stx today,comments

so generally when i work days i leave work and go to the cab stand at gov house find one of my regular drivers and come home,so wheni left work today i did just that and as i'm climbing into the taxi the driver says trw didn't you get your jeep back and i looked at him and started laughing oh yeah i did i just forgot i drove into town this am, airhead moment, got home and as i'm turning onto my road the front pass tire blew out, if it's not one thing it's another,hahaha

waited on a guy today down here interviewing with judge finch for a law clerk position, really nice guy from dc and he was wondering about crime and all i could think of was don't pick up hitchhikers and be aware at all times and you'll be fine, he thinks he's going to get the job, finch needs to clerks really fast

What was going on this morning kind of across from the courthouse in Orange Grove. Had traffic detouring, lots of lights, etc.

crew finally showed up to do the yard

well after reading the daily news i see more of turmbulls people are in trouble for illegal contracts,lol the fun never ends, and i see the gov is trying to get a bill passed that would let fed agents makes arrests,now does that mean they can bypass local cops and do stuff without them being involved? if so thats a really good thing

date night at the restaurant tonight, lots of couples in for dinner

i brought home blueberry waffles from work yesterday so i could toss them in the toaster for a treat like an eggo,lol pretty good

really tired, just finished 16 hours of busy at work

Did anyone find out what was going on across from the courthouse? Just nosy.*-)

juanita and paula,i asked around but not even the cab drivers know anything on this one and they generally know everything,kid got stabbed at central the other day,he's the grandkid of a lady i work with, the other kid got expelled,lol the grandkid is no angel,a couple of years ago he and some friends got in trouble with homeland security because they had learned how to make explosive devices,must have been something going around back then because that seems to be about the same time the kids up here were learning to make small bombs as well

well it takes about 20 minutes to plant one papaya tree, dig alittle,soak the ground,dig alittle soak the ground repeat until hole is a foot deep,then plant tree,lol i have to do this 49 more times today,lol not sure if it's all going to happen today or not,i'll go till it gets too hot then again late this afternoonj

well got 8 planted, taking a break to watch the history channel, they're doing one of my all time favorite periods in history, the late 1340's,europe and much of the world were going through one of the first global upheavals in society, barriers were coming down because of the plague,everything was being rethought, the church and nobility were starting to lose their hold on the people

nothing really global after that until world war 1 and then 25 years later with world war 2 and then air conditioning,other than that nothing really

papayas done,i did it assembly line thing water dig all the holes water some more dig some more and then plant,went fast that way,now i'm on the pineapples doing the same thing and then the frangiapanni grove by the frontgate,i'll have about a dozen of them in all different colors and scents

damn pineapples are full of barbs,arms all cut up

i've been avoiding this for how long now and it took me what? 3 hours to get everything planted, i still have over a hundred xmas palms in pots but they're not big enough to go in the ground and survive the dogs, so thats a project for another day

so i walk in my bedroom and one of the cats is laying on her back with all 4 legs stuck straight up in the air, i think great, dead cat i don't need the aggravation on my only day off so i decide to leave her there for the tim to deal with when he gets out of bed, so i go out and plant the frangiapannis get that done and start watching the day the earth stood still, go back in the room to see if she's still dead, legs still in the air so i decide to poke her, lol i do and she rolls over and growls at me,no more dead cat

hmm kinda boring movie the whole premise seems to be if mankind should live or die, who cares, the earth itself would be better off if mankind died off, we've done nothing at all to help the planet, let the animals run the place again

well that was 2 hours of my life i'll never get back, what a truly stupid movie

Troy-- does driving with stick shift feel pretty normal by now?

I took drivers ed at home in Texas, moved to St Croix after that and had to get used to both the stick and driving on the left. Thank goodness this was back in 1970 and traffic wasn't much of a probem. I lived in Queens Quarter and one time while driving up the fairly steep hill on Mary's Cross road up to Ridge Road I was almost to the top of the hill at Ridge Road when the little Opal just died! 😮 I pushed in the clutch and frantically tried to keep the car on the road as it rolled back down the hill, gaining speed and ending up in the ditch-- all freaked out hoping my dad wouldn't kill me! I learned to get that old Opal going pretty fast to get to the top of the hill! Fun times...*-)

Paula

yeah getting used to it paula, would like to hear some stories from the 70's from you, it had to have been great here before the advent of crack and all the violence

i went to the cruise ship website for stx and found 18-20 excursions for passengers to do while they are here,who knew

watching the news and the reporter referred to a 40 something year old as "middle age" i strenoulsly (sp) object, that was just downright rude

Well, I was a very staight kid coming in from a small town in Texas, so St Croix was pretty eye opening for me. Crack wasn't a problem, but marijuana certainly was plentiful! Just the year before I got there several of the kids at Good Hope were busted for growing it on top of the drive in theater. A couple had been 'expelled' from Puerto Rico over to live in St Croix for drugs, etc. Drinking was huge. I'm just talking about private school kids-- I wasn't there long enough to know what was happening in the public schools. My boyfriend and I could get a drink anywhere on the island we went-- no carding. We used to go out in a large group to St Croix by the Sea and dance where they never asked to see any id on me (i was 17)-- the week before he was drafted he drank TEN bloody Marys and I had EIGHT Tom Collins-- I don't remember how we drove home, but I'll never forget the look in my moms eye when she opened the door!:-X

As for violence, all I know is we went everywhere and did everything and didn't feel unsafe. Maybe it was stupidity. Hess (Hovensa) was being built and the island was changing hugely. When we got there there was only the Pueblo in Golden Rock to buy food. Sunny Isle was built that fall-- thank God. It was hard to find decent clothes, esp for a teenager, on island-- and I smile now to think how thrilled I was when they built a Lerner's clothing shop at Sunny Isle, with a shoe store nearby! Maybe there were random acts of violence before we got there (1970) and no one was talking about it? I know up in Queen's Quarter there were a couple of break in's while we lived there. One family robbed at gunpoint. It was there, but maybe just starting? When Fountain Valley happened it suddenly seemed to be something that had to be addressed because it was all over the news. In keeping up with St Croix over the years it seems like the violence bubbles up ever so often. I'm sure this is the case in other islands where there are have and have nots. Plus it's obvious that every year with more drug problems there will be more violence no matter where you live. Until that changes, by some miracle, I don't see an end to the problem) You can get alot of info about what it was like living on the island from the early 60's to the 70's when it all changed from Brian Bishop (Cruzan Gold)-- what a life he's led on the island!

Hang in there with the stick-- it gets totally natural after awhile. Just make sure you're in the right gear before heading up a hill!

Paula

thanks paula, i love the old stories, one of my friends grew up here in the 30's and 40's and when she's on planet and not adrift in a dementia fog she has the best stories, last 2 days i've been accident prone i smashed my sternum with the shovel handle yesterday and am in a world of huirt right now and then this morning while in bed i reached for my glass of water and the glass slipped from my hand and went crashing to the floor on top of a centipede that i didn't know was there killing it