in the process of refinancing our house for the past 6 months or so. This must be some kind of record. No big deal, we weren’t in a tremendous hurry and we were hoping the rates would continue to go down.

Well, they didn’t but it was good to have a new appraisal done on the house, and updated paperwork with Michael’s name on it rather than my ex’s, and increased insurance coverage just in time for the height of hurricane season.

We went in on Friday for an hour of signing our names on the many forms and papers included in our packet. But our banker forgot to include flood insurance, so he had to make changes and we had to re-sign a few of them on Monday.

Yesterday, we receive word from him that, since we’d wanted to put the house in trust, we’d have to re-sign all of the papers and add the words “as co trustee for the ************ trust”. So this morning we sat and hand wrote our signatures and “as co trustee for the ************* trust” on papers we had already signed, even though it was typed beneath the signature line. There were twenty-six pages!!

I just kept giggling thinking of the absurdity of this. But at least it’s done (we hope) !

Tonight at the Caravelle Hotel conference room, there will be a public hearing to address the minimum sizes of imported spiny lobsters. It will begin at 7:00 pm, and it should be interesting. If nothing else, with everything being so expensive these days, it’ll provide free entertainment during a less exciting time of year.

Also, I’m very excited because I’m on Donna’s list. We got an e-mail from the office of the Delegate to Congress, Donna M. Christian-Christensen about a “St. Croix National Heritage Areas Study Meeting”. This is being run in conjunction with the National Park Service. Meetings will be held from 6:30-7:30pm, the first one on Thursday evening, July 24th, at the American Legion Hall, Hospital Street, C’sted; and also on Friday, July 25th at Pier 69’s courtyard, F’sted. After the F’sted meeting, there will be a cultural presentation from 7:30 until. Another meeting will be held at UVI’s Great Hall on Monday, July 28th. again at 6:30.

They invite the entire community to participate. “Please come out and share your ideas, concerns, suggestions, and visions for the future of a possible National Heritage Area on St. Croix.”

For more information on the public meetings, contact delegate Christensen’s office at 778-5900. For additional information on the cultural presentation, contact Frandelle Girard at 719-5455, or chantvi@viaccess.net.

Friday night, the yacht club had a “full moon sail”. Members were invited to the usual Friday night Happy Hour, but also to sail around Teague Bay in by the light of the full moon. Those with sailing certification could use one of the yc small boats. There are Rhodes 19s and Sunfish available. The use of light sticks and other objects of illumination were encouraged. We got there early hoping to eat and get out to the dock to watch the brave sailors dodge each other and moored vessels with variable breezes and limited visibility.

By the time our food arrived, however, the sailors were all safely back in the club house. It was a fun idea. We just don’t know why the kitchen took over 1/2 hour to get 2 bacon cheeseburgers and an order of sushi out to us. All in all, we had a nice time with good company .

Anyway, Saturday night, we went to a party in Judith’s Fancy. This was such a large affair that guests would need to park at the gate and be shuttled by taxi van to the villa.

There were plenty of people we knew waiting in the parking area with us, and fortunately there was a bit of a breeze, so we didn’t melt. Three the taxi vans had been hired, and when two finally got to us, we did not fit in the larger one. We got the 7 passenger model. It would have been fine except that the driver had some sort of death wish for us or something. There are numerous speed bumps in this neighborhood. But rather than driving at a sane speed between the bumps, this guy sped up. He’d gun the vehicle from one bump to the next and have to slam on the brakes when we got to the next one. We felt as if we’d go flying through the windshield! It was absurd!

At one point there were kids on bicycles and a dog walking on the side of the road. Do you think this guy slowed down? Hell no! He wasn’t right on top of the next speed bump yet!

The strangest thing was, when we got to the top of the driveway leading down to the villa, he stopped and left the van to make sure there was no other van waiting to come up. We were left to wait for him. So….what was his great hurry, we wondered?

