are there any Californians living in STX?

I am about 41/2 years throw a 5 year plan and I love STX.

What do you do for entertainment? Was it easy to meet people? I know the pace is slower than here on the mainland. What about shopping? Are the hurricanes scary-I lived in Calif my entire life and no nothing about hurricanes.

BTW, I have a question. I saw a picture of some catepillars on some flowers, I think they were called Frangi. But anyway, the caterpillars looked longer than a snake. How long are the catepillars? From the picture, they looked to be greater than 5 feet long. The colors were black with yellow rings.

Thanks

Sorry, I meant to say in the last post. Sorry, if it takes hours to make a response, just stressed out over these elections today. I am hoping this is election is not stolen again.:S

According to the news, black voters are being told to vote tomorrow instead of today, they are being told if they have any tickets they will be arrested at the polls, voters are complaining of the electronic machines flipping votes, there are protests in L.A. over prop 8. College students are told if they receive student-aid, if they vote they will lose college grants/loans. Last month they tried to tell voters in Michigan if they had a foreclosed home, they couldn't vote.

In Florida, some people are crossing out the names on the ballots, and then writing in the names because they feel their votes won't be counted - but I'm told the ballots are automatically null and void.:-(

It's going to be a long day!!!!

Uh, there aren't any 5' long caterpillars I've ever seen or heard of.

Wow, I have heard none of that on the news. I am happy to say that I voted early this morning in Virginia. The line was long but young, old, black, white and hispanic all were chatting happily. The common theme was how honored everyone felt to have the right to vote and be part of such a great voter turn out.

Voting process in FL is underway and going well, I've heard all those "rumors" that Anjell mentioned but this dis-information came out weeks/months ago. There have also been actions taken to clarify the statement or declare the information as entirely false - unless you're living under a rock, those folks who may have been impacted by the disinformation hopefully got the true facts after all this time. Are there going to be "issues" that come up today? Yes. Elections are a huge undertaking - this election will likely see larger voter turn-out than the country has seen in a very long time. There are bound to be mistakes. A "project" of this magnitude - not everything is going to go just right. Having already lived through a bungled mess of an election in Florida, I sincerely hope we do not ever re-live that experience. And, much work and preparation has gone into the voting process in FL to guard against another such occurence. Florida lines are long this morning but not as long as they would have been if FL had not had early voting and of course absentee ballots. Florida is using brand new machines that were tested during the primary / local elections and, hopefully, all the 'kinks' have been worked out months ago. There won't be any hanging chads......it's a paper ballot where voters mark the circles and then each voter feeds the ballot into optical scanner. If the scanner detects an error, the voter is immediately notified exactly what the error is and then corrects it. "Provisional" ballots are likely going to be an issue because there's simply not enough bodies/resources to complete this manual effort in a time effective manner - this is the only issue that folks around here are thinking will happen. All the folks working the polls, the county election supervisor/resources, local and state resources .....everyone that I see or read about has really been working hard to make this election go smoothly as possible. Well, it is my HOPE that all this hard work and determination will pay off today. The only thing left to do now and THE MOST IMPORTANT THING is to VOTE!!!

I voted this morning in Maryland, pretty smooth - line not too long at my polling place but my sister's in Prince George's County was around the building and into the street. But it's an exciting time.

Hi, Anjell,

Check out this site: http://biological-diversity.info/pseudosphinx.htm. They really are huge!

PT

anjell: You will find lots of fellow conspiracy theorists in the VI. But remember, you give up your right to vote for president here. The caterpillars on the frangipani trees are a couple of inches long. They defoliate the tree and get it ready to create new blossoms. Nature is strange at times.

The biggest bug in the world is one of those stick looking things. They live in Borneo and are under 3feet.

I was born in Torrance but my parents moved me here when i was a baby. I went back to visit...i can see why my parents made the decision to raise me here. i love st. croix. i also love the frangipani caterpillars - i think they're cute! And, yes, hurricanes an be scary. you just have to prepare for them. I, personally, would take a hurricane over an earthquake any day!

