Sir Stumpy

Poised for attack. Or maybe another peach...

Steve and Sir Stumpy

We have a new pet, Sir Stumpy the lizard who is regrowing his tail.
He's been hanging out in our gazebo for about a month now - long
enough to have gotten comfortable enough to share meals with us. This
is him hoping for a handout from steve's lunch

Flowers

Back patio

Getting better all the time

Flowers!

The backyard is starting to look more and more like home!

Flower beds

Flower beds

My latest flower bed

I really like the way this one turned out!

The lighthouse

This is the place to have a cookout!

It is so pretty here! While we were waiting, I got to play with
lizards, hermit crabs, and eat fresh oranges and avocados from the
trees on the premises. Heaven

Exploring the lighthouse

While the pig was turning on the spit, I went exploring the grounds
around the lighthouse - what a great place!! I loved this vine - it
twisted itself into the most perfect rope.

Pig roast

Pig roast at the Slaughter House

We had our first official pig roast this weekend - what a hoot! I
think We're now officially puerto rican. The whole weekend was really
a good time and a pretty big success, despite all the furies working
against us. Luis got the pig late Friday night - and it turned out to
be twice the size of what he ordered. So... That meant OUR spits were
way too small. Enter Josh, who saved the day by taking us to a great
BBQ pit. Here's josh and luis stoking the fire. And then, it rained.
Not just a little. It poured. Which, of course meant that we lost
power. So, Angie and I chopped, blended, and diced in the dark, and
then cooked most of the rest of the feast, one pot at a time, on the
eye on the grill outside. Fortunately, the rains dried up, and power
came back on about an hour before people started coming. This party
set a new record - we ended up cooking breakfast for 9 the next
morning :-)

Luis leaving San Juan

Smoke over the wing of the airplane

San Juan burning

San Juan burning

San Juan burning

Details are still sketchy, but one major fuel storage tank and 8-10
smaller ones exploded last night in San Juan. According to the
security here, it registered 2.8 on the richter scale. Since all the
fuel for the island is stored in San Juan, people have been panicking
and hoarding gas. The local Texaco was backed up about 1/8 mile at
8:30 this morning. Steve and Luis flew over this afternoon - the
following are their shots.

Afternoon rain clouds

Moonflower

It bloomed!! Isn't that the prettiest flower?! This poor plant is
having a time of it right now too-it got some kind of bug - they're
little tiny, yellow, and all over the back of the leaves. I've hand
soaped every leaf (shew)three times low in an attempt to kill the
varmits and save the plant. Helped, but today I'm on a quest for
Rotenone. Anyone got any other recommendations for something that will
take care of the invasion of the teeny tiny leaf suckers?

Btw, the succulent in the pot is a freebie leslie and I got from a
friendly nursery owner yesterday - it's the coolest thing! It looks
kind of like an aloe plant, but where the pointy parts come off the
lead, it grows a little succulent rose. Looks enough like teeth that
it reminds me of Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors! I'm trying to find
out what it's called...

Afternoon showers bring...

Morning toadstools! I found the prettiest little trail of these guys
in someone's front yard this morning on my run. I ne'er cease to be
amazed at how beautifully intricate these guys are on the backside -
especially given the fact that they appear out if thin air overnight!

Pretty skies!

This is the sky over the base exchange - I thought the clouds were
pretty! Any guesses as to what the Mariott there in the background
used to be?!

Population

I laugh ever time I see this sign. It's the welcoming sign to a nearby town, called Hatillo. It says: Welcome to Hatillo. Population 28,925. Cows 30,159.

I love cooking

Whodda thunk? Tonight's menu: Ginger pork with pineapple, papaya,
pepper salad. Yum. Cooking with colors is fun.

October goodness

This is our kitchen thermometer - I'm so excited that it's down to 84
degrees in the kitchen that I had to take a picture. I think that, in
order to fully appreciate the coolness, I must not turn on the stove
tonight...

Surf smilin

I went surfing with Cory this morning - we had so much fun I actually
tanned smile lines into my face :-)

spiders and spiders and spiders, oh my!

Ok - first of all, I can't take credit for this picture. This is compliments of the internet. Try as I might, I can't get our "pet" to turn her back to me when the sun is out, and it's just another spider if you can't see how SILVER she is!

