stx today,comments

Dear Paula,i got off work early tonight,so i drove to calvins bar at cane bay to see if he would follow me to carambola so i could drop tims truck off and then get a ride home,he said sure go and i'll come, so i went and when i got there the friday night pirates buffet was going strong,lol and well calvin being west indian shows up like an hour and a half later to get me. But anyway paula while i was there i watched the mocko jumbies do their thing,when you are on the saman terrace you're about 25 feet above the beach and if you position yourself in the back center of the terrace while the jumbies are doing their thing you get the most incredible night time view, you get the crowd immediatly in front of you then you get the dancers, then you get all the palms and then the beach and then finally the star and moonlight reflecting off the sea,and if you're in the right frame of mind and the jumbie music is good well it's just so perfect,the music the jumbies and the view,and there was a slight breeze as well,there is something so beautifully creepy about the jumbies,willard johns is such a great master at this art,when they are going full speed to the music it's really like cirque du solei

Oh, I forgot my lowlight of the week. Wednesday I bought what appeared to be a kick-a$$ set of bolt cutters (certainly expensive enough to convey that idea) to cut off two padlocks that were seriously salt corroded/frozen on the gallery of my condo going out to the yard area behind the gallery. They didn't work quite as well as advertised. 45 minutes of serious exertion finally cut off the first of two locks. Shouldn't bolt cutters be of at least the same degree of hardened steel as the padlocks they are designed to cut?

20 minutes into the second lock, the bolt cutters EXPLODED with a big spark and sent shards of shrapnel in several directions. One 3/4 inch shard wound up in my left eye. It went through my upper eyelid and a small pointy corner went into my eyeball itself on the inner curve of the sclera (white part) and barely missed my iris and lens. My eyelid bled profusely for nearly two hours and the swelling had the wound in the eyelid gaping open dramatically for several hours more. Lots of ice eventually resolved the swelling and I seem to be healing pretty well now but am watching it for complications. I'll have a little scar in the eyelid, undoubtedly.

The owner of Gallows Bay Hardware didn't think it was any big deal that I was nearly blinded when I took the bolt cutters back the next day for a refund. That was after asking what had happened to my eye as it was clear to see that there was a big problem. Once I told him, he wouldn't look at me and just looked down at the counter as he processed the refund. I didn't threaten a lawsuit or yell at him or treat him as if it was his personal fault the bolt cutters had exploded, as I fully accepted that it was NOT his fault, but it did seem rather odd that he didn't express the slightest concern or even mutter a vague apology for having sold a defective set of bolt cutters that had caused my injury. Instead he asked me if I wanted to exchange them for another set, obviously from the same batch/shipment. I declined.

so this morning i was smoking outside with the phone at work and mr moorhead came walking up the street and so i said mornin and he said mornin back,hell we see each other every day DL,and i tell you what the man just looked awful,tired from sleeping on cement,so i asked him about his press conference and wished him good luck and he gave me the thumbs up thing,but damn i just felt bad for him this am and i suppose in my own perverse way i admire him because as much as i don't like his politics,i respect him for taking a stand,he's standing up for what HE believes in no matter how misguided i think that stand is. so then later about 10:30 i walked down to the corner with the phone to watch his press conference and he had about 10 people with him and a couple of reporters and i'm just standing there on the corner,and this white guy comes walking out of the real estate office there(not an employee by the way!!!!! i know them all) and as he's walking across the street he yells out"get a job like the rest of us" and kept walking up towards company street, well i, yes me, trw got really offended by that and i guess i kinda snapped and chased the @sshole up the street and started yelling and screaming at him and well i had a fit right there in downtown c'sted and people were coming out of the stores to watch hahahaha, i mean this dude just stepped on my last gay nerve and i let him have it,and this guy just took off running,lol now as much as i disagree with mr moorheads politics, you just don't have the right,(well i guess you do technically but common sense should prevail,right?) to shout out crap like that,it's offensive and just plain degrading and rude. and it amazes me how the stories i write about just happen to me i don't go looking for the damn things they just happen

jeez alexandra,that really sucks,i hope you stay ok!!!!!

well off to bed so i can squueze oranges in the am and deal with the beautiful people in the pm.