Hello everyone, here is where I saw the pictures of the caterpillars - gotostcroix. I had to take a second look. This is what I saw, the cars in the background didn't seem to be enlarged. So I thought, okay, I need more information about this.

I believe it was a picture submitted by a visitor.

Now, here is a question, I've heard there are scorpions on the islands. How big are they, and what color? And the tarantulas, do you go inside any of the condo's, are there certain areas these are seen? I ask because, yes, I am scared. But, I guess this is something I would need to get used to. After all, I was born and raised in the city. I don't know how to fish. I'd like to learn.

Hello Dougtamjj,

I got this information from CNN. Also, about the voters in Florida, Joe Madison from Sirius radio said this last night. I can only say what I see on the news.

Glad to know everything went well in your state. I voted early last week, it was only 5 people there. I voted at UCI-the university in Irvine California.

Hello East Ender,

Yes, I am well aware of not being able to vote for president, same as in PR. It's okay. I'd rather pursue, what I think will be happiness, or peace of mind.

I am also aware that crime is everywhere. But, here in Calif, everyone is always in a rush, people are rude for no reason - well, maybe personal/family problems, and everything is about money, and seems lots of people are not happy.

Hello nforbes,

What is it you do to prepare? I hope I don't sound dumb, but, I've never lived in areas of tornados or hurricanes, only earthquakes.
When I tell people I want to move to caribbean, they always say, "oh, they have hurricanes." I respond, "Yes, well, at least you get warnings, with earthquakes you don't."

Here's a good question, if I am able to get a condo, which is the best floor to live on, middle or bottom. I guess I would be afraid of the top floor, because I know the roof can blow off.

I did see a picture of a bread truck toppled on its side.

Thanks

Read some of the older posts. Lots of hurricane prep info on this thread:

https://www.vimovingcenter.com/talk/read.php?4,87219,87219#msg-87219

I agree with you about earthquakes vs hurricanes. I was born in California, lived in St Croix and I am now back in California. I will soon be returning to St Croix for the rest of my life.

I missed out on Hugo by a few months, was on St Thomas for Lenny, but was in northern California for the Loma Prieta quake. I prefer having some preparation time. I vote for hurricanes.

Bad thing though is that the Virgin Islands has earthquakes too.

Hello Ms. Info.

Yes, I know. However, I am sure there are more hurricanes than earthquakes.

what part of STX are you planning on moving to. I hope I can get there because seeing what I am seeing for the elections, I guess I wouldn't matter if I ever voted for pres again anyway.

More hurricanes than earthquakes??? I certainly hope not -- we are in one of the most active earthquake areas here due to our position on the edge of the Atlantic and Caribbean plates.
use www.wunderground.com - with zip code 00801 and see how many small [ average 3.5 on the Richter scale ] tremors there are daily -and we had a 6.1 just last month.
I am sure there are better sites available for the earthquake info but I see that weather site daily and it always shows quake activity.

Exit Zero,

Thanks for the information. Now you know why people always say, "Stupid American or Dumb American." LOL.

I was already informed long ago I would have to get earthquake insurance. But, the news here on the mainland is very limited. Most of the time I have to look at BBC, C-Span, and Geographic & History channels for information.

When Omar hit, I looked at the weather channel, but not much information except the boats & yachts had spilled oil.

That's why I am looking for information on this blog site, because we don't get much information here.

Any and all information you guys care to share with me would be great.

anjell, In my opinion the scariest "bug" on the island is the centipede. Ugly creature with a painful bite. We have our house sprayed monthly. Next in line worst bugs are fire ants.

I vote for fire ants because I've never been bitten by a centipede. Those ants are all over though...and they are vicious. How is it possible for such a small creature to inflict pain that lasts for days?

Stay out of the garden and watch where you walk and you are fine (they don't come into your house) but they are prevelant.

Sean

FYI - for immediate relief from Centipede and Fire Ant bites just apply WD40. No, I'm not kidding. My husband has been bitten by centipedes multiple times and me by fire ants. Someone told us to try WD40. The last time he was bitten I ran for the WD40 and it stopped the pain immediately. Same for me with the fire ant bites (and they don't develop those white bumps either). It's amazing!