Merry Christmas!

Our wish for you is good health, happiness, and a prosperous New Year!

19 December 2008 - Friday

Christmas Lights in Grenada!

As we were coming home last night, we came upon this fantastic display of lights! I don't know exactly what this building is (there are about 5 in this complex), but apparently they've been setting up this display for the past 10 years. People can walk through this whole thing... it's amazing! Keep in mind... we calculated that electricity costs down here are about 3.5 times more than what we were paying in the US!

16 December 2008 - Tuesday

Christmas is coming!

We've been pretty busy over the past few weeks. Since Thanksgiving was so much fun we've had a few more friends over for lunch dates! Jimmy is an older Scottish fellow who lives nearby... he brought me some mint plants for my garden. Tony & Gisela retired here from Houston (although he's a Brit & she's German)... they've been extremely helpful to us over the past few years. And Tommy (another Brit) opened his home to Scott when he came down to buy us a vehicle. Mike & Jackie brought us a few more herb plants from their garden as well. They're the British couple that managed our property for us, and were our lifeline to Grenada! He's a fantastic gardener and always has goodies to share from the garden!

I finally got a hammock for the veranda! I'd been waiting about a month for the store to get them in. Apparently they were arriving here by sailboat & the rainy weather held them up. It's a wonderful place to "hang out" now!

We were on the go every day last weekend! On Friday night we attended a special dinner & cabaret show put on by the Grenada Hashers, then Saturday was their Christmas Hash... we were told to wear something red so I got out our Santa hats. Although this was one of the shortest hashes we've done, it was almost all hiking through a dry river bed... very rocky, with lots of trees & shrubs! Most of the time we had to duck under the fallen trees. (In the photo of Scott, you can see a pile of shredded paper near his feet... that is how they mark the trail we are to follow.) Afterward, we stopped at a roadside bar on the way back. Scott & I have stopped here (Runaway Bar) before so we invited the others to join us!

On Sunday we were supposed to attend a 5:00 rum punch party... invitation was for everyone who participated in the Thursday Quiz nights. We had all intentions of going, but got a call in the morning with an invite to a small party on a sailboat! Tony knows this guy who is captain of a sailboat that's available for charter. He said he was looking for some photos of the boat, so I offered to do it for him. It's a beautiful sailboat! We didn't sail out anywhere... just hung out because he had some repairs that need to be done on it. (Nothing you could see in the photos.) So we had an enjoyable afternoon (& evening)... and never made it to the rum punch party!

I've been working on making curtains for what we still call the "pink" room... our guest bedroom. I know... we've painted over the pink, but that's what it'll be called forever! I chose to make balloon shades because we could pull them up above the open window & don't have to worry about them getting dirty from the screens. I'll show more photos of that room later.


That's all for now! I'll try to make another report in a day or two!


Oh... here's a shot of the pink room before we painted it! ......

27 November 2008 - Thanksgiving Day!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is our first holiday away from home. A month or so ago, we wondered how we would be spending this American holiday in Grenada... obviously just a normal day in the Caribbean! But amazingly, in the short time we've been here, we've become acquainted with a few other Americans... who were also looking for a way to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday.

So we hosted a group of 9 people... some we just met today... for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner here at our home in Bay Gardens! I'll name them in the order they appear in the photo... from left to right. Dave & Barb are originally from Maine and work at the medical university. (She is a neuropsychologist; Dave is teaching a business course there.) Bill & Debbie are from Alabama and Florida, and are living on their boat... a trawler... for the past 5 years. They are wintering here in Grenada, waiting for hurricane season to pass. By January, they'll be ready to move north again. Then it's Scott at the head of the table. Next to him is Amy & her husband, Ed who both work at the university. I didn't get much chance to talk to Amy to find out what her position is at the university, but I know Ed is a librarian there. Cindy, from Conshohocken, PA, is on the far right & she is here visiting Amy & Ed. This is her first visit to Grenada... and she was not expecting to have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner while on vacation!

Everyone chipped in & helped with the dinner. Debbie was a huge help in the kitchen! (Having lived on the boat for 5 years, I think she's been missing working in a "real" kitchen!) The menu was as follows: Crab stuffed mushrooms (appetizer), Turkey & stuffing, gravy & mashed potatoes, squash casserole, peas, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, key lime pie, coconut brownies, and wine, wine, and more wine! Barbara also brought some really good olives stuffed with almonds, pickles, and some kind of Caribbean chow-chow. Although we were missing our families today, it was a fabulous meal, with some really fun conversation! We've decided that we should get together more regularly... maybe have a game night!

Scott & I had been working around the house all week in preparation of the big dinner. I finally got my living room curtains done... and hung. And on Tuesday, we spent some time finally getting some of my photographs hung on the walls. Scott made a temporary table... with a 4'x8' sheet of plywood on top. And we had plenty of chairs. I love having all this space! This house is so much better for entertaining than our Mount Joy home!

We are now talking about getting together for Christmas... probably the day after, which is Boxing Day here (another holiday day off). Scott & I "think" we've been invited to Christmas dinner with one of our neighbors. I say "think" because I have a hard time understanding her! Guess I have a few more weeks to clarify that!

Well, we hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! I'll probably be reporting more after the next hash... it's here at Bay Gardens this Saturday! It'll be a good chance to get out to REALLY see the neighborhood!

18 November 2008 - Tuesday

RAIN!!!