We’re not in the driving business per se, but we do know that you use up more gasoline with that type of driving. This taxi driver should know that, and he should take better care of his passengers, the neighborhood kids and his gasoline buying dollars. Duh!

Anyway, the party was great. Lots of smart, successful people, great food and wine, music and dancing, and folks jumping in the pool with their clothes on. Fabulous!

After all that fun, Sunday was a work day. I had a couple of clients and Michael worked on the pool and the Pumpkin. I got a little painting done and managed to get more paint on the wood than in may hair. Not too bad for an after-party attempt!!

There’s a new little breakfast/lunch place in C’sted on Queen Cross Street. I had seen an ad for it somewhere, but we were in town for a meeting this morning and stumbled upon it.

It’s where”Mango Court” used to be. Alas the huge mango tree is gone, but the courtyard has been transformed into a welcoming space. This is good to know, since Christine’s, Café Fresco and the Pickled Greek are not open for lunch for the next few weeks.

Clayton offers a half-dozen or so coffees ranging from extreme in caffeine content, to something I can drink without bouncing off the walls (French Vanilla…Mmmmm!). Bagels with salmon and cream cheese, quiches and yummy muffins round out the breakfast options. Check for daily specials.

Sandwiches and salads to go with your midday Java are served until around 3pm. After that, you can have a coffee at tea time. Frozen cappucino frappé-type thingies swirl around in freezey blending machines. Stop by and give one a try for your afternoon kick before happy hour!

Hours are 7am - 4pm Monday through Saturday. Namasté!

You have to be old enough to remember Abbott and Costello, and too old to REALLY understand computers, to fully appreciate this. For those of us who sometimes get flustered by our computers, please read on…

If Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were alive today, their infamous sketch, ‘Who’s on First?’ might have turned out something like this:

I just heard a news report about the pope’s speech in Australia and looked it up. Here is a direct quote out of The Sydney Morning Herald:

“We need to rediscover our earth in the face of our God and creator and to re-find our responsibilities in front of our maker and the creatures of the earth he has placed in our hands in trust,” he said.

“We need to reawaken our conscience … I want to give impulse to rediscovering our responsibilities and to finding an ethical way to change our way of life and ways to respond to these great challenges.”

Believers in the “God” the pope speaks of, should pay heed. I imagine they also believe in hell and do not want to spend eternity there for ignoring the problems caused by excessive development and consumption.

We need to “change our way of life….”, he says.

Well, this is not news to us. There are numerous reasons we left the “American lifestyle” of develop and consume with no regard to the finite and beautiful planet we all inhabit. We want something better for all, and St. Croix can be a shining example of conservation and environmentally responsible development and tourism.

Too many people here are trying to follow the examples of too many others who have made grave mistakes in the stewardship of our environment. Why can’t we be world leaders in forward thinking rather than blind followers of outdated methods?

Go Pontiff!!!

I think I’ll officially nominate Harry Potter for “god of the world”.

He does miraculous things and always wins against Voldemort. The “god” in the bible often seems to act like an agent of evil. He smites people. Even innocent people. Ever been smote? Sounds like it might hurt.

Harry Potter would never smite any one except if they were trying to kill him or cause harm to someone else.

He rarely, if ever does harm to animals, no matter how big or mean or ugly they are (unless, again, if it’s totally in self-defense). In the bible, “god” makes people sacrifice animals, and their own children!

Harry Potter respects the women in his life as well as those who look nothing like him, like Hagrid.

He’s young and energetic. I think those are good qualities to have in a “god”. He’s also cute, and I like his accent. Sounds like the perfect “god of the world”!

“Protecting your Park: Water skiing, jet skiing, and spear fishing are prohibited. Anchoring is prohibited in the lagoon; boats must pick up a mooring. Scuba diving is prohibited at the underwater trail but allowed at the two scuba moorings in the north lagoon Do not stand or handle corals. If you tire while snorkeling, us the rest floats. Don’t feed the fish.”