This little (ok, now BIG) fella has been camped outside of our back door for weeks now, and it's been fascinating watching her grow bigger and bigger. According to wikipedia, she's a Silver Argiope. In this particular picture, she's eating a cabbage moth. More power to you, I say! Especially since tomorrow's job is to rid my enormous moonflower vine of moth larva. Ick.

Culebra!

Finally! We lost our internet service early yesterday morning, and it's just now coming back, shakily. We're back from Culebra, and we had an absolutely fantastic time. I've never eaten so well, so much, been more comfortable, nor have I ever been more enchanted by a coral reef in my life! Here are four pictures to whet your appetite. More are uploaded into an album I created on Google: http://picasaweb.google.com/tracy.abney/Culebra?authkey=Gv1sRgCJzLkfeZtYv22wE&feat=directlink

No underwater pictures yet. Unfortunately someone.... (ahem. me.) left the battery for the camera on the charger, so I got to the island with camera, underwater housing, and nothing to make it turn on. So, we bought a cheapie film camera. I have no idea if anything came out or not, but since we have to get it developed, it will take a while.

Culebra!

We are both so stoked about this weekend - we're going out to Culebra Island this weekend to celebrate a friend's birthday with 2 other couples. The Travel Channel rates Culebra as the #1 beach in the world last year... I'm so excited! Probably can't post pictures until the end of the weekend, but in the mean time, here's some info about the island...

(From The Travel Channel)

Many people fail to associate a Caribbean paradise with historic significance, assuming instead that it has always been a sandy, sun-drenched beach swathed in sunbathers and snorkelers. That's part of the beauty of Puerto Rico's Culebra Island. Yes, this island, situated 20 miles off the northeast coast, has beautiful beaches and plenty of sun, but it's also an old pirate hideout loaded with virtually undisturbed treasures. Not to mention that in 1493 Christopher Columbus dropped by this tropical oasis during his second voyage, and in 1909 Theodore Roosevelt declared Culebra one of America's first wildlife refuges.

When World War II erupted, the US Navy turned Culebra and the 23 other islands in the archipelago into the primary site for gunnery and bombing practice. This island remained a target until 1975, which turned out to be a good thing - the reefs and surrounding waters remained unscathed by boaters and divers and the beaches were unspoiled by large-scale tourism development.

Today Culebra is appealing for what it lacks. There are no luxury resorts, elegant restaurants, discos, movie theaters, casinos, museums or boutiques. There's also no crime, hardly any traffic and few crowds (except during Semana Sancta - Holy Week - which precedes Easter).

What Culebra does offer is an unsullied and under-populated beach along with pristine waters filled with beautiful fish. There is also plenty of wildlife. The disconnected tracts of the Culebra National Wildlife Refuge, which total more than one-third of the islands' area, are populated with terns, gulls, pelicans, boobies and several species of endangered turtle. And the natives - or culebrenses as they are known - as well as the expatriates provide plenty of the signature laid-back attitude that is so familiar in the Caribbean.

Invitation

This is one of the pathways you can take to get to my favorite beach.
Doesn't it look inviting!? The palm trees here crack me up - they grow
on such improbable shapes. This one doesn't look like there's any way
in the world it should still be standing. There's resiliance for you!

Tide pools

I love the perfect ripples in this little tidal pool

Lunar landings

Living on the surface of the moon

These rocks, made from compressed sand, never cease to fascinate me.
Walking on them really can make you feel like you're walking on the
moon!

Looking for treasure

So far, snorkeling has been rather lucrative. I've found gold rings, and today, it was a pair of designer sunglasses. Kind of fun to see what the fish are hoarding...

I did it!!!

After swimming and snorkeling for about 3 hours, the waves finally started to pick up just a little bit... and just a little bit is all I'm up for at this stage of the game. This was just after I caught my first real wave, and actually rode it - standing up - and for more than 3 seconds! Steve is still trying to convince me that it's a bad idea to go back and try again after dark. Sheer joy!!

Find the Flounder

Snorkeling at Jobos

More pictures of a fun day underwater. The sting ray was really pretty cool - you can see he wasn't the least bit concerned about us getting too close to him

lovin the water

Steve and I spent the whole day today at Jobos Beach. We went with surfboards in tow, but when we got there, there were essentially no waves. The first picture is of Steve, watching the surf, hoping...

...and then we decided to go snorkeling. We'd never been out to the far end of El Pozo de Jacinto, and that was a real treat. The next several shots are from there