Thursday, February 14, 2008
SOME BEAUTIFUL HANDSOME MEN WE MISS
Here are some pictures of some beautiful examples of the "Pit" breeds. The top image is one of a rare moment- the pitbull in repose. Undoubtedly, saving his energy for the next vicious attack on a defenseless elderly baby, his favorite prey.
Here, the breed shows one of its most "dominant" characteristics: dominance. One pit sits atop the other. This photo was snapped by our daring photographer moments before what must have been an impending death duel.
See first photo