People expecting to go to Buck Island and be allowed to terrorize snorkelers should read more about the park rules and policies at http://www.nps.gov/buis/planyourvisit/things2know.htm

After eight years of seeing NOTHING come to St. Croix from the turnbull administration, we are happy to see our current governor out in public, talking to the people, all the while, working to secure a better future for the USVI.

However, since deJongh took office, we have seen the Christiansted by-pass begin. We have also seen more activity on the south shore from the “Golden Gaming” aka “Wyndham St. Croix” project.

We KNOW that this project cannot even begin, since the “permits” Golden and his proposed project has procured are ILLEGAL!!! [Point #1...the CZM board which originally voted to grant Golden a permit did not have a quorum (this means there were not enough voting members present to conduct business that day)].

They should have just gone home…or put off the question to a later date. But the local CZM board proceeded. Ignoring the law. There are many more complicated legal issues that this proposed project has, but we continue to see illegal activity in this area of particular concern (APC).

It seems to be an ongoing problem with this project. Currently, there is a gigantic sign, of billboard proportions, being erected at the entrance to the property Golden/Wyndham purports to be theirs. After repeated calls to government agencies, it appears that there has been no permit issued for this sign.

Everyone I have spoken to this morning has “passed the buck” . My latest written and spoken contacts with agencies involved (including the governor), speak about my concerns regarding federal funding for the territory. I would hate to see federal funding (which lends these agencies credibility) be suspended due to impropriety.

Temporary jobs for the people do not solve the entrenched problems that keep our island oppressed (downpressed) in the long run.

Let’s hope the deJongh administration sees the errors of the ways of the previous administrations and rises toward making St. Croix into the unique and precious gem of the Caribbean that it truly is…

This picture was taken by Peach Pod last month when Wreggie and Co. were here. Since then, our little boy has a had a visit to the dentist. He had a couple of his front teeth removed! Now he really looks like a little kid. We’ll have to teach him how to sing, “All I want for christmas is my two front teeth”!

You can just barely see his teeth in this shot, but often when he’s looking at us, we can see the gap where his upper incisors used to be. Poor Biggie! I hope the other dogs don’t start calling him redneck names !

Our kayak is great. I’m starting to think that I prefer kayaking to sailing. It’s cheaper and easier to buy and maintain a kayak, and it gets us where we’re going in a decent amount of time.

Yesterday, we had business to do in the early AM in Frederiksted. We stopped for breakfast on the way, met with a realtor friend in F’sted, and on the way back, stopped to help another friend load her kayak onto her sports car, so she could come to Buck with us. She hadn’t been kayaking in a year and a half!

When we got to the yacht club, there was a guy there getting his kayak loaded up. He had a “one person” pedal kayak, but his was equipped with small pontoons on either side. I wondered why, but quickly found out. He would be taking his two young sons with him! It’s kind of funny to try to imagine one kid on each pontoon, but in actuality, he sat one in front of him, facing him, and one right behind his seat, with the boy’s back against his. Very clever!

They started out a minute or two before we did, but we stopped to take pictures of a large wooden ketch anchored off the west end of the yacht club’s bay. It looked like a pirate ship because of it’s dark coloration and seems to be in great condition. We searched for a name on it, but only saw a golden eagle on the transom.

Anyway, the kayaker with the kids aboard was not ahead of us, but had gone toward Duggans, perhaps to adjust some gear or rigging. We pedaled away, down to the cut in the reef waving to Llewellyn as he passed on his way back to the yacht club ! He had a small group on board and we were thrilled to see him back at the helm of Charis+ where he belongs…

We got through the cut and the swells got bigger. Certainly not as big as we’ve seen, but it was a nice rolling ride through the deep blue. Since it is the height of sea turtle mating season, we were sure we’d spot at least one pair. And as we approached Buck Island, about half-way between the park boundary and the beach, we did see a pair of very large green turtles trying to situate themselves for mating. Well, he was trying, anyway. She seemed to want to keep facing him. Maybe she just wanted to chat a little before the big event . We got to within 20 yards of them and watched them struggle for a good 5-7 minutes until they saw us and dove down. We hope they were able to complete their mission!

