USVI

My second night in the USVI, I am sitting in the living room with Eric. Sara Jane is at work. Eric says, “Greg did you see that spider? Help me catch it.” I look to my left and get a glimpse of a huge spider, at eye level, less than 24” away, and racing across the wall. It darts into the corner behind the TV stand. OK, huge is an understatement. The body is a bit larger than the size of a Susan B Anthony and the legs are about twice as long as the body’s diameter. Yes folks, that is correct, it has about a 4 inch wingspan. So, as I’m processing the size and speed of this devil Eric offers, “Be careful cause these guys can really jump? I don’t know how they get in. It must be through the windows”

In order to have the full picture you need to know that both Sara Jane and Eric are vegan/PETA folks. I’m thinking I need to arm myself with a shoe, newspaper, handgun, or whatever. I NEED A WEAPON. Eric on the other hand plans to do battle with a mere plastic Tupperware bowl and matching lid. He is entering this fatal confrontation with the prevailing thought, THE SPIDER SHALL NOT BE HARMED.

OK, back to the action. The TV stand is in the corner with the killer spider ready to attack behind it. I’m on the right of the stand, Eric is on the left. He is armed (relatively speaking). I’m the weaponless military adviser if you will. The spider makes the first move and dashes across the wall, towards me!! I make a strategic fall back yelling, “There it is!” thus fulfilling my observer roll. Then the beast jumps at least three feet directly towards me and lands on one of Erik’s large house plants. Note, Eric is Mr. green thumb with plants all over the place inside and out. Dude is amazing, he deftly sandwiches the killer inside the plastic bowl and lid. We apply duct tape as a security precaution just in case, hop in the truck, and release the POW about a ½ mile from the house.

Some final comments:

• The three weeks I’ve been here and I have helped Eric catch and release two rats in this same fashion. We had to up size our weaponry to a large box but the strategy was the same. Rats were easy, the spider showed no fear.
• The dog has been no help on any of these spider/rat campaigns.
• I need to do laundry but, there is a big ass scorpion hanging out in the dirty closes pile. hmmm these shorts are good for another day.

USVI

Monday night was beautiful.

I’m a night person and it just worked for me. The place I’m staying at is on a hill side about 810 feet above seawater. The house elevation is high enough to enjoy a stiff trade wind breeze from the east most times. The upper level deck presents an awesome panoramic view that faces south. Havensight (the cruise ship pier), Charlotte Amalie (town) and Frenchtown, are to the left. Submarine Bay, the airport and the St. Thomas campus of the VI University are to the right. The house is pretty much directly above the freighter/container ship docks, looking directly toward the east end of Water Island.

Monday night the moon was full and the view was a mosaic of white, black and grey hues. The sky was punctuated with scattered saturated puffy cumulous and cumulonimbus clouds. The silvery moonlight was shooting the gaps into the ocean giving the water surface a mercury like appearance. Off to the south I witnessed a huge thunderhead swelling and billowing just like the ones I saw when I was a kid living in Kansas. There were thunderheads to the south, east an d west with each storm contributing awesome, periodic, lighting flashes to the night sky. Each flash was like a directional color amplifier shifting the grey tones, in the effected area, up an entire octave or two. You have to imagine the massive dark grey ghostly shadows that the clouds cast on the moonlit water. Funny thing, the extremes, the black of the land and the white of the moon held fast.

The final part of this picture was the manmade white and orange tinged glows from the sodium vapor and metal halide lights. The lights dot the land and the sea marking buildings, roads, docks and boats. Just like dots on a map that mark cities and townships of the US eastern seaboard. The lights paralleled the shoreline with densities that varied with the pockets of commerce. Off in the distance there was a cruise ship lit up just like a section of town or one of the large hotels on shore.

Again it was a truly beautiful night

USVI

Well I’ve done it.

Achieved slugdom, reached the lethargic pinnacle of my slacker existence on St Thomas. This morning I was up at 7:30 but the sun came out and I needed to go back and nap. That made the final real up and start time the day more like 10:30. I have been “trying” to accomplish ONE thing a day. I guess this has given me time to reflex on a few things. First, St Thomas and the Caribbean in general….. Oh sure the weather is tropical but the history just ruins the vibes here for me. For locals, you have continentals “whites” and west indies “blacks”. Pigment social separation is still strong here. Then you have tourist. The economy is 100% tourism, on St Thomas. In my mind the island is a North American play ground. See Bahamas. In fact those are my entire Caribbean thoughts as well and you can include the Dutch, British and French as well. No slavery, plantations, however there is no work except the service of the tourist. Oh yeah there is also self governance. That is full of corruption and nepotism so I hear. Sure other Islands have oil and big industry (Trinadad) and some still grow sugars cane and make rum. Note in Trinidad sugar cane is heavily subsidized to give the locals employment. All of the things to do that you can read about are for the continentals and the tourist. You would think being from Alaska, I would be used to high tourist density. Honestly at home we avoid the tourist places.

USVI

Hey all

Finally got to a puter. At some lame ass tourist e-mail/trap. anyway. The weather has been great. I have painted a few post cards. I have had time to read a couple of books. Some Herman Wouk book about the VI and can you believe it "Lost Horizons"Place is great. I have a couple of post on my laptop that I'll transfer in time. My friends Sara and Eric don't have a puter? imagine that???

USVI

No internet at Eric and Sara Jane’s so I’ll date when these are written not when they are posted.

Stardate Saturday: 10082005 ha ha what a geek (I crack myself up)

Well folks I can safely say the VI is pretty much still United States, but different. Must also say being from Alaska the weather is awesome, bummer didn’t get the snow tires mounted before I left. Sara and Eric rent a nice three bedroom place on the hills above town. The joint is high enough to get the “trades” they blow though the house and keep the place pretty comfortable. From their place you have a great view of the harbor; tour ship dock, all of the sailboats and the airport. I love a view with motion. Just add rum and your in the Caribbean. They swear it was miserable in Sept but I have yet to see any days w/o wind. Honestly, I’m not the beach/snorkel person and hanging at the house with the fragrant breeze is nuff fo me. I actually read a book here!… hell it has been a awhile for that one. Really there is no reason to head downtown if your up on the hill, the breeze is way better than at a sunny beach (tan is one thing I don’t need). So, I’ve had a little bit of time to think also, but honestly I have gotten to any conclusion with respect to what I’m doing next. I’m a little tempted to look around the island for engineering work but that is a long shot, not a lot of need for heating system designers. I found five engineering firms in the phone book and my stomach started to cringe. I’m not going back, no ain’t no turning back. I just don’t think this a place I could work a regular job. There is really only one industry here, Tourism. Well I did paint Segundo a post card. I hope to get a feel for the local ppl next.

TTFN from the VI

Alaska

This is why I love my home town. Today at 10:30pm, in Anchorage, at the busiest traffic intersection, in the state (Lake Otis and Tudor), a big ass bull moose J walked right through the intersection. It is rutting season and he was a total bad ass, full shovel rack easily 60"across (about 1.5 meters). He just strolled through, made all of the cars slow down and wait. Like that old joke with the old bull and the young bull. AWESOME