Living the life most people just dream about~

Up after a mediocre night of sleep, rolling out to equal parts of sun and clouds. Yea- tis the rainy season in full swing here. Was out enjoying the first smoke of the day with my bride, enjoying a fairly decent breeze (which has been weirdly absent here of late) and watching the [now up to 10] pelicans out dive bombing in our little bay. A movement caught my eye on the beach that looked like a little turtle. I took off for the movement only to come upon one of the larger sand crabs [trying to] drag a hatchling turtle down into it’s hole. I had no idea sand crabs ate baby turtles but this one sure appeared to have this one on the menu. Thankfully the little turtle was slightly larger than the hole so the crab was having a hard time getting him down the entrance. I dug out enough sand to get a safe grip on the hatchling and pulled him and the crab (still holding on to him) out of the hole. As soon as the crab cleared the hole – he let loose and scrambled back into the hole. The hatchling didn’t look any the worse for wear, other than covered in sand, so I brought him up to the patio and rinsed him off in a bucket of rainwater that I had sitting out there. He was feisty and cute~! I took several pictures of him and then walked him out to the surf to let him begin his journey. The surf gave him a good toss – but he finally made his way out past the first breaker and was gone. I suspicion he was left over from the nest my bride was looking out for last night and I’m happy we could assist yet another one of the little dudes on their way. We spent every cigarette break afterward scanning that whole section of the beach for more stragglers – but he apparently was it.

Remaining time was spent on breakfast, NYPD Blues and me doing some more book studying on my next certification. Yessir – there is a LOT more to this course than I bargained for – but staying at it and applying my old worn our brain the best I can. I am now exactly half way through the 208 pages [first] book. Been learning some good stuff that will help me in whatever SCUBA diving career I have left – plus be better equipped to help any other divers in trouble.

Was invited to Breezez restaurant by some of the crew from Blues. Blues is closed for the next couple of weeks, so we are all looking for a place to hang out until they open back up. Breezes is nice – nicer view, but it just ain’t Blues. We hung out, had some appetizers and some drinks and were gone by around 19:00 (7:00pm for all you civilians out there). Again, food wasn’t terrible, drinks weren’t terrible or grossly  over priced and our server was cute and mostly attentive…… but again – it wasn’t Blues~~

Came home to find the A/C on the fritz — gee, I can’t wait to try and find someone on the island to work on it, let alone what it will cost….. looks like it’s gonna be a long toasty night here for us……………………

Good night Ya’ll —— Thankx for stopping in~!

(CRABBS club meeting tomorrow night, so not sure I’ll get anything put up here tomorrow night or not)

View from Breezez

 

 

Due to the fact I went to bed a little earlier than usual last night – I was of course, up a little earlier than usual. Came out to heavy clouds with just a peek of sunshine through those clouds, which made for another gorgeous sunrise and the hope of another day without rain. Also woke up to the smell of freshly dug sand and another big turtle nest~! Fairly confident she laid eggs, from the way the nest was configured so that makes # 56~!! We should have opportunities for babies well into the New Year~!  Yay~!!!

I started in on my book learning for my new PADI certification….. wowser…. not sure if maybe I didn’t bite off a little bit more than I might be able to chew. Some pretty intense stuff in this course – and I’m only 40 pages into the first book  (of 200 pages) I’m not chickening out of it yet – at the very least – I’m learning some good stuff -and- it’s keeping me off of the couch.

As the day progressed – I’d stop to watch an episode of NYPD Blues (or two) with my Queen, then come back for a couple of chapters of learning. The big looming clouds outside finally overpowered the sun and we had monsoon type rain for about 30 minutes….. the sun finally broke back out, but clouds are still aplenty and rain is still in the forecast for the next 5 days ……. Dammit Emmit~!

That’s about it for today – My Queen is out on a baby watch and I’m going to try and get in some more book learnin’ and maybe another episode of NYPD Blues (or two). We just started Season # 8…. woo-hoo~~~  😉

Happy Veterans day and thank you to my Brothers & Sisters that are serving or have served.

Good night Ya’ll ….. Thankx for stopping in~!

Nest # 56~!!

Sun playing peek-a-boo…..

