Where the HELL is the Sun????

It is fricking cold! Right now it is 3 o'clock and 67 degrees. There is no sun, so we had to connect back to the grid since it will be like this for a few days supposedly. This is the crap I moved AWAY from! The warmest thing I have to wear is jeans and a sweatshirt and I could use another layer. Jeff did manage to mow this morning and collect all the pumpkins (8) and some water coconuts that now sit out on the wet driveway. I screwed up my fixed shoulder and did inside things.

The native mangoes are blooming like crazy and I can hear the bees swarming around. But look...grey grey grey. It is kind of a bright fog I guess, but very Seattle.

So I wandered around the yard in the gloom looking at the bright flowers.

Looking out the front porch/cat room it is foggy grey grey grey. It is also doing the Seattle style rain - just a gloomy drizzle..only .24 inches in the last 24 hours. We do need the rain, so when the sun comes back things will be great.

A wet driveway and oh, I guess I can put the hose away.

Looking toward the back of the property it is just a reflective white/grey. No bright sun...no shadows..no perfume smells from blooming stuff, just cold and wet, and lots of leaves on the ground.

Yup, grey.

I really like the Puerto Rico rain we usually get - huge cracks of lightening and thunder and a torrent of rain that goes away. Then the sun comes out. I guess this is saving me from myself - I hurt my shoulder and really don't want to mess it up more by working outside. No cave this weekend. No diving this weekend. I think this is the first weekend we have had just at home in forever! It is dark too. I need a mood elevator. Guess I'll make some coffee and find things to distract myself with and hope it isn't this way again tomorrow!

First Day of Work and Mother Nature Conspired Against Me

I started my new job today at Honeywell. I'll be doing the same kind of work I did in the states, electrical test engineering. I have been looking forward to start working. It's a bit of a drive and I gave myself 2 hours today because I don't know what traffic is going to be like. It started raining around midnight and didn't stop. It was really really raining! All the past pictures of waterfalls and rivers in our yard don't come close to showing what was flowing last night! I left the house at 6:30AM. I managed to drive over some small streams and big puddles and got to the main highway #2. Then about 2 minutes later the traffic just stopped. I waited about 40 minutes then decided to turn around and head the opposite direction in the breakdown lane and exit the highway from the ON ramp! It's ok because other people were doing it. I tried three other ways to get past this section but each was blocked by flooding. It was now starting to get light and I stopped at the police station hoping they would tell me how to get around the flooding. They told me to go home and wait a few hours. I called work and told them the problem. I started heading home and decided to give the highway one more chance. Surprise surprise it was open. I got to work after 9AM but I didn't miss anything. Getting home was no problem but I did see a big cow walking down the median of HW 2. There was a police car following it. I think the weather reports said we got a foot of rain. What a way to start my first day. I hope the rain stops soon. It's still raining. At least we never lost power!

Rainy Weather Water Features

When you walk our property in good weather you can see some mini ravines where rocks are exposed and you know water has gone through there a lot. Until now we just haven't seen it. With the torrential rains of the last few days we now know what dug those ditches....water.

It's a good thing we've got a troll bridge - we could hear the roar of the water and needed the bridge to explore. Wow. A lot of water has moved through here. When the rain stops it is dry but with the rain of the last few days we had a private stream.

Here's a view of the "creek" from up under the big old native mango.

Look - a waterfall!

It's hard to see but the dirt came down and up and over our little wall - guess we need to go up a block! Good thing the landscape blocks are easy to work with - just plop the new ones on top!

Bepo the Cat's Big Day or Wipeout?

The day started out rainy - something new for us, usually it is sunny in the morning always. Bepo the cat needed to be bribed with food so she could go off to the vet for "the surgery." I was hoping she would be there and yes...all the kitties were huddled under a bench ready for breakfast. We put her in a carrier without incident (different story than with Princess), put her in the car and the game show began! Here I am doing little steps down the "slippery driveway obstacle course." Very slippery and wet. (Note the new wall on the left.)

Next up was the mud pit - no sucker punch on the wall though.


Then we had to drive through the water cannons which spewed mega water directly onto the windshields of passing cars!

More water cannons.

We dropped off the cat and returned home to the final obstacle - the "closed and locked rejas gate" and "water slide" which I had to navigate to get to the house. Jeff had to drive the truck-with-spinning-wheels up the slippery slope. I'll walk, thanks! We have a rerun at around 4 when we pick up the cat and then we start the reality show called "Bepo lives in the shower for 5 days." Oh - and the Weather Channel says this is "light rain." In the same breath they also say to expect "flash floods."

Olga

After lots and lots of sunshine tropical storm Olga came to Puerto Rico and the Kruse household. Everything in the house was damp, the temperature dropped 6 degrees to 72 in a half hour, and the skies opened and dumped lots and lots of rain! The wind was howling and we actually had to close up some of the windows and the kitchen door. We felt like we were in a zoo exhibit and someone hit the rain switch. Lots and lots of rain in giant drops, banana trees falling over in the yard, seed pods flying around and coconuts dropping. We had a mini waterfall coming off the hill, around the house, around the tree in the front and then down another hill to the driveway. Very wild and kind of neat. It was warm and the house was mainly open. The lights flickered a couple times before going off for a little bit.

These views are from the enclosed porch area. Look at the size of the drops!

The activities went on most of the night and most of the following day. It lightened up by around 3:30 or so in time for our visitors to come by. Boqueron Beach is park of the Puerto Rico system of beaches where you actually have to pay ($3) and there are facilities. Of course there are many beaches that are free (most) but the balnearios have changing rooms, bathrooms, lifeguards, a rip tide flag system, BBQ areas etc. The ground was a little hard (rained the previous night) but the sand was sand (not cobble like in Seattle) and the water was a glorious 80 something. The sun was out, the beach was pretty much empty and it was a nice day!

No one on the beach...no one in the water. Pretty weird for December in a warm, tropical place.

My style of beaching is to get my little green air matress, blow it up so it is soft and go float and daydream in the water! With it soft I can be partially underwater but still have my head out and I can just simply rest. That way I get a little sun, a little water, a few little bobbing waves...but first you have to get warm enough to get in the water. Jeff doesn't like to sit for long so he went in the water and then took a jog on the beach snapping these photos.