Do You Really Want to See That?

It doesn't matter, you don't have a choice. No photos of Jack and Francie digging in the dirt, cutting pipes, putting pipes together, putting pipes together again. And again. Or any of me on the floor upside down with a glue gun. Not that photos like that wouldn't be entertaining, perhaps even amusing to a slightly bent mind. I realize that. But some things, everyone already knows, just ain't purty, and while purty isn't always my watchword here, well, enough of that.

One very cool bit of knowledge happened yesterday. If you ever need to connect a copper pipe and a PVC pipe I'm sorry for you there is now a wonderful product called SharkBite that will do the trick in a jiffy without finding a welder. Or pretending to be a welder. Even a welder we talked to likes them. A very cute welder who also does tree work and is going to do some here. And we get to watch. And we will. Wait, SharkBites. Yes. Check them out.

After a long day of mainly watching Jack and Francie work (I finished cleaning out an orange tree, put some sealant goop on a window edge and watched glue dry), it was time for another walk to the lake. An afternoon walk. My eyes were so sun stunned the other morning a more mellow time appealed.

The Great Blue put up with me a little bit longer this time. 

But not much longer

I love how these birds literally run on the water. I want to do that!

We watched their antics for awhile. We actually have these birds in Culebra too, but I've never seen so many do this ballet.

Or maybe there just isn't the expanse of fresh/brackish water for them to run and glide on (in other words, escape the human who wrecked their very calm cocktail party)

This eye striking - not literally, my dear - plant grows on the land just up from the water. Does anyone know what it is? And if you know what it is, can it be easily transplanted or started? I'm on a mission to see if I can get some growing in Frnacie's yard. Click for a larger view if need be.

Today we head to Bushnell. Because the center of life is in Bushnell. Or at least propane and wine and liquor are and that's pretty central to my way of thinking.

But for now, the heat is on, the covers are cozy, and I'm not going anywhere.

Have a try and try Thursday. Do something totally. If you can.

Tads and dabs

For a day that started out in glorious fashion, it turned grey and cold early on and never really got back up to par. If I didn't believe in global warming before, I'd have to now as my always counted on formula of 'close the cart due to rain, make the sun come out again' isn't working. I could swear by it for years! It did get sunny nice for a bit but soon it was grey once more and down came the much needed though little wanted during the day time rain. Yes, the gardens are wildly happy.

The birds were acting insanely happy. I wondered if I'd wandered into a Hitchcock movie. Pelicans were doing their normal ballet, but there were also a lot of gulls and frigate birds. Even little sandpipers and ruddy turnstones were zipping around like frenzied pinballs. This one frigate bird actually got a little bit scary. It must have flown DIRECTLY over my head 25 times...and that might be a low number. I kept expecting to get a little plop of poop and kept my mouth shut just in case, but that didn't happen. It was so close (how close was it, MJ?) that it filled up my viewfinder many times, completely blacking it out.

Slightly scary frigate bird...

Gull in mid-dive (they skim the water rather than entering head first)

Three guys were in a flats boat casting their nets for bait on a shallow edge down the bay. Between them and the birds I was entertained for about an hour until the wind came up cold and filled with rain mist, moving me inside. A nice warm bowl of spaghetti and sauteed chicken with a still sun warm sliced tomato was perfect (ok, I'm lying...the tomato was room temp, which made it SEEM sun warmed). The cast net boys didn't look like the weather was phasing them at all.

One net blue net

Two net white net

Bing! I love the circle splash of a well thrown cast net

From Coralations, the word has come in that the March 18/19 Terruno meeting is officially cancelled with a signed and stamped order. "They will re apply with proper commercial and adjacent property notifications to all." and that is the story as of now. Yes, you may do a cartwheel for now!

I read a great list today. Some of it is not applicable to Culebra of course, but enough is and it's a good enough list that I thought I'd share it. It comes from ecosalon.com which looks to be a fun and interesting blog to peruse. Sometime. But for now, check out the list...

Broke? 20 Fun Things to Do Without Spending a Dime

You don't even have to be broke for it to do you good. So turn off the computer and go do something!