The day was gorgeous, so there were a few boats already there. We pulled the kayaks up onto the south-facing side of the beach, had a little Monkey Bay Sauvignon blanc, and Michael and I went for a little snorkel. Here we are in pristine national park land, but some jerks are water-ski-boarding! We went into the water, and they (not paying attention, of course) almost plowed us over! We’ve noticed no jet skis out there (thank goodness!), so now I’ll have to call Joel Tutein and ask if water skiing is legal there. If it is not, I’ll let him know that they’ll need to get the word out or patrol the waters better. Or else, we will be calling in any violators we see. If it is actually allowed out there, they need to change the rules. A park is not for the sole entertainment of a few (I’m trying to word things without being offensive, so I’ll just call them idiots rather than assholes) in (and being dragged by) a motor boat.

Anyway, from where we were, the sand drops off steeply from the beach into the seagrass beds. Even though this is not considered a “primo” snorkeling spot, we saw lots of great stuff. Three active stingrays, a large black barracuda with a little french angel fish, and some uniquely camouflaged conchs. I could feel the energy of seagrass beds, knowing how much life is nourished and protected by them.

We got back on shore and had a bit of lunch. The guy with his kids had arrived and they were having a jolly good time on the beach and in the water. When we were finished solving all of the world’s problems, we packed up and pedaled back to the big island.

We did meet another turtle on the journey home and wished it well in it’s mating attempts. Even though it was Saturday, we could still say, “Happy ‘Hump Day’!”

Yesterday I got an e-mail from “The Spiritual Cinema Circle”. We joined this movie club in February when I was searching for something to get Michael for Valentine’s Day. We both enjoy watching movies. I especially like having no TV channels, since we don’t have cable. It gives us a complete control over our lives in the matter of this particular medium. Unless, of course, we’re at the bank or post office, or most bars, many restaurants, in airports, or other places people get bombarded with misinformation and advertising (oh, isn’t that the same thing?). Anyway, we get on DVD per month which contains a few short (5-30 minute) movies and a longer one (60-90 minutes or so).

The independent films are thought provoking and have important messages that can be discussed at the end of each selection.

Anyway, the e-mail was about a movie that is out in the regular world now, not just the spiritual cinema circle. And it has many important messages. The movie is Wall-E.

I don’t usually pay attention to what’s in the theaters since most of it is loud, obnoxious, violent, exploding, destructive crap all over the screen, so I may have seen previews or posters for this one, but paid no attention.

But after reading the e-mail, I thought this would be a good one to check out, so after a quick trip to the beach when Michael got home from work, we got dressed and headed to Pizza Mare, and then to the movie theater.

This quote from the Spiritual cinema circle is what prompted me to suggest to Michael that we go.

“Wall-E is a robot, living alone (almost) on earth, cleaning up the trillions of pounds of trash left behind when humanity departed its uninhabitable planet. Wall-E’s earth wasn’t ravaged by either a war or a meteor. No, it was decimated by consumerism, greed, gluttony, and environmental neglect. Wall-E isn’t living on a post-apocalyptic planet. He’s living on a post-stupidity planet.”

It is a fun movie (even though it has a bit of loud, obnoxious, violent, exploding, destructive crap) that looks to be right on as far as the evolution of the human species is concerned.

“….the good news is that we are pampered from morning to night by every automated convenience that we could possibly imagine. We don’t work. We don’t need money. We have no conflicts. We have everything we want to eat and drink at any time we want it and are whisked everywhere on cushy recliners. The bad news? We have all become so fat that we literally can’t even walk!”