IMG_8352 <—-Rain Video

Rolled out this morning without being tired, nauseated and no headache – so all is good again….. Walked out to what appeared to be the beginning of a day with sunshine – which after 4 solid days of rain – I am glad to see. As it turned out, the sun managed to shine almost all day today, even though clouds were starting to stack as the sun started setting – which provided a couple of nice pictures as well. We also had another visitor last night. THREE new holes. If I read the tracks and holes correctly, it was 1 turtle, digging three separate holes and it looks like she actually nested in two of them. Yay~!!  After checking out all of that, I spent the first half of the morning working on a financial spreadsheet for my new job as Treasurer for the organization Fish with a Vet. After a tasty breakfast and having all I could stand with the spreadsheet, I finally settled into the couch for some NYPD Blues with my bride. Going out for the occasional cigarette, I spotted what turned out to be the biggest hermit crab I have ever seen. Got pictures and a video for you. I’m going to try and trim the video down small enough to get on here – but my editing skills on video are still brand new and need some work, so you may have to look at it on FB if I can’t get it trimmed down far enough to fit. Really didn’t do a heckva lot the rest of the day.

My Queen is now sitting out on the balcony watching for babies. We have two different nests ‘due’ tonight and tomorrow, so she is keeping an eye out for them. I’m going to edit my pictures and try and get them put up for you, then I think I’m gonna join her.

I have signed up for the Rescue Diver course….. another PADI certification. Supposedly not an easy course – but I think it will be worthwhile to have that certification. Lots of book learning and I’m not sure whether I can hack it or not – but darn sure gonna try~! There is a Red Cross course involved with it. I used to be a certified Red Cross instructor (a 100 years ago) — so it should be interesting to see what I remember from it. You know I’ll keep you up on it.

Good night Ya’ll ….. Thankx for stopping in~!

Even his big claw has ‘teeth’~ Yikes~!!

Spent the day running around gathering up prizes for the Fish with a Vet fishing tournament coming up. Some grocery shopping and winding up shutting Blues down for their final day for the next two weeks. Would like to go into more detail, but I have a splitting headache and it’s all I can do to get this on here right now – so going to share todays pictures…. and maybe chat about our day tomorrow.

Good night Ya’ll —– Thankx for stopping in~!

Cruise ship in port today~!

Watch out for the shady looking guy in the background…..

Angie must have farted……………..

Fart cleared out….. part of the Blues crowd~  🙂 

Me trying to understand the camera…………

I sat down last night with a good story to regale you with and lots of new pictures, only to have our high quality internet here take a good old fashioned dump. I did everything I knew to try to restore it – and no dice~! I tried the hot spot on my phone to no avail and even hooked up our little AT&T mobile hot spot, it would let me pull up mail, but that was about it. It wouldn’t even load Face Book. So– apologizes even though I had no control over it.  One of the fun little perks of living in paradise ‘they’ fail to mention.

Shortly before the sun set….. we went out for a smoke and was discussing that we had babies due starting tonight. I no sooner got it out of my mouth when I spotted a baby exactly where it was supposed to be. I had my camera with me and ran out as this little guy made his way up out of the sand. I was so excited thinking I was catching the beginning of that cool little explosion of them little dudes coming up out of the sand~! He finally wiggled his way out and dutifully headed immediately for the Sea. I kept waiting for the rest, but alas….. it never happened. ( I did get some pictures and video for you of the one though) 😉 Had to be one of two possibilities…… 1) he was the last of them in the nest or 2) he was the only one that survived out of the nest. Sadly, there are 6 different nests in the very small spot where he came up and I have seen many, many eggs that were destroyed by turtles digging on top of them. My first instinct was to dig down and see if there were any more, but I could have destroyed another nest and did not want to take that chance. The one little guy was really struggling and had a huge swath of Sargassum to get through, so I picked him up and carried him out into the water to watch him swim away. I am keeping my fingers crossed that he was the last one out and we just missed all the others. On a related note- we have the chance for babies the next 4 or 5 days…. so we are keeping regular checks for them.

We continue to be deluged with rain but there have been some gorgeous shots of the sky as the rains continue to pour down. A chilly breeze is starting to mix in which raises the occasional goose bumps. Mind you – when I say ‘chilly’ – I’m referring to temperatures in the mid-to-upper 70°s…. Awwweee……….. pitiful huh ?  😉  That is one of the ways we are starting to feel like islanders now – when mid-to-upper 70°s feels cool to us. NOT COMPLAINING one iota though – let me be clear about that~! I’m sure there are other things I have already forgotten in the past 2 days – but I’m at 500 words, so I’ll quit here. Maybe I’ll remember some of it for tomorrow~~

Good night Ya’ll ….. Thankx for stopping in~!

(Since I couldn’t get on here last night – Happy Belated Birthday Stephie~)

IMG_8297    <—– Video

IMG_8298    <—- Video

Sunset turtle watch…..