Today was Day 4 of a rainy spell we're in at the moment. This stretch of rain began on Saturday... as a matter of fact, we skipped the hash this weekend because of it. Last night it blew so hard during the rain storm that I was awakened by the sprinkles hitting me (from the open window across the room)! Until today, we've been cooped up looking for indoor projects.

I was scheduled to go to town this morning to pick up my new "cruiser" friend, Debbie. We made a plan to test out a recipe for pie dough today, and wouldn't let the rain stop us! Because of all the rain, I came across a number of land slides along the way... many of them closing down at least half of the roadway. I've included a few photos with this entry. The one that covers the whole road was on the way back to my house (the back road to town). When we came upon it, there was no where to turn around, so I ended up backing quite a distance down the hill before I came to a driveway that I could turn around in. Since I'm not very familiar with some of the other back roads, plus the thought that I might run into more land slides on the smaller roads... I chose to go nearly back to town to get on the main road home.

By the way, we've heard a new term here... apparently their word for land slide is: land slip. Well, let me tell you... I'm sure the road workers are very busy right now trying to keep after all the land slips! We actually heard that someone's pool slipped down the hill!

Debbie brought the Thanksgiving turkey with her today, along with some other supplies for our upcoming dinner. She doesn't have a car here, so she's become very experienced at getting around on the bus system here. Instead of driving her back to her boat, she had me take her to town to catch a bus the rest of the way. So I took a route I don't normally take to get her to the bus station in St. George's... that's the photo with the cruise ship in the background. Woo-eeee! Is that street ever steep!!! I was a little nervous driving down the hill, thinking I was going to start slipping! But I had no trouble at all. There were 3 cruise ships in today. I felt bad for the passengers because of all the rain. I don't know that this is normal for this time of year.

Well, I'm back to working on my living room curtains! Looks like I'll still have at least one more rainy day to fill... they say the sun isn't expected to come out before Thursday! Speaking of that, you'll notice a gray pipe on the left side of one of the photos here... that's the water line. I noticed today that we no longer have warm water coming out of the kitchen spigot... because the sun hasn't been out to warm it! (We don't have a hot water heater.) And for those of you that are envious of us being able to wear shorts and sandals year round... I've been wearing long pants for the past day or two because it's chilly!

Enjoy the photos! Now, go back up to the top of the page and check out the new poll I've added on the right column! Tell me what you want to hear more about!

9 November 2008 - Sunday

Hashing...

Yesterday was another "hash" day... a special one because they usually only do them every other week, and we just had the Halloween Hash last Saturday. Yesterday's hash trail was set because a local guy (Jah-wah) wanted to set it for his birthday. I tried (unsuccessfully) to talk Scott out of going. I didn't want to go because it was raining in the morning, and I'm still having trouble with the shoes I wear for these things. Here's the problem... I have a great pair of hiking boots that I wore to our first hash (in the mud, remember?). But since your feet and ankles swell down here, they've become too small and cause severe blisters on my heels. (I didn't think about that when I bought them back in PA!) So the only other pair of shoes that I can "sacrifice" to the mud trails are a pair of old sneaks that I used for mowing grass... they're not very good at gripping on hillside mud trails. So I knew that the rain in the morning would cause a muddy trail and figured I'd end up on my rear end at some point along the way!

Well, after a few graceful splits, and another near splat... I actually made it through with only a little mud on my hands (from catching myself during one of those splits)! There was one point in this trek where I had to use my hands to help climb an extremely steep road. It was a concrete road (with grooves cut in for traction) that was so steep I couldn't stand on it! My shoes were slippery and wouldn't grip on the wet road very well. When I peered back over my shoulder, I envisioned myself skidding all the way back down to the bottom! And THAT would have been the end of my hashing! I'm thinking... this is a ROAD that someone actually drives up???!!!

The photos show some of the reasons we enjoy doing these hikes... the views are spectacular, and the people who live along the way are so friendly! (Notice the Christmas tree on the porch!) There were a few times when we failed to notice the trail marks (because we were talking) and started on a wrong path... the people in the homes nearby would set us straight & help us along! On this hike, when the locals realized we were American (and not Brits), they would smile and yell "Obama"!

Anyway, I had the most fun on this hash because we met some more fun people!

1 November 2008 - Saturday

Happy Halloween!

Another month is over and we're now in the final few days before the historic presidential election. We'll be watching closely, along with a majority of the local Grenadians!

Today we attended our 3rd hash. Since Halloween was yesterday, we were told it was "mandatory" that we come in "fancy dress" (costume). So we both threw together a costume, with items we had in our closets. I found a pair of Scott's camoflaged army pants and a camo "do-rag", so I decided to try to build a costume around that. End result was... I was Rambo-ette and Scott was a lumberjack. The hash started at Grand Anse Beach (the tourist beach) and took us nearly 2 hours to finish! That first hill was so steep... and long... that I thought we were hiking all the way to heaven!!! It was actually a road, but I can't imagine actually trying to drive a car up that hill! The locals don't really celebrate Halloween like we do in the states, so we got quite a few questionable looks as we passed by their homes along the way! Nevertheless, we were greeted with numerous smiles when they realized we were in costume (and not just a bunch of wierdos)! At the end of the evening, they awarded prizes to the best costumes and Scott & I both won a bottle of rum each! It was loads of fun! We also met a few more people that we may spend some more time with in the coming weeks. One girl (Debbie) is from Florida, but has been living on a boat with her boyfriend for the past 5 years! She was dressed as a pirate. I was happy to meet another American... there are so few of them here! Most of the Americans we run into here are students at the medical university.