Fortunately, there is a happy ending. An alert leader realizes what is needed to save the planet and humanity and we are left with hope for the future.

Five STX “senators” voted against the Diageo deal. This “fab five” may have taken the advice of their constituents.

The sentiment I’ve been hearing on the talks shows is that they “needed more time”. Oh pahleez! Give these people more time to screw something up that the governor and delegate to congress have been working on for a year!

From what I’ve seen, Governor deJongh has not done anything selfish while in office. ALL of the “senators” have. They’ve been sitting on their hands, collecting their inflated salaries while their constituents struggle daily to pay their food and energy bills. They have had PLENTY of time to work toward rescinding the parts of act 6905 that waste more tax-payers monies and mortgage the futures of our children.

DeJongh is a successful business man who understands finance. Why would he try to strike a bad deal for the VI? It would make him look bad. He doesn’t need the money. But the ridiculous debt that past wasteful administrations have incurred can begin to be paid off with proper financial management of the $100 MILLION a year the territory will see from this deal!

I think many people don’t really understand how much money that is.

A caller who is now on the radio spouts, “Haste makes waste.” And the comment back is, “You snooze, you lose.”

Thank goodness the STT “senators” have a clue and voted for the deal.

Well, it took a few days to put it all together, but here’s the video of our Balloon ride with Dominic and crew of D and D Ballooning.

More photos to follow, maybe…

The bananquits keep trying. But they will not succeed. Unfortunately for them. Either way it’s messy for me.

We have a wind chime on the front porch that the birds are trying to build a nest on. We used to have a hanging philodendron out there, and they frequently nested in it. They’d carry their nesting material over, and during construction, much of it would fall onto the tiles. And I’d have to sweep it up, every day. To keep the porch clean on a regular basis is difficult enough with all the dogs out there. But the birds made even more of a mess than the dogs do.

It was worth it though to have them right outside. We could hear the babies in the nest, and watch the parents coming in to feed them frequently. Once, the nest actually fell out of the plant (with babies in it) while we were having breakfast. We heard a loud “chirp” from the babies and were able to grab the nest before the dogs got to it. The last time the birds nested out there though, I found pieces of a dead baby bird on the steps. It had fallen out of the nest when we weren’t home, and the dogs had killed it. They can’t help it, they’re dogs, but this incident made me take that plant out of there.

The other day I noticed nesting material on the tiles again. I couldn’t figure out where they were trying to build a nest at first. After a while, a bird came back and brought a piece of nesting material to the top of one of the wind chimes we have out there.

This is not a good idea. The chime moves around a lot, and most of what they’re bringing is just falling off. This has been going on for days. I’m hoping they get tired and move soon because I’m getting tired of sweeping.

Bird brains!

Between Temecula and Falbrook (Avocado capital of the world….mmmm!) lies a little town called Rainbow. The valley has many nurseries where flowers and ornamental plants are grown. It’s a nice small community, but still pretty close to the freeway, so you can hear the roaring traffic from there.

The Rainbow Inn Bed and Breakfast is an adorable little cottage that was originally a horse stable on a hill overlooking Rainbow valley. Dona and Scott, the owners are a very sweet couple who have lovingly created a welcoming, cozy, and very private little hideaway.

When we arrived there on Monday afternoon, after driving from Brea, stopping at a couple of biodiesel places along the way, and having lunch at a Mexican restaurant called “The Bank” in Old Town Temecula, we were greeted with a sign in the driveway which read, “Welcome Terry and Michael!” How sweet!

There are little trails and cute signs all around the property. The first one I saw said, “Watch for Freddys”. I couldn’t wait to ask what it meant. Dona told me that when her granddaughter was little, she couldn’t say the word “lizard”, so she decided to call a lizard a “Freddy”, since she could say that word! Adorable!

Unfortunately, we never saw any lizards, or Freddys .

