Rain, Glorious Rain!!

I took this as a sign of good rain to come, and it was!

Yesterday and last night we finally got some real rain. Rain that has softened the earth under my feet, filled or at least partly filled tanks and cisterns. Rain that will nourish the oh so thirsty creatures and plants whose gasps were on the sublevel of audible. At first it was teasing as a 7th grade girl at the first school dance of the year but finally, as night closed down, it rained in earnest, pounding on my tin roof, better than the sweetest lullaby sung by a choir of 7 year old Swiss boys. I slept more deeply than I have since I last let Advil PM take me to dreamland. Glorious.

I felt bad for tourists, but we've waited a long time to see this!

 Oh, wait!! We've got some

 Only minutes ago, this came in from Lori!

photo credit: AWC

Thanks to a huge effort by many dedicated people, the mama pot belly pig and her offspring are departing Culebra this morning in an ACDEC truck, headed for the Humane Society of Puerto Rico. A permanent sanctuary will be their final destination. Thank you, Maritza and Claribel, for your help here!!

Animal Welfare of Culebra, along with private citizens, became engaged in their fate more than a year ago. It has been a long journey for these pigs, and we are thankful that the Humane Society of Puerto Rico has offered their assistance. Dr. Yesenia Fernández Soto has made some contacts for the pigs' sterilization.

The Flamenco Beach staff has been truly magnificent with the care of these pigs for a few weeks. We are extremely appreciative of their hard work.

Here's to great teamwork, and a happy ending,
Lori Novis
AWC Volunteer

And now, back to our regularly scheduled program.

It's been so dry that the iguanas were eating up my aloe

How dry was it, MJ?

It was so dry that iguanas were eat...ok, I mentioned that already. Different iguana though.

It was so dry that iguanas were sticking out their tongues hoping for rain drops.

It was so dry that this fellow, in an effort to make me forget that he had been eating my cantaloupes, had to pose and look as adorable as an iguana is ever going to look.

 That's how dry it's been.

On the other hand, with a little help from the hose, the garlic, half eaten cantaloupe and tomatoes in this pot are doing well. The screen is for covering them to keep them safe from the aforementioned iguanas.

Down at Flamenco, much to my suprise, there are moringa trees growing! I tried to grow one and it got to be about 30 feet high before succumbing to the drought. This one is flourishing! If you don't know about moringa trees, they are pretty fascinating if you enjoy that sort of information.

One of the Moringa trees on island

The reason I mention them is because they are incredibly drought hardy. And even though mine died, I'm not giving up, I've got a pretty challenging growing situation here. So when the pods are ready, I'll be back at Flamenco to ask for a few and try again.

Some sweet waves at Flamenco on St. Paddy's Day

Yesterday a group of folks headed out for a day sail on a beautiful boat. I didn't go along but I did get this photo of them leaving the bay! Reports back were that the real rain didn't start until they'd gotten back on the hook. It had been pretty crazy gusty on and off during the day, but it looks like this boat could handle that just fine.

While I was on the dock, I looked over to the little floating dock and this fellow was sitting there. Well, sort of sitting. His leg was injured and I thought maybe he was hungry and/or thirsty.

He didn't think much of my attempts to help him out and right after giving me a scolding, he jumped into the water and slowly paddled away. Sometimes Mother Nature just laughs.

  Have a torpidly tropical Tuesday. Do something (a)typical!