It looks like the cruise ship season has begun! During the month of October there were only a total of 5 ships that stopped here. But Friday began a run of at least 3 straight days when there was a cruise ship docked at the pier. During the month of November Grenada is expecting nearly 40,000 cruise ship passengers to visit... a very welcome time of year for the locals.

On another note... tonight those of you in the states will be turning your clocks back an hour. Here in the Caribbean, there is no need to use daylight savings time... since we're closer to the equator, we have nearly 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness year round. So there is no need to change the clocks. So starting tomorrow, we'll be an hour ahead of the east coast.

That's all for now!

25 October 2008 - Saturday

Thanksgiving Day in Grenada!

Today is a national holiday in Grenada. Their Thanksgiving Day commemorates the arrival of US military forces when they intervened during a political revolution in 1983. Although many people might refer to this event as an "invasion" of Grenada, it is often pointed out by the locals as an "intervention". You can read more about it here at the following link... Operation Urgent Fury. Today marks the 25th anniversary. President Ronald Reagan was also dealing with the bombing of the barracks in Beirut only 2 days earlier. We didn't have any special plans for the day... we're hoping it's nice enough to get to the beach tomorrow.

On Thursday, we took a drive around the island. Well, we covered about the top 2/3. Originally we planned to do it on Wednesday, but there was a lot of rain in the forecast. Thursday's weather didn't look much more promising, but we decided to venture out anyway. Amazingly, we must have skirted the rain all day because we only came into one downpour. We were watching some very dark clouds over the mountains all day... even saw a waterspout out in the Caribbean Sea. (That's a little tornado over water.) When we got home later that day, we could tell there had been quite a bit of rain here while we were out. The news then showed that many streets were flooded in the city and along the tourist section of Grand Anse. One restaurant (along the main highway) had 3 feet of water inside! Here's a photo from the day... along the northern edge of the island:


We had a great day for the hash last Saturday! I forwarded some photos from the day so they could post them on the Grenada Hash Harriers website. If you want to see all of them, keep an eye on this site: Grenada Hash Website/Photos (Watch for the link for "Hash 601" photos, which haven't been posted by the time I write this.)

And today I finally did it! I made my first batch of soft pretzels... from scratch! They taste pretty good, but I'm missing the coarse salt. Snack food here is quite expensive so we've never bought a bag of chips, etc. (and I haven't seen any pretzels in the grocery store). We now make popcorn the old-time way... in a covered pot on top of the stove. It's great!

I forgot to mention... I received my first package (mostly forwarded mail) from my sister. I had to open the box in front of the customs agent so they could look through it to see if there was anything inside of "value". (Meaning: anything there to tax!) They saw that it was mostly mail, with some iced tea mix so there was no charge for duty. But we discovered that every time we receive a box, it'll cost us $20 EC to get it... that's about $7.50 US. In addition to that, there will be a percentage fee added to the value, which could be as high as 35-55% for electronics! (The root beer barrels she threw in were a real treat!)

Well, that's all for now! Feel free to comment!

14 October 2008

Cruise Ship Season Begins!

Actually, it started last week... but we missed seeing the "Arcadia" at the pier. The Grenada Board of Tourism has a posting of the cruise ship schedule on the internet, so we knew there would be another one arriving this morning. Today's visit was from Holland America's VEENDAM, and has a capacity for 1,266 passengers... not so large compared to some of the newer cruise ships. We decided to go to town to get some photos and to see the city come alive! Of course, there is a hazard to us in walking around town on a day when the cruise ships are here... because of our skin color, we are constantly approached by the locals with offers for taxi rides, spices, and other souvenier items. So our answer to this dilemma was to stop at a hardware store to buy a gallon can of stain! (No one seemed to bother us after that.)

We thought there might be a good number of Americans on this ship, and we noticed that many of them seemed much older than us... I saw a few being pushed around the streets in wheelchairs, and one even was pushing along her oxygen cart... not an easy feat if you've seen the streets & hills in the city! I finally stopped a couple walking past our car and asked them from where the ship departed. They told us they were Canadians (from Vancouver) and this ship is on a 5 week trip which began in San Diego... through the Panama Canal and they were headed to the Amazon! (That explained the reason for all the senior citizens we saw! A younger crowd usually has more difficulty getting that much time off work.) Our neighbor at Bay Gardens said he had a group (from the ship) in this morning to tour his gardens. In case you're interested, here's a link to the itinerary for this trip: Veendam Itinerary

While in town, I took another little video clip while driving on the city streets. I know you'll enjoy this one! FYI... the red van in front of us is what they consider a taxi, and we stop for a moment at a traffic signal (look for the box where the traffic cop used to stand to direct traffic here). Further along this one-way road, we come to a speed hump. Now... fasten your seatbelts! (There's not much audio to go with it... sorry.)

4 October 2008 - Saturday

Grenada Hash House Harriers

We've heard about this group that meets every other Saturday for something called a "hash"... which is really a hike. Today was their 600th hash, so we decided to finally catch up with them at 2:30 today & see what it's all about!