Mickey D’s new burger – McBurger Supreme  (really wasn’t all that supreme)

Woke up to day # 3 spot on from the Explorer weather forecast. While there was some spots of sunshine off and on throughout the day, the vast majority of the day was rain – at times LOTS of it. Pretty much another tame day…. FB, phone calls with kids back in the states and some planning. The planning is, I booked us a week in St. Thomas next month. Even though we live in ‘Paradise’ – the urge to travel is strong and we are well over a year in our retirement — coming up on almost a year on this island. While we are only traveling about 37 miles…… it might as well be a universe away for us. We are 15 minutes flying time from our Sister islands and it’s high by-God time we went to see them. We will be spending 5 days (4 nights) on St. Thomas. Planning one of those days spent on St. John…… from there, we will start branching out to the BVI (British Virgin Islands) and moving out the Lesser Antilles chain…… I have the flight and the hotel booked – still need to get a vehicle while we’re there – but that can wait a bit. Woo-hoo….. it feels good to be planning those kind of excursions again~! So- less than a month away…….. That’s about it for tonight folks……. I’m sure you’re full up of listening about morning routines and NYPD Blues episodes….. although I will tell….. we just finished the one where Detective Simone (Jimmy Smits) bites the big one. He done a really good job in the episode and it was quite touching. We are now well into Season # 6 with Ricky Schroeder as his replacement….. some of these episodes I kinda remember… most- not so much. Having fun watching them while it pi$$es and pours outside………………

Good night Ya’ll —– Thankx for stopping in~!

IMG_8279   <—-Video

 

Rolled out once again to huge gray clouds, blowing winds and rain…….. I’ve heard it is the rainy season here on the island…. geez, I hope it’s not like this for the foreseeable future. The Explorer weather has stretched the forecast out now until Friday calling for this mess. Not a dang thing I can do about it, so I’m just gonna have to make the best of it and start going out in the rain I guess.

We didn’t do much today other than eat, smoke and watch NYPD Blues…. that’s gonna have to change. My back is raising 8 kinds of hell because I have been very idle these past several days….. I’m not sleeping well either and I suspect it is from the same reason…… I’ll work on that.

A couple of pictures and a video from the day today – and that’s gonna be about it….. again, not going to try and get in a full page on something that will probably just bore the hell out of you….. so~

Good night Ya’ll —— Thankx for stopping in~!

IMG_8278

 

Woke up this morning to deep dark clouds and rain…… lots of both. At first I thought I just woke up early because it was so dark in the bedroom….. but when I came stumbling out – it was almost 06:45~! Woo-hoo~~~ Went and did my bathroom thing and came out for that first smoke of the day. Sadly — it was raining and blowing so hard…. I did not even unlock the storm gates on our patio. I stood pressed back against the glass windows, just to keep from getting soaked. Little did I realize, that was to set the course for the rest of the day~~~ My Bride got up shortly after I had came back in and we did our daily routine of checking in with the rest of the world……. we had some breakfast, we watched NYPD Blues and ducked out between rain showers for the occasional cigarette.

Toward the afternoon, during one of our nicotine breaks, Angie asked if that looked like a turtle [pointing to a spot just off of the patio]….. I looked at what [I thought] she was pointing at and said no. Undeterred, she said step over here (where she was standing) which I did. Sure enough from my new vantage point, was one of our little babies from the other night. At first I thought it was dead, I reached down and picked him up and he (thankfully) started kicking. I guess the poor little dude was trying to get back up into the bushes, but was apparently worn out from his effort. My first instinct was to walk him out to the water, but wanting to share that moment with you, I decided (since it was daylight) to get a couple of pictures first~!  I took some pictures and then waded out knee deep into the water and let him loose. He really came to life when he hit that water and was gone in a flash. We hope he is one of the lucky survivors~!

It’s still raining and blowing off and on and we’re still watching NYPD Blue but a little happier we helped saved that little turtle~! My Queen made up a big batch of Spaghetti (one of my favorites) and I have eaten way more than I should have. Belly bloated and mostly miserable – I’m gonna get this out early so I can return to the couch and let my belly rest while we get into Season # 5 of the series. If the forecast I’m watching is correct, we have another 4-5 days of this weather….. so we’ll have to greet each new day and see if these forecasters are any better than the ones back in the states. Right now they’re one for one~~~

Good night Ya’ll —– Thankx for stopping in~!

Rain on the way~!