Dear Paula,i got off work early tonight,so i drove to calvins bar at cane bay to see if he would follow me to carambola so i could drop tims truck off and then get a ride home,he said sure go and i'll come, so i went and when i got there the friday night pirates buffet was going strong,lol and well calvin being west indian shows up like an hour and a half later to get me. But anyway paula while i was there i watched the mocko jumbies do their thing,when you are on the saman terrace you're about 25 feet above the beach and if you position yourself in the back center of the terrace while the jumbies are doing their thing you get the most incredible night time view, you get the crowd immediatly in front of you then you get the dancers, then you get all the palms and then the beach and then finally the star and moonlight reflecting off the sea,and if you're in the right frame of mind and the jumbie music is good well it's just so perfect,the music the jumbies and the view,and there was a slight breeze as well,there is something so beautifully creepy about the jumbies,willard johns is such a great master at this art,when they are going full speed to the music it's really like cirque du solei

Dear trw,
Were you talking to me? 🙂 We went to Pirates Night in 2004 and really enjoyed it. I know what you mean about the atmosphere-- love that place. When we went there were no Mocko Jumbies-- it was carnival on St. Thomas and they'd gone over there. But a band played and it was very tropical and romantic. I'd give a whole lot to be there right now. I'm bummed out because we live on the Texas gulf coast that borders Louisana and as bad as that is now here comes another hurricane. We've been gathering up pictures and papers to take up to the Dallas area early Sun morning along with our constantly depressed tomcat. Maybe it was the neutering... Anyway, whether you were talking to me or not-- thanks for keeping us all entertained on this board. I'd sure rather be on St. Croix right now. Breaks over-- back to packing.

Paula

Good luck, Paula. Hate these damned storms. Alexandra, did you go to the doctor? You should, if you didn't. What was the brand of the bolt cutters? I think I'd be writing a letter to the manufacturer.

raining heavy here in cane bay and dry as a bone in town

Dear Paula, the next time you come here try to be up in my area at about 6am and heres why,so you're driving east from cane bay going towards gentle winds, so you go around one of the last big curves and the whole gentle winds complex comes into view as well as the hills of judiths fancy,well if you time it right you can get there just as the sun is coming over the hills of judiths fancy and hitting the water at gentle winds, and so you have the sun rising over the hills and reflecting on the water, you're on a really big cliff and the waves are crashing,i get to see this about three times a week if i time it right on the way to wotk, truly beautiful and there is a space to pull over .

TRW......you should really write a series of short stories!!'
Alexandra, please tell which brand so we all can advoid! Keep an eye on our eye (pardon the pun).......infections.

Alexandra,
I've heard the eye is the quickest healing part of the body. I don't know, just have heard it, but do keep an eye on it, just in case. Maybe some safety glasses in the future!

Don't you just hate it when they don't even say "I'm sorry that happened to you." I'm a really picky consumer, but a simple indication that the person gives a damn goes a long way. Not to mention, I bet you're a pretty regular customer in GB, plus in a position to recommend them to many people. Seems like just good business to be a little concerned. He probably wanted to be sure he wasn't accepting any culpability.

slow night downtown tonight,everyones up at the lake for the long weekend

hey can someone print all of the pages on this thread for me in duplicate,i'll pay 100 bucks for it,my printer is too old for the task,i want to try and organize it somehow.

wow for once i have nothing to say i keep coming back to this page with the thought of writing something and well i've got nothing to write about,it rained all day up here in my neck of the woods and the power in town went out for about a half hour,the power went out and then i heard a big boom and well it was dinner by candle light for awhile,and poor jazzy blue was playing to an audience of one when i left downtown,lol he's got that really strange beard thing growing and i've yet to figure out the beards ultimate goal.

Spent the day washing clothes and cleaning. Used the solar dryer so the process didn't go and fast as usual. After our last electric bill we decided not to use the AC at night so hubby went and bought some powerful fans. It was ok. I got hot a couple of times but for the most part it was bearable. We are doing a lot of research on solar and are working on being WAPA independant.

TRW, only 100 bucs.....................all hell no, royalties!!!!!
Nothing to say...........its becoz you want to write someting & waaaa laaaaa brain lock!!!

Solar dryer............buy it here????

I believe a solor dryer is a clothes line in the yard!!

crap..........already have that one...........lol

Dear Paula,i'm assuming you are safe and sound by now in Dallas,i had to run to kmart and cost u more to buy see through plasic storage containers for work and as i was driving you could see the other islands as clear as day,STT,STJ,Tortola and i think virgin gorda.some days you can see them perfectly like today and other days you can't see them at all,and when you see them it's easy to understand how these islands were settled by the indians hundreds of years ago,they'd see another island in the distance and then get the "grass is greener on the other side of the fence thing" and off in the boat they'd go,by the time i got to sunny isle it was raining so hard and the streets by wapa and western auto were flooded and everyone was standing under the overhang at kmart with all the stuff they bought waiting for the rain to stop,and when i came back up here to cane bay it was a beautiful day once again,no rain yet up here today. I have to go and collect the limes that have fallen from my tree,there must be a couple hundred on the ground right now. Take care of yourself.TRW