First I have to tell you that last night we woke to some strong thunderstorms & heavy rain beginning around 3 am. At 10:00 this morning, it was STILL raining hard. I have no idea how much rain we actually got, but it was the most I've seen in one stretch since arriving here! On our drive to the hash, we noticed a number of landslides along the way, and one car looked like it had been submerged in an overflow across the road. Although it finally stopped by now, we are surely going to get muddy today!

We were prepared for the mud... extra set of clothes (and shoes), and camera in underwater housing (in case it rains again!). I wore my high-topped hiking boots... which are not that comfortable, but I was told it would only be about an hour hike so I could handle that.

At the beginning, we had to sign in (then sign out when we get back)... indicating that we were "virgins"... first-timers. There were quite a few virgins on this one, I guess because this was their 600th hash. They have different people who lay out the trails each time, so the guys who set this one were acknowledged. In preparation for these hashes, they usually need to cut the brush back to create the trail to follow. Sometimes I hear these guys get a bit over-enthusiastic in creating a challenging trail. Today we heard there were 3 trails for: walkers, runners, and ironmen. (We're doing the "walkers" trail... we're not nuts!)

I'm including a link to the photos I took: Webshots Album
I've captioned most of them, and there are a couple very short video clips to really give you an idea of what the environment was like. Overall, we had a good time, although it took us about 1-1/2 hours to finish! (Sometimes the trail got bottled up when people had to go single file to get through an area.) We're looking forward to doing it again since it's really great exercise! (At least it's a way to work off the alcoholic beverages consumed during the event!)

Upon returning home, the first order is to clean up the mud off our boots and get the clothes in the laundry! Then after a shower (and some medical attention to relieve the blisters on my heels), I'm sitting here posting the photos. In a few minutes, my head will be meeting the pillow for hopefully a restful and QUIET night of recuperation!

2 October 2008 - Thursday

A Brush Past the Prime Minister!

We went for groceries today and just happened to pass by Grenada's new Prime Minister Thomas Tillman... in the grocery aisle! http://www.gov.gd/ (He was just elected in July.) We noticed an official-looking car sitting out front, and there seemed to be a bit of excitement when we walked into the store. But no one gave us a second look. As we walked down the soap aisle, he passed us on his way to the front of the store. (By the time we got to the check-out, he was gone.) He had at least one bodyguard with him, and I'm sure there was more security there, but it seemed to be no big deal. I could have easily touched him as he passed me.

Today started out with a very strong and hard rain storm, but once it passed it turned out to be a beautiful day... with big puffy white clouds in the sky! So we ran outside and finally rolled the last bit of paint on the side wall of the house. The only thing left to do outside is some trim work.

I'll leave you with a photo of Scott in our car... with our old La-Z-Boy recliner on top, ready for delivery to a friend of ours here. Who says we need a "truck"?!

1 October 2008 - Wednesday

Happy October!

I'm sitting here this morning watching another beautiful sunrise! I suppose the mornings back in PA are turning crisp by now... not something I'm missing.

Thought I'd talk about the street market in St. George's. Every Saturday morning, the city is alive with street vendors selling local produce & spices. There is also a Fish Market and Meat Market... buildings where you can go to purchase the fresh "catch of the day". Occasionally, we'll trek to town, with our cooler ready to see what's in store! Last week, we bought some pork at the Meat Market. It's a pretty gross place... as you can see in the photo. There are about 6 or 8 spaces for vendors in the building... 3 on each side. Each one is behind a counter with bars that go to the ceiling (looks like prison bars). They all have a really old looking chopping block, probably from a tree stump! And believe it or not, when they chop the meat for you, some of it actually splashes through the bars at you! (I had to try to protect my camera from it!) Scott thinks this place is really cool... I think it's gross.

Today I have a haircut planned, along with a bit of shopping for a few items for the house. We need a few large pots so we can transfer a couple large plants that have become root-bound (on the veranda). The decision is whether to get the kind made with cement... or to use plastic ones that look like pottery. I'm still trying to figure out where the best place is to purchase them.

NOTE: There's a new "Big" in town! We've noticed another large lizard (not quite the size of Mr. Big) hanging out in Mr. Big's area. This one is brown... and doesn't seem to be very friendly. AND I'm not sure, but Tail-less Joe may still be here! We've trimmed back the bush that he used to lounge on, so he must have gone somewhere else temporarily.

More later!

27 September 2008

House Painting

New Paint! ... I can finally show you what I've been up to for the past month! I got up early this morning (before dawn) to take a new photo of the house, showing the new yellow & green color scheme. I the lights with the new sconces on the walls to be visible in the photo. We still have a second coat to do on the piece partially hiding behind the palm trees, and a little more trim work to do. Then that will leave only one wall to do yet... the one not seen on the right side of the house. Scott helped to finish this side because we needed to use his 40' ladder.

We had planned to completely finish the front side today, but it turned out to be quite rainy today... painting between the raindrops proved to be nearly impossible, so we finally gave up for the day.

On the lower level (in the front) will be a 1-bedroom apartment. Right now we're just using the space for storing stuff like wood, paint, ladders, etc. We'll probably start looking for windows as soon as the exterior painting is finished. Scott's workshop is also on the lower level, just behind the apartment. And our living space is completely on the upper level.

At the end of the day, while we were sitting on the veranda (waiting for another shower to pass), we were treated to one of the biggest rainbows we've ever seen! Both ends were fully in view... just couldn't fit it all in my camera lens. I even got the binoculars out to see if I could spy the "pot-o-gold"!