Our lost little ‘baby’~~

Well yesterday went exactly as I predicted ….. I showed up at 08:00 at the job site for some more heavy lifting…… more 96 Lb. bags of the blue powder and many more boxes of the aggregate. Only difference this time is I had some help. We worked for just over 3 hours loading, hauling, unloading and stacking. I think I found the weight limit on DD – I had her squatting almost to the tires, but she hung in there and done good. By the time we got finished with the last load, it was almost lunch time and I was done with the heavy lifting and headed back to the condo to spend some time with my Bride. She had spent her morning doing laundry, cleaning around the house and making me some more wonderfully delicious egg salad~~  : )  I took a shower to get all the blue off of me and settled in on the couch for some conditioned air and some NYPD Blues until it was time to head up to Blues Backyard BBQ.

As I said last night, we were beer-backs for the two bartenders working. Blues was hosting a band from the states called Bear Tread. Apparently a fairly popular band who visits the island on occasion. They sounded pretty decent with some fresh sounds compared to the local entertainment that I have been listening to. We got up there shortly before 5:00pm and went immediately to work, ensuring both freezers and a cooler were stocked for the bartenders. We also kept trash cans emptied and mess’ on tables in the area picked up. They kept us hopping the first 2.5 hours or so before the evening started slowing down a little bit and the band and the bar finally shut down at 9:00pm. We got us a couple of drinks and chatted with friends for a while before coming home. It had been a very long day for both of us and was almost Midnight before we got into bed. Needless to say, I did not get on my blog (or even FB) last night.

Today we both kind of recuperated from the long day yesterday – eating a little bit, watching more NYPD Blues and watching the various rain showers roll through the area. Forecast is calling for rain and storms the next 4-5 days…. so has the potential for a slow week coming up….. but we’ll see………………

Good night Ya’ll —– Thankx for stopping in~!

Even though this tree is rotted almost completely through – it still found a way to keep growing new life….. there is a lesson to be learned there~~

Watching rain come in across the Sea from where I was working

The view from the job site after the rain went through…..

(especially when they have a couple of good beer-backs)  😉

 

Wrapping up an old month and kicking off the new month with more turtles~! Shortly after all the hub-bub with the baby turtles was done last night and I had came in to finish regaling you all of it – I finished up my blog and FB post, then went out to enjoy a smoke. Standing there enjoying the cigarette with my Bride – she asked if that was a turtle [pointing out toward the beach] – I had already put my infra-red light away, so she grabbed her little flashlight and shined it out to reveal a big 200+ pounder. She quickly shut the light off so as not to spook her. What she didn’t notice, was a slightly smaller turtle digging right next to the big one. I got my IR light back out and sure enough – 2 turtles….. side by side nesting~! The big one was actually flinging sand on top of the smaller one – so she was much harder to see. Since they were both just starting their camouflage hole, I decided to get in an episode or two of NYPD Blue while they got down to the business of the actual nest. I checked on them periodically and when I went out for the last time…. they were both laying eggs~! I was positioned once again to actually see the eggs dropping. I didn’t take any more video of that, as I am really proud of the video I already have of that part of the process, so I opted for some still shots while they were in their trance. Sadly, I did notice that the big turtle uprooted a previous nest and eggs were torn up and scattered everywhere. There are 6 nests in that particular spot and it is inevitable that is going to happen. I came back in for some more boob tube before finally crawling into bed around midnight.

Rolled out a little later than usual this morning because of getting to bed so late. The sun was already well on it’s way up and the sky was filled with big puffy clouds. The surf was crashing, there was a small breeze and another turtle nest. She must have came in real late….. but looking at the hole – I feel pretty confident in saying she laid eggs~! That makes nest # 51. I walked out and took some pictures and then came back in to start my daily routine. My Queen slept in a little bit, so I had a nice quiet start to my morning.

We wiled away the day with various activities until around 16:00 when we headed up to Blues Back Yard BBQ. Weirdly, neither of us were hungry, so we just had drinks and chatted with friends. Finally back at the condo, soaking up some of that wonderful conditioned air. No more turtles yet…. but definitely some more NYPD Blue in store– just started Season # 4~!

I have been asked to help again tomorrow for some heavy lifting (not supposed to be as much as last time) then we will be going back up to Blues BBQ to help out as beer-backs for an event they have going on tomorrow afternoon…. if that goes like I think it’s going to — probably won’t post anything tomorrow night, as it will probably be too late by the time we get home.

Good night Ya’ll ….. Thankx for stopping in~!