Beer-Drinking Pigs

This is a popular little site: the beer-drinking pigs at the Domino Club.  This started a generation ago with a pig that got hooked on real beer, but he died and the pigs today drink non-alcoholic beer.

Moko Jumbies

These are moko jumbies, characters from folklore that are either mischievous or protective depending on who you ask.  They come out to perform at various events on the island, like Jump Up (which is just a bunch of vendors open late downtown... possibly something we won't attend again).

It's Christmastime! (Can't you tell?)

See?  We can be festive here.  OK, so there aren't any Santas ringing bells, or lights on houses, or - gasp - snow, but we have some cool decorations on poles.

Clothes for sale!

Every morning I pass this guy, selling -- I don't know what... I see shoes and shirts... maybe they're designer knock-offs, but they're probably just a random assortment of items.

More Zaps

I had to add another video showing how much fun(?) it can be to chase around these guys.  (I had to take about a dozen videos before I got some zaps, much less actually caught the flash like in my previous post.)

Fwd: Zap those Mosquitos

We live by the beach and so we have a lot more mosquitos than most, and unfortunately the mosquitos here are very tiny and quick, like gnats in Utah.  One good way to kill them is with a zapper, something shaped like a tennis racquet with electricity going through the lines which gives a very loud, bright, deadly, satisfying shock to insects.  So that's become a common activity around our house: waving this thing around trying to hit these annoying things.

Crab

This is the third type of crab that I've seen, and only rarely at evening and night.

Scouts Marching on Veteran's Day

This march ended in a very scenic spot, eh?

And the scout neckerchiefs have very cool colors.

Baking Cookies

You know it's something special when we use the oven: the kitchen is hot enough, so we rarely use it.  Good thing a dozen oatmeal-chocolate-chip cookies are a special occasion all by themselves.

... make that 11 cookies.  (That's Ella being sneaky.)

Da plane!

This is the seaplane we often see overhead as it goes between airports and docks.  These pictures don't do it justice: it's very low and large as it flies over, and it's a bit surprising to see it so close when driving down the road.

Sunset Silhouettes

Those Darn Bachelors

A few weeks ago, The Bachelor reality show filmed here, disrupting all our parking for the day.  Dancers and moko-jumbies did a special performance, so here is some of the result for you.

Beach Wildlife

Cool, huh?

Cleaning Up Trash

The boys and I worked with the Honest Intentions group last weekend picking up trash at the boardwalk... and beyond.

Halloween & Pumpkins

I'm pretty proud of the work the kids did on their pumpkins this year.

But we definitely had a St Croix experience: after one day in the house they started to go rotten, so I had to move them outside quick.  Can't keep fruit and veggies sitting around for long!

Another quirk here is that, being so rural, we're not close to any subdivisions with dense housing, so there wasn't much in the way of trick-or-treating.  I felt bad for the boys.

Be careful about giving your phone to a mischievous teen, especially when near a pool.

We now have a great little video of Lynnette's reaction to finding some bugs in her appliances.  We cannot release that film.  But now, at only moderate risk to our safety, we can show your her reaction when she found out Ella was taking a video.  Obviously bugs, Lynnette, a phone, and a pool are a volatile combination.

Don't worry: no Lynnettes were filmed during the harming of this video.

Fish on the boardwalk

We're at the boardwalk with the boys for a trash cleaning event, so I gotta get a pick of the fish and the boys watching... or, in Thomas' case, pretending to spear-fish with a bungee cord.

A wave

I came out to the beach for a second this morning before the day started; it's nice just to enjoy the whole environment.  So here's one wave for y'all... I think it's cool how the water goes out before the next comes in... it's soothing.

Sunset

Just another nice sunset for your enjoyment.

Church Music

This is the small boom box we use at church for music.

New Plates

Don't ask me: Lynnette wanted to take pictures of this event for some reason.

Road to the school

It's a nice little drive, isn't it?  But the road is a dirt road, with huge channels due to the runoff from rain.  A little good with a little bad.

Frog

Here's a little frog, about the size of my hand, climbing up our wall.  He's so cute!  I don't understand why Lynnette doesn't want to touch him.

Let them in.

So this is a cool example of a kind of community spirit that has made its way into the culture here: this truck driver has the right-of-way, but he has stopped to let me go.  And typically they will give a quick honk to let you know that they're letting you in, and then the polite thing is to honk back for "thanks".  Often you'll give two quick honks.  So you hear these honks all the time as you're driving... and that's a good thing.  :-)

Homes for Hermit Crabs

Yep... Legos and hermit crabs... you remember playing with those together as a child, right?

Mini-Dolittle

Well, this was bound to happen wherever we live, but it does seem like there are a lot more animals roaming around here than most other places... so here is our resident animal-lover surrounded by a bunch of the species down here at our neighbor's home.  (The cat was above having her picture taken, of course.)

Iguana!

I saw my first iguana today with the boys.  Big!  It's a veritable wildlife refuge around here.

Special Accommodations

Tonight is the priesthood session of the LDS General Conference, which can only be seen in chapels with satellite... unless you're in a remote area where your church satellite is broken and so you get a special link on the internet so that you can watch in someone's home.

Oh, and we get to eat and drink while watching.

:-)

Path to the ocean

Here's our little path to the ocean.

I took this after I cut away a bunch of the overgrowth.  The second picture is me raking the leaves... yes, by kicking them... it's not like you can really rake the rocks.

Customs (coming to a state near you?)

Even though we're in a US territory, you have to go through customs.  Weird.  So when we shipped some of our stuff, we had to clear it through the excise office and then the customs office.  I was tweeting about the experience (where we have to convince them we're not shipping anything new, or anything electronic, or anything resembling a weapon or terrorist-support-tool... luckily we knew all the right answers), when Lynnette whispered that I should put away my camera: there were very prominent signs telling us that phones (and cameras and I forget what else) were forbidden.  I should have taken a picture!

What a sad, sorry state of affairs when we're nervous about using phones and cameras around government officials!  OK, I'll stop now.  :-)

Crab Races

We went to crab races last night: we get to name them and cheer them on as they cross the outer circle.

Thomas named two of ours after his friends McKay and Mason:

Then they put them in buckets, turned them over, and released the crabs!

 (That's Ella's finger, to prove that we were there.)

They raced multiple heats, but our crabs never won.  But Thomas did win a miniature golf certificate afterward, and an Angry Bird coloring book for Ella.

Our driveway

Kind of a pleasant little entryway, eh?