The big news for this week is that we finally signed up for CABLE! No more negative black & white Fox News! We now get all the basic network stations (and were able to watch the presidential debate Friday night)... ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, Fox, CNN, and a few others that I'm not real familiar with yet. Since I've never had cable before, I'll have to learn how to use it (with our VCR)!

19 September 2008 - Friday

Just Imagine... It's September, and it's a presidential election year. Imagine not getting any political phone calls or tons of junk mail... or passing by the clutter of all the yard signs along the roads wherever you go. Do you think you would miss all that? Nah... we don't! I'd say it's even worth a few mosquito bites to not have to endure all the political banter! Yes, we are both following the headlines and planning to cast our votes by absentee ballot this year. It will definitely be an election for the history books!

Speaking of mail... we still haven't received our electric bill yet. Haven't heard anything from them since they called to tell us our bill was so low! (Maybe they decided it wasn't worth sending us a bill this month? Ha!)

I'm hearing that the weather in PA has gotten cooler, especially at night. I can tell you I certainly don't miss that either! Although it's been a bit cooler here the past few days (because of rain)... temp outside was down to 76 yesterday afternoon... I expect it will warm up as soon as the sun returns. Then we'll see the temp back up in the mid-80's again.

Since Scott finished all the screen doors, we've been sleeping with the door open (the one going out to the veranda), and it's been very comfortable... even without the fan running. While I continue to paint the house, Scott is the "doorman"... he's painting/staining all the interior doors now. (Every now & then he has to take a break to help me with the ladder.)

The weather was really bad yesterday... it poured! Since I couldn't paint, we took that opportunity to go to the bank & open a checking account. That took about an hour! We already have a savings account, so this should have been a breeze... you would think. We filled out so much paperwork! The girl brought out a well-worn manila file folder with the words "Personalised Cheques" handwritten on the front of it. Then she kept typing on her keyboard. (It seemed like she was writing a novel!) She pulled out a pack of checks, which looked like a loan payment booklet... the kind with a stub to the side of the check. These would be our temporary checks until we get our "personalised" ones. But first, she has to get our new account number on them. Now she pulls out one of those gigantic rubber stamps and dials in our 10-digit account number. Then she runs through and stamps each one of the 25 checks in that booklet! So now I ask about ordering checks, thinking we'll have to make that difficult decision of which design & color we can both agree on. She gives me the order form to fill out and I tell her I don't know what to enter for the "style". (She still hasn't shown me the designs available.) She then says, "You can get them like these (pointing to the temporary checks), or you can get them with a duplicate copy." That's it! Those are my only choices! Guess it made the decision a whole lot easier! So now we have a checking account here, which will make it a little easier paying our bills.

Well, that's all for today... Come back often for more!

Photo Description: A view of our living space... you can see my computer set-up on the left side. (This is my Photoshop & Skype station!)

Sad News... We think Mr. Big has met his maker. Neither of us had seen him all day today, and late this afternoon Scott discovered a dead lizard in the grass behind the carport. I think it was Mr. Big. I don't know what went on here last night, but I haven't seen Tail-less Joe today either. Although there are still a number of other lizards hanging around, those two seemed the tamest. We've seen Mr. Big just about every day since we arrived here.

17 September 2008 - Wednesday

22 inches...

That's what Scott announced to me today... "22 inches". Of course, I had no idea what that could possibly mean, but at the time I was busy painting so I didn't bother responding. He then said it again later in the day... "22 inches". Finally I had to ask... "Which means what?" He then says, "22 inches is how wide the bathroom door is." By now I'm pretty curious because I still have no idea what he's talking about. Well, we've been planning to put the washer & dryer (which are still packed in the boxes) in the master bathroom... there's plenty of space in there. But here's the problem... they're 23-1/2 inches wide. Oh well, I've been hand washing my own laundry but using an old washer that was left here for cleaning old work clothes. (It doesn't do a very good job of cleaning.) So I'll continue hand-washing for a while longer. He still hasn't figured out how we're going to get them working on this electric system anyway. Gotta come up with a Plan B!

Critters...

I made a mistake the other night... about the mongoose in the photo on my previous entry. We discovered that it was NOT a mongoose, but something they call a "manicou"... which is simply their version of a possum! (We're still having trouble understanding the Caribbean lingo!) Click here to see a description: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opossum

The lizards here are just so cute! There are 2 distinctive ones that have been hanging around... we see them every day. One is fairly large... about a foot long including his tail. I've named him Mr. Big. He's much bigger than all the other ones we've seen. Then there's another one missing his tail. I call him "Tail-less Joe" (like Shoeless Joe Jackson?). He's only about 4-5 inches long. I was so close to Tail-less Joe today that my paintbrush could have poked out his eye! He was lounging on a bush while I was painting the steps to the veranda. Seriously, he was all stretched out on the branch like he was taking an afternoon nap! If I made too much noise, he'd open his eye to peer at me... but didn't move any part of the rest of his body! They seem to be very curious and interested in us... I think we could easily make them our pets! Joe is beginning to grow a new tail... don't know how I'll tell him apart from the others then!

I painted between the raindrops today... trying to time it so the stuff I painted had a little chance to dry before getting wet. I'm hoping to get a call that our terra cotta sconces are ready tomorrow. We ordered them to be glazed dark green to match our trim & roof color. Once we get them installed, I'll take another photo for you.