We had a fabulous view from a deck overlooking the valley and could see the fog blanket in the mornings between the hilltops. The private pool was nice and warm, and the first time we went in we heard a strange sounding “bird” in a nearby tree. Michael said it sounded like rusty clippers, so we called it a “rusty clipper” - a new species we discovered! It kept chirping and chirping but we couldn’t see it in the tree, so I moved as far over on the other end of the pool as possible, and there it was on a rock behind the tree…..but it was a ground squirrel. It just sat there yelling for something that we couldn’t figure out. Maybe sometimes Dona and Scott feed him? Who knows. He was cute though, and we saw a few more of them as we wandered around the property where signs said things like “this way to secret hiding place”, and “live your dreams”, and “never mind stopping to smell the roses, look at the birds flying around!” My favorite, though was, “Age improves with wine!”

At one point, we saw some large raptors on a utility pole very close to the main house. There were two of them sitting there and two more arrived later. Michael thought they were California condors, but I thought they were vultures. The info in the cottage confirmed my suspicions, I used to see turkey vultures frequently in New England, but wasn’t sure if they were found on the west coast, too. Now we know.

As we traveled in the woods on foot, with Biggie, we’d check the skies periodically to make sure no big birds of prey were eying him as a tasty morsel. He survived! And we didn’t see any rattlesnakes, either, that would have been scary.

We loved the Rainbow Inn and highly recommend it for anyone traveling through this area. There is no minimum stay and it is comfortable and clean. Oh, and it has a HUGE library of books. Most of the walls of the living area are bookshelves stuffed with novels, historical accounts, dictionaries, you name it. I couldn’t even begin to delve in, I know I would never have gotten out. Well, except for one, called, “The Joy of Lex”, which is an amusing compilation of sayings and language intricacies that make up modern English. A lot of fun!

I’m happy to say that we went to America, that “Land of Plenty” with all its shopping malls and outlet stores, and we returned with minimal stuff. Michael bought a couple of shirts and some shorts for work, and we bought 3 1/2 bottles of wine from a very small winery that we can’t get wine from down here.

I think this story should be run every now and again as a reminder of the way the world is going. So here’s the story of stuff.

Watch a teaser:

Or see the whole movie here:

Yesterday, the illustrious members of the VI legislature held a special session, which, according to the on-line newspaper, went on for over 10 hours. Quel surprise!

Ever since we’ve returned from the states, we’ve heard ads on all the radio stations from the governor and others who support Diageo PLC. There seems to be a lot of suspicion from certain people in the community about this deal. Those with their own divisive agenda.

Of course, this deal would be a boon to us here on St. Croix and help pay off the massive debt that our past administrations and present senate have incurred. It’s pretty much a no-brainer that this would be favorable for the VI, but since there are very few brain cells to go around in the legislature, it will probably not happen.

The current “senators” have been at odds with the governor since his election in ‘06, so anything he suggests, no matter how beneficial, will be met with suspicion and ridiculous “debate”.

10 hours was not enough! They need more time to commit economic suicide.

Their MO seems to be - Let’s just drag it out and prolong the agony for those who actually care about this island and the people who will ultimately benefit from this deal. I guess not enough palms have been greased.

My humble prediction is that Diageo will run, not walk away from this insane over-scrutiny. And I really wouldn’t blame them.

I was massaging a cute little couple from LA on the beach today. It was a gorgeous day with a stiff breeze that kept me from having my usual “perfect hair day” (LOL). Oh well, life in “paradise”!  The mature palms, however,  were looking very suave with their neatly trimmed fronds standing up all green and tall. None of them have any nuts, but I didn’t hear any complaints about that.

The funny thing about the tree I set up under, is that it is a large sea grape with a huge termite nest in it! I didn’t see the nest until I was in the middle of the first massage, though, and I chuckled to myself, thinking, “If this woman looks up at that thing and realizes what it is, she’ll probably go flying off the table.” Well, thank goodness she didn’t open her eyes until the end, when she was distracted enough to just take her sunglasses from me as she once again became vertical.