LOL, i'm not writing a book at this time but i would like to organize it into 4 broad basic groups,gossip,my history,daily life,and stories about the nature/weather i want to call the "dear paula" series

It's been a great weekend so far...Friday we went dancing at El Flamboyant, Not much went on Saturday night got off work drove through town ended up at the Casino for food and then we went home. Sunday Chris had a high school reunion at Cramer's Park, lots of good food and met a lot of people...that night we went to Gertrude's to see my brother-in-law's band play enjoyed myself there lots of dancing. We went home around midnight so we could get a few hours sleep...got up at 5am to go downtown for jouvert with the Stroka Band...we tramped from Market Square in town to the Altona(sp?) Lagoon...my feet hurt! But I had fun and got to experience my first Jouvert Morning! ...Melissa

Thanks trw and Trade for the well wishes-- we made it to Dallas fine. Had to bring my elderly parents with us. It's like I'm the parent now... When we woke up this morning we discovered the hurricane was going to go east and then north of our home town, so we loaded everything back up and headed back south. Just like a game of cat and mouse--- where's the hurricane going to go? And where's the closest to home we can run without getting in it's path. As we were unloading at our home it sprinkled on us-- that's all we got, we're so thankful!

trw-- I know the place on the road you're talking about where you can view the sun coming up over Gentle Winds. I have taken pictures of that view, not so early in the morning,though. I'm sure that must be a beautiful way to start your day! I miss that fresh feeling of the early morning on the island. By the way, I'd love to have a 'Dear Paula' series to read! lol;)

Melissa it really sounds like you and chris are enjoying your new life here,i know chris is from here but this is all kinda new to you,so have fun

TRW....I LOVE IT! It's great here. I can do without the mosquitos though, they seem to love me. To make it worse I work outdoors and right next to the beach...Melissa

It's been a hardworking yet very lazy 10 days for us here on STX. We leave tomorrow which explains the gloomy weather yesterday and much of today . . . the island is sad we are leaving so soon ;-(.

Gotta a lot done this trip. Cottage is ready to be rented out (freshly painted and furnished) if tenant does not need a toilet. Frank spent the better part of most days swearing he knew just what the problem was . . . the toilet won in the long run and so our #1 priority (get the cottage done) is incomplete. Oh well . . . next trip 😉

Today we put all the hurricane shutters up . . . just in case, hopefully that means those of you living here full time can relax. We put up shutters so that should mean they will not be needed. I hope that's the case for all of you 😉 Now that the house is "protected" from flying debris I am concerned about the house now being buttoned up without airflow . . . I hope leaving a couple fans on timers will help circulate some air????

Spent maybe 4 hours total on the beach (that's pretty sad, huh?) , never put the Zodiac in the water, never got out a fishing rod, never rented a SCUBA tank . . . but I did read most of a big fat book and we did catch up on sleep and quality time ;-). And we have fallen more in love with this island and our home here. I cannot put my finger on exactly what the draw is . . . it's just the complete package and we feel very comfortable here.

There are two good looking women running around STX with new haircuts. Frank has a salon back home and I guess there are not many places on island specializing in great cuts for white hair. He did one for a friend and then her friends at the beach started begging for cuts this trip and next. I told him he needs an appointment book for STX . . . if I can fill it up we can stay longer 😉 We are joking about setting up a tip only "shop" on the fishing pier so he can fish and cut hair all day when he's here. Too funny.

Frank somehow talked me into buying a leather sectional . . . I warned him about mold issues but he won out and I think I am glad (at least for now) because the house really looks good.

We never got to Salud Bistro (sorry Chef Noah) but we will next time. I asked everyone I saw and met this trip and all had good things to say . . . we were at Cottages/SandCastles beach Sunday and wished we had been dressed for the wine tasting dinners Salud was putting on.

Well the sun is setting . . . I can barely see it as the sky has broken up some just for the event and I need to get shower so we can have our traditional last night pizza at Lost Dog.

OOPS . . . I almost forgot. I've been without a land line phone since May. Last Monday I called Innovative AGAIN and they said they could not get here until next Tuesday (today) . . . and they came!!!! Really nice guy, Julio, who even left us his cell phone number for future. Problem turns out to be bigger than Julio could solve . . . needs splicer and whole crew to run new line. But, I was shocked to see Julio at all . . . BTW Julio said they had a meeting this morning and the cable rates are going up (like you needed to hear this) on Oct 1. But . . . they do have boxes now!

Cheers,
Cheryl