This evening (before dark) we took a quick drive over toward LaSagesse, which is a beach area on the Atlantic (east) side of the island... not far from us. We stopped at a roadside bar called Runaway Bar. Beer was cheap here ($4 EC per bottle), and it was a nice little place... with a pool table. We'll have to stop in there again sometime. They were very nice there. Other than that... we haven't been out & about for some time!

Till next time...

8 September 2008 - Monday

Had a little excitement here this evening! We heard a bit of noise outside this evening and finally Scott went to investigate. Then he came back inside, telling me to grab my camera & come out! There was a mongoose on the electric wires out in front of our property and the neighbor boys were trying to knock it off. These animals are not native to Grenada, but they were brought here years ago to manage the snake population. Now I'm told there are no snakes on the island, so I'm not sure what they're eating now! When this one was finally knocked off the wires, one of the boys grabbed it by the tail and we could get a better look at it. (Looks like a possum!) I think they were planning to eat it... so I left as soon as I got my photos! By the way, the tree behind him in the photo is a bay leaf tree! (Yea, the one used for seasoning!)

So here's another story for you: I've included a photo of the local Ace Hardware store. Many of you have asked what the shopping is like here. Well, it depends. This is a new location for this store, and it's probably the one most like our hardware stores back home. We've been buying all our paint here, so we've really gotten to know the paint manager! We're in here at least once a week!

There is another store in the city that sells hardware & household supplies... Hubbard's. Well, we needed a small piece of plexiglass cut for our back door. So we went to a shop in the city that we've had cut glass for us in the past. But they don't cut plexiglass. When we asked where we could get it, they sent us to Hubbard's. (And we were just there prior to this stop!) So we drove back through the windy city streets to get to Hubbard's... meandering along on all the one-way streets leading us back there. We went inside looking for the glass counter. Finally someone asked to help us and led Scott out into the parking "garage" to a space with a locked door in the corner. The worker unlocked the door to where they stored and cut the glass. He pulled out a 4'x8' piece and Scott told him "No... don't you have something smaller than that? I only need a piece less than 8 inches by 15 inches." So they found a smaller piece, but they wouldn't cut it before it was paid for. So now Scott goes back inside (& the worker locks the door), then he leads Scott over to the cash register to pay for the plexiglass. Once he pays for it, he has to go to the Information Desk... where she records it in a big book! Now this has taken at least 15 minutes for him to pay for this glass. Then he takes his receipt back out to the parking garage so the guy can cut it. The worker unlocks the door (again), and proceeds to pull out the 4'x8' sheet. Scott again tells him not to cut it from that large piece... first of all, that piece is too thick. So the guy pulls out ANOTHER 4'x8' piece. Scott says, "No... just cut it from this small piece here. We already picked this one out earlier." The worker tells him he can't cut it from that piece because it's not what his receipt says he paid for. He says we need to go back inside and get the receipt "exchanged". By this time, Scott doesn't care if he paid too much for it... he just doesn't want to go through the obstacle course of getting the paperwork changed! But the guy won't cut it without the proper receipt. So back inside we go... first to the cash register. Then we take the receipt to the Information Desk so this girl can write it correctly in her "book"! (There's a computer right in front of her, but she doesn't seem to use it.) The worker that's going to cut the glass was trying to get us through, so he asked her the dimensions for the piece (which were 7-1/4" x 14-3/4"... can you see how this could get messed up?). He didn't write it down, but he disappeared while we were still waiting for her to finish the receipt. I had a feeling that he went to cut it so it would be done by the time we got back to him... but that worried me! Anyway, finally we finished getting the proper papers and went to find the guy... who was back inside that locked room. He came out & handed us our piece of plexiglass... which was NOT cut to the correct size! So he had to cut it again for us anyway. For one little piece of glass, we spent nearly an hour to get it... and had to go through about 4 different people for this one item! This is the kind of customer service that seems to be typical here on the islands.

Our next stop was to Ace Hardware for more paint. The first thing I noticed near the paint counter was a display of glass & plexiglass... which could be cut to size! The people at Ace are much easier to deal with... more like home.

Well, after 2 days of rainy/cloudy weather, I'm looking forward to getting a good jump on more house painting tomorrow. By the way, I think I've found a new vocation... as a house painter!

4 September 2008 - Thursday

If you take a look at the photo, you can see what I've been up to! We decided to work on the carport area first... because it was a small area that we could actually complete to get an idea of what the whole house will look like. The top photo shows the mess around the eaves that is part of the reason why we need to paint. This is all the result of replacing the roof. (And the inside of the house is the same way!) We still need to finish the screen door on this entrance... and we plan to paint (or re-stain) the bench near the steps. Scott added the shelves above the sink... they were originally in the bedroom I just painted. And he built a new base for the propane tanks. The tanks, by the way are for our gas stove.

Re-using the shelves is typical of how things are done down here... anything can be "re-cycled"! Because things are so expensive, you don't just throw things away. Instead of buying plastic trash bags for the small wastebaskets, we use the shopping bags from groceries. We wash out the frozen food baggies & use them again. If something gets broken, you try to have it repaired... instead of running out to buy new. That's just the way it is here! We are even so happy to have empty gallon paint buckets that we can use for other things! And of course, we re-use our water bottles.