After that hour, I moved the table a bit, and when the next session was done, I pointed it out to her husband. He thought it was pretty amazing and then when the woman finally saw it, she found it incredible as well.

It was refreshing out there and I’m reminded of how truly fortunate I am that all my hard work over the years has paid off and I have a thriving business doing something helpful and fun for many people.

I often say that I have done just about everything one can do on this island, but despite the fact that I have taught in the local schools, worked on the Buck Island boats, delivered magazines, managed a bookstore, sold dresses in a boutique, waited tables and tended bar, cleaned houses, done construction work, I KNOW I haven’t done it all. Because I’ve found what works for me.

Being self-employed works for me. And even though I don’t have ANY benefits. No paid sick days, no paid vacation days, no paid health insurance, no paid holidays (unless I work them, of course), it is a fine trade-off.

As I was packing up, I spoke to the woman about the LA area, since we’re just back from visiting there. She said she’s lived there all her life, and she hates it. She doesn’t understand why so many people want to move there.

She spends most of her time at home when she’s not at work, because it’s too crazy. I can definitely see her point. Even just a few days up there made me dizzy…..

…when The St. Croix Avis (I like to call it “the Abyss”) printed a FRONT PAGE story about a certain local George who was dealing in stolen antiques? And the Abyss printed a picture of George Tyson, fine upstanding local historian!

Did Mr. Tyson’s friends and associates come out of the woodwork threatening the newspaper? No, they’re probably just too classy for that. The “Abyss” apologized for the error and that was that.

More fun with the “Abyss” (gosh, I hope they don’t start threatening me for calling them that):

Front page headline after Emancipation Day in th USVI said: EMANICPATION! in huge letters.

Most recently, that I’ve seen anyway, since I don’t buy the rag that often (there I go, slandering the newspaper again, just can’t help myself…), was on the editorial page. It was an actual editorial about Rev. Wright. I’m having trouble typing because this is so funny….

Rev. Wright was referred to multiple times in this editorial. He was called, “Rev. Write” and ” Rev. White”, along with his true name, so they got it a couple of times, and wrote “Wright” right!

We could have sooo much fun with that one!

Also a few years back, I wrote a letter to the editor which was printed, but it did not say what I wrote. My friends looked at me like I had two heads and said things like, “what the heck were you saying?” The “newspaper” had completely changed my letter.

When I called the editor, he blamed it on the typist! And then he said the fax I sent didn’t come out very clear, and that’s why it didn’t say what I meant it to!

First of all, he’s the editor, he should proofread things before they go in (isn’t that the editor’s job…to edit? well, maybe that’s just not the way it’s done around here - maybe it’s one of those “cultural things” that I, as a white continental will never understand and why don’t I just go back to RI or the BVI…).

Secondly, if the material was unreadable, shouldn’t he have contacted me to clarify. Why else would they insist that you give your phone number, address, birth certificate number, names of all your close friends and associates (oh sorry, I exaggerate again) ?

It’s why I rarely write to that newspaper any more. It can be very entertaining though, like misspellings on menus and reading peoples’ blog comments….

It took us just over 24 hours to make it back to the Pickled Greek. We got home on Friday at 4pm and Saturday at 7pm we were at the Greek having wine and fat Papis. Aaron is back! He’s between treatments and he looks  great! He’s been exercising and says he feels great too.

He offered up a couple of specials that night. An appetizer of Greek pizza, with kalamata olives, fresh veggies and feta, and a Tilapia entrée with red pepper sauce. Both were fabulous!

He’s been taking time to train the rest of kitchen staff to hold down the fort for the next few weeks while he finishes up with radiation. Then he’ll be back in charge with his great recipes and terrific attitude. He’s here for another few days, so stop by and say “Hey”.