Progress

Sometimes it is easy to forget that we have really done some things here. We've been here since October 25th and have made some good progress in the yard. Here is some vetiver I planted in March maybe? Note the eroding soil.

Here is the same vetiver keeping things from eroding further. It has reached its full height at about 5 feet or so. I will probably cut it back so it looks like a mini hedge pretty soon. It is a nice looking grass that stays as a nice line so far.


This was what the top area looked like when we moved here - a big tangle of "bad" trees, vines and more vines. Vines on stumps, vines in trees, vines overtaking bushes. You can kind of see the big mango on the right.

Jeff did some weed whacking and we cut some small trees and bushes and let the horses in.

Then we pulled vines and cut trees and removed sticks and stuff and booted the horses out. I left some trees for shade while I started better things under them.

I took this photo today! Freshly weed whacked the area is a lot more uniform without sticks and stumps and fallen trees and bad trees. The tree on the left is a canistel, to the left of the red bush is a pomegranate, to the right of the red bush is the ylang ylang and the agave has grown. Everything I plant is around 6 -12 inches or from seed. Any fruit that I purchase and eat (canistel, mamey, papayas, rambutans) I plant the seed. In general grafted fruit trees will fruit much sooner, but in the case of rambutans the ones you purchase are from seed so what the heck...it is 7 years if I buy one and 7 if I plant the seeds and seeds are free and fun! We bought a mamey de pais (country mamey - smaller fruit and supposedly not the "quality" of the sapote) but I planted a couple mamey sapote from seed. It is really fun to watch them sprout. Some seeds take months to germinate so you have to be patient. I was surprised to have the rambutans and some mango seeds germinate.

Here's a different view that shows my vision of an arboretum kind of happening! Most things are planted at 20 foot centers so there should be plenty of space so things don't compete. Some things like the peanut butter bush, cashew, pomegranate and coffee bushes are 12 feet apart because they are much smaller shrubs. Now I need to work on the paths - a nice flat trail would be wonderful to walk on! I've started trails below in papaya/banana land and really need to do some up top but it is a lot of work. I try to make them after it rains when the soil is soft. Much easier. So that's how things are progressing. Now I am motivated to go out and do more!

How to Get a Tetanus Shot in Puerto Rico

For some reason you decide you need a Tetanus booster, maybe it's because of all the barb wire in your yard... Step 1, go to your doctor (Time & $) and have him give you a prescription. Step 2, find a pharmacy that has the Tetanus vaccine. (It seems to be hard to find) If you had the prescription called in (to save time) you can just go pick it up ($). When you pick it up did they take it from the shelf behind them?
If the answer was yes (like in my case) you need to inform the pharmacist that the vaccine needs to be refrigerated. They might tell you its ok because the store is air conditioned. I told them that 76 degree air conditioning is not the same as being refrigerated and could they please get me one from the refrigerator where it is stored. It might be fine that its not refrigerated but the packaging said it needs to be refrigerated so I wanted it that way. Step 3, Return to your doctor (Time & $) so he can administer the shot.
That's the cost of two Dr visits and the cost of the vaccine. Fortunately I didn't need to pay for the first visit. Seeing a Dr here can be very very time consuming and frustrating but I can also be very easy. We have just about figured it out. I needed an eye exam. I waited till 2pm and then drove to the closest Dr on my list that took my insurance. (It's easier for me to drive in and make the appointment then it is for me to call since my Spanish is very bad). I asked for an appointment and asked how it worked. I was told to come to the office between 5AM and 7AM. Sign up on the list on the door. The office opened at 7AM. Then I would be called to fill out paperwork between 7AM and 9AM. At 9AM the Dr arrives. Some point between 9AM and 5PM I would be called. I said that's CRAZY I cant wait all day. He assured me it wouldn't be all day. He said all the Dr's work this way. I drove to the next Dr on my list and they said they could see me in 20 minutes. No appointment needed right then. Had I come in at 8AM I probably would have had to wait until that afternoon.

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!

Stuff We See Diving

We had a nice dive on Saturday, but conditions were such that we had a rough current and rough surface waves. We opted to skip Sunday and this week looks like it will be very very bad - too much rain and wind. So here are a few images of things we see when we do go diving. Sometimes we see hundreds of these blue tangs schooling. We've seen them going in a huge ribbon in and out of the reef holes out at Jobos (the caves). We see them on the outside and they always look like they are urgently on their way somewhere. I photographed this one in Bonaire.

Almost every dive site here has hard coral and you can always find little gobies and blennies scooting around on the coral highways between individual polyps. This was photographed in St. Croix.

A real treat here is the gigantic sponges that seem to be everywhere. They are not beautiful colors, but are a permanent part of the reef "cityscape." Some of these sponges are larger than washing machines and have brittle stars embedded in their tissues or crabs stuck on the inside. Fish are usually resting at their bases or giving chase around them. This one was in St. Croix.

Here is a tiny Blenny the size of your pinkie fingernail peeking out of a hole in hard coral. I always look for the small things, the strange little movements that don't seem right, the little heads that pop in and out of openings. (St. Croix)

This is one of my favorite images of the lowly worm. There are many different types of worms here and this one is really common. I am mesmerized by the swaying and feathery movements of these creatures and they are one of my favorite subjects! I haven't taken the camera out here yet - not sure what I want to photograph yet. I am enjoying not carrying anything, since in Washington the water was 48 degrees and I had lights, and dry gloves, hood, dry suit etc etc. Here it is 4 pounds and nothing! Little snorkle fins, no hood, just a 3/4 wet suit, surfer shirt under it and that is all. Our last dive was in water 86 - 84 degrees. Very very nice!

Our last dive was in current, so I would stop at anemones like this one for a manicure. The cleaner shrimp will come out from between the tentacles of the anemone and use their little purple pinchers to clean your fingers! It feels really weird and is fascinating. They have little "drive throughs" for fish to pull up to for cleaning. They scoot in and out of fish gills. I guess my fingers are close enough!