A funny thing happened today, but first I have to tell you about a gift we received a few years ago. One time we were talking with friends about how we thought those motion-detector frogs (& similar items) were silly... and who would want one? So one of them gave us a fake rooster (with real feathers). The bird has batteries (in the rear) and crows when loud sounds startle it. Well, Joey figured out how to get the thing to crow all the time so we moved it to an area where it was on display but wouldn't be disturbed. We brought the rooster with us (but took the batteries out... or so we thought). This afternoon we were sitting outside & heard a rooster crowing. This is not an unusual sound around here since there are chickens roaming everywhere. But the crowing continued... until we realized we changed the ringer on our cellphone to "Rooster"! Of course, by that time we missed the call.

So the other part of the story is that I returned the call & it turned out to be the local electric company looking for Scott. They were concerned that our electric bill was so LOW and wanted to know why! Scott was shocked at how low it was (and I'm now dancing about it, thinking I don't have to turn everything off all the time), and they're trying to figure out the reasons for it. Well, our tenant had a lot of computer equipment that was on all the time, and there were 4 in the family... plus the fact that the house was empty for a month. Anyway, the way things get messed up down here, we're not exactly dancing for joy just yet! We'll wait & see what the bill looks like NEXT month!

Well... guess that's all for now! Tonight's Quiz Night at the Gem! Hopefully Hanna won't mess up any weekend plans at home!

31 August 2008 - Sunday

Hope everyone is having a pleasant Labor Day weekend! We've been following the path of Hurricane Gustav & TS Hanna. Gustav actually passed over us (last Saturday)... while it was still a tropical depression. He just gave us a day full of rain and a few gusts of wind. We're sitting here tonight checking in on Louisiana's preparation for when he makes landfall in the US. Hopefully, he won't cause any major catastrophes.

Today we worked around the house (again). While Scott worked on trimming the grass (we weedwhack here instead of "mowing"), I pulled weeds & cleared the yard of rotten fruit. We "attacked" a few of the banana trees that were covered with vines & cleaned up around the base of them. Then we mounted a set of shelves Scott made for above the slop sink in the carport. I painted the base of the sink after that. While I cleaned up the mess, Scott worked on repairing a small window on the back door that's been broken since we moved in. And I think I saw my first scorpion! It certainly looked like one... but I thought they were much bigger. It was only about 3/4 inch long (curled up). I found it when I was sweeping up the carport.

The past few weeks I've been working on what we call the PINK bedroom. There was a lot of touch-up work to do since there was pink paint splattered on everything. I've finished repainting the room (a beautiful warm beige!), cleaned the windows, scraped the pink paint spots off the linoleum floor, stripped & waxed the floor, cleaned up the closet doors & removed paint from the mirror (whew!). We now have room for one overnight guest! (Unless you want to get cozy with 2 on a twin bed!) I still need to get the curtains done for the room, and do a little more touch-up work on the dresser. (Photo shows the pink room when we first stayed in the house.)

We're having a little trouble with cell phones this week. The Motorola Razr flip phone I gave Scott to use (with the Grenada phone number) just died this week... a blank white screen is all we get. We still had the Nokia phone that we got with the Grenada SIM card, so we just moved the card back over to that phone... but it needed to be charged. Unfortunately, I wasn't paying attention (again) to the voltage situation and I plugged it into the same adapter we'd been charging the flip phone on. So now I've "fried" that phone too! No... Scott was NOT happy about having to find a way to fix this problem! But being the electronic "wizard" that he is, he finally got the charger to work again. We're still not sure the phone wasn't damaged, but it seems to be working now. By the way... if anyone out there has an old (unlocked) Motorola Razr phone they want to get rid of... or trade for my Palm Treo - give me a shout!

Wanna get an idea of what it's like driving in Grenada? I used the video mode on my little point & shoot camera and then posted a couple short videos (on YouTube) of part of our drive from home to town. Let me know what you think! Here's Part 1:

... and here's Part 2 (taken the next day):

30-31 July 2008 - Wednesday/Thursday

Well, we’re definitely beginning to settle in here. There’s not too much to report on while we work on getting organized in the house, so it won’t be necessary to send out a “daily” journal.

The past 2 days I’ve spent fine tuning the living room & my business computer setup. Yesterday I assembled a couple floor lamps & replaced the plugs on 4 lamps with the European 220v style. Today I finished cleaning up our old stereo speakers & hooked them up the receiver I had out in the studio… now I have my music! So I was jammin’ with Jimmy Buffet all afternoon!

We finally hung the shower curtain in the middle bath (the only shower that’s working at the moment), so I gave the whole bathroom a good cleaning today and fixed the medicine cabinet.

I’m having trouble coming up with things that I can do without getting Scott involved. I really would like to start painting, but there are other things that need done first… like replacing some of the wood in the cabinets. And until Scott is ready to get involved in that, I’ll just have to wait.

He’s almost finished mounting the lights in the workshop. Not sure what he plans for his next project.

Thought you might find this interesting… here’s a list of some prices for things in the grocery stores here:

Bisquick, 40 oz. ..................... $5.24

Ground Beef, 1 lb.................... 3.89

Eggs, 1/2 doz. ......................... $1.70 (var. sizes & colors together!)

