My Washington St Visit

I have been having a great time visiting my family and friends. I got to meet my new niece and play with my nephew. He loves watching TV now. I say "TV Caiden" and he says "ok" and either stands in front of it or climbs on the couch with me. I timed my visit with my mom's visit so I could see her as well. One week is too short but I do miss Katrina and the 11 cats. We had a few good days of weather. Tomorrow its going to be cold and rainy but I'll be scuba diving from a boat so I'll be cold and wet anyways.

Shelly and Chloe

Caiden in his scuba gear.


Oops  Here's a picture of last Sunday's dive trip in the San Juan Islands. We found a "new" dive site of Blakely Island with huge rock fish and ling cod. Lots of big rockfish, much bigger than the fish we see in Neah Bay. Good terrain but the vis was only 15 feet. We dropped right down to our MOD of 120'.

Self portrait on Mt Pilchuck.

Anthony unprepared for a hike in the snow

Here's the gang (Anthony is taking the photo)

What you can't see is the howling wind. We took shelter in the lookout tower. No one wanted to go outside.

Kayak polo on Wednesday night. The weather was perfect, nice and still.

We played a little late in the evening. It got dark so we had to turn the big lights on.

Need Coffee Help and Road Scene

We've got three coffee bushes that are starting to ripen. I've looked on different websites to figure out how to process the beans, I've tried the methods and haven't had much success. The beans aren't ripening at the same time (which is normal). I read that you either ferment or dry the red flesh off and I tried the drying method and then just squished it off with my fingers. When I did that the beans looked like the ones on the plate. I put them out to dry and another almost resin like layer cracked off and that didn't leave much to do anything with. I read that it takes 5 years before you get a good crop, but how do you process them? In Papua New Guinea we saw beans on tarps on the ground - sounds like an ant disaster here. If I put them in the solar dehydrator will they dry too fast? Should I just slip off the red part and throw them in a saute pan on the stove on low and try to roast them that way? I'm a novice - help.... I don't expect to be able to make more than a shot but I'm hoping for a taste!


Now that I have the little go-everywhere point-and-shoot camera I can photograph my favorite things. I was on my way somewhere and saw this Dr. Seuss truck wobbling down the highway. Sometimes living in Puerto Rico is like living in a old movie - drivers in beat up cars going 40 on the main highway...drivers in other cars with a different time frame in mind...lots of Dr. Seuss trucks with cans in bags sky high...barrels like these...or horses towering above the driver's cab.

When I got closer I could see that everything was strapped down really really well - as long as it doesn't tip over the load is secure!

Otters, Porpoises, Harbor Seals, Puget Sound King crab and Giant Fish

Otters, porpoises, harbor seals, Puget Sound king crab, and giant fish, all seen in a average day of diving in the San Juans, Washington. The sun was shining (not an average occurrence) yesterday as my friends and I took a diving trip in the San Juans. It was just like old times. We had a great time! The only things we didn't see were whales and bald eagles.

I am having a great visit with my family and friends. My sister just had a baby girl. She definitely looks like a Kruse. My sister's two year old boy is adorable. He is fun to play with. I am teaching him that TV is a good thing.

Adventures at a New Supermarket

Every supermarket here in the west is better for SOMEthing. Pueblo has the meat cuts we like, the Sabana Grande Mr. Special has good vegetables, the Mayaquez Mr. Special has the best prices for canned things and Grande in Yauco has "unusual" things for around here like Pita Chips, artichoke hearts, Dark Rye bread etc. A few days ago I went with my neighbor Awilda to her mom's, a grocery trip to the big Econo in Ponce and then we picked up her husband's truck (he is in the National Guard and just shipped out for a year). Econo was the first supermarket where there were a jillion people working, people actually helping customers (they cut some flank steak for me - and knew what that was) and there were NO LINES! Gobs of people and gobs of checkers! There were very very good prices on things and some very interesting meats.

First you have to understand that I generally dislike meat. I can't eat soy any more so I am stuck eating it and can stomach what I call "disinfected" or "sterilized" meat - meat that doesn't look like what it is. Stuff without bones, fat, skin or anything resembling the animal that it was. So now you can understand my fascination and horror at the meat counter...

Tongue - I understand that in most parts of the world people eat this and enjoy it. I rarely encountered it in US supermarkets and definitely wouldn't spend $6.50 for a hunk of tongue!

I'm not sure what this even is. Maybe pork belly or skin or something. What would you even do with this?

Here's a display of assorted parts. The most striking difference to me in food here is that there is no color. All the viandas are white/brown (and hairy), the fish is all dried and white, all these meat things are white, onion are white. I guess culantro and pimentos are green but not much else. Is this true in the north?

One of my favorites - feet. I'm sorry, but this stuff just gives me nightmares! It is bad enough when you can't tell what it was but when it has wings, or hooves still on it - yuck!

The best for last - bull balls! I didn't realize they had those neat little veins all through them - kind of a neat pattern. Do you cook the crap out of them and stuff them? Grind them up? Fry them? I can't even imagine. There are many foods I enjoy here (Yucca, Name, calabaza, pinons) and some that I just cannot even think about. I am adventurous in a lot of ways but I'd rather eat a bug than a ball.