Baking Powder, Calumet............ 2.17

Kraft Grated Parmesan Cheese... 4.96

Applesauce, 25 oz. IGA............. 3.11

Spaghetti Sauce, Ragu 26 oz...... 4.93

Pork & Beans, can..................... 1.22

Kiwi fruit, 1 whole....................... .67

Peanuts in shell, 10 oz............... 2.73

Spaghetti Squash, $1.97/lb......... 4.90

Peas, 1 lb. Frozen...................... 2.12

Skim Milk, 1 liter (shelf milk)....... 3.68

Margarine................................. 2.05

Crystal

NOTE: This is finally the last entry I've been trying to catch up with! Next time I'll be current with the date posted.

Photo Description: Sunrise & Mt. Gazo... and Bathroom 2.

29 July 2008 - Tuesday

Today I decided to get some laundry done. I have a new washer & dryer that we brought with us, but Scott needs to figure out how to get them to work on this electric here. In the meantime, the previous owner left a washing machine so Scott set it up in the carport & we’ve been using that for laundry… then hanging everything either on the porch or in the carport. We just have to keep our eyes peeled for passing showers! Actually, the wash can hang out there without getting wet from the rain… unless it’s blowing from the east (which it did today!). Then it’s a scramble to get it down before it gets soaked again. Of course, by the time we get it all down, the shower has passed & the sun is shining again!

This afternoon we took a trip to the post office to mail some letters & check our mail. We’ve had the box for a few months now, but I don’t think we’ve ever received any mail yet! (In case I haven’t told you… I can’t check the mail because our box is so high up that I can’t reach it! Scott can reach it, but he can’t see inside.) So we went inside to ask for our mail. The woman behind the counter told us that we hadn’t paid the bill for the box! (Scott paid for a year just 2 months ago!) We could see that there was mail for us, but she kept saying we had to pay for the box. Fortunately we happened to have the receipt to show them that we paid, then she gave us our mail. I think there was confusion about whoever had that box before us. I’ve heard that the mail delivery system here in Grenada is really not reliable… now I see how that can be true!

We also stopped for groceries today… with our shopping list in hand! Looking at the prices in the meat department, I think we’re going to be eating a LOT of chicken down here! Meals are going to be a bit of a challenge… at least until we figure out the best way to stretch our dollars. So guess what we had for dinner tonight? You guessed it… chicken!

We met a couple from Texas that was walking down our street this evening. They are mennonite missionaries living just up the road. Said they’ve been here for about 9 months, but are scheduled to be here for 33 months. We talked with them for about a half hour at the bottom of our driveway.

We also stopped to see our friends Mike & Jackie. They’ve been working on re-tiling the floor in their house. They have 4 apartments they rent to the college students. They’re trying to get a lot of work done before the kids come back for the school year. I think they said the first ones will arrive in early August. Before we left their place, Mike gave us a piece of fruit he called a “french kashew”. I’m not sure of the spelling, but that’s exactly how it sounded. So I’m thinking it might be called a French Cashew… but it looks like an apple! Haven’t tried it yet, but I’ll let you know how it tastes!

One thing I noticed is that there are a lot of dogs running around here! They just wander all around the neighborhood, sometimes in packs. I’m not even sure if most of them belong to anyone. A lot of them are a bit on the thin side, and I don’t think anyone gets their dogs spayed or neutered. There are at least 2 hanging around at our neighbor’s house (across from our driveway). Every morning there’s one out behind the house. We’re planning to plant a vegetable garden, but I’m told we’ll have to figure out a way to keep the dogs out of it.

Photo description: Main Post Office

28 July 2008 - Monday

Not much unpacking was done today… except for a second computer. I spent the day assembling Scott’s old computer desk, and setting up this desktop computer for both of us to use. That pretty much took most of the day!

I had trouble getting my antivirus program to work, so I ended up contacting Symantec for help. It was amazing to watch the tech “take over my computer” and make the adjustments from their location… probably India! I sat & watched my screen as the cursor moved about. They ended up removing all remnants of the program on my computer, then downloading a newer version & installed it… all while I watched!

Then I had trouble figuring out how to transfer my email messages from my laptop to here. Of course, in the process I lost a few messages… so if you sent me something today & didn’t hear back, try sending it again.

In the grocery stores, American brands are quite expensive. So until we figure out exactly what some of the local items ARE in the stores, our fridge is sparsely stocked. I asked Scott what he wanted for dinner tonight… hot dogs, canned tuna, or Spam? He suggested we walk down to the neighborhood mart to see what they have. I guess you could call it our local “convenience” store… Sunshine’s Shopping Mart. Turns out the only thing they had in the way of meat was chicken wings. We bought a pack of rolls, some onions, baked beans, and yeast for my breadmaker. Then we came home & fried up some Spam and opened a can of beans! Looks like we might have to head into town tomorrow.

But then, we always have the fresh fruit out of the backyard! Scott brought in a few avocados today. I tried one, but I don’t think they’re ripe yet… it was pretty bitter tasting. I was told they’re usually ready around mid-August.

Scott continued working in his shop… painting and installing fluorescent lighting. And I now have a dedicated transformer for my computer.

We’ve both started taking garlic pills a few times a day… hoping that helps with the mosquito bites. Personally… I don’t think it’s helping.

A number of hard rain showers today, along with lots of wind. I saw how the local birds get their “birdbaths”. During the rain I watched a dove sitting on the electric line outside my window… slowly lift up one wing, then alternating to the other. I guess there’s no need for wasting energy splashing around in a puddle!

Photo description: Sunshine's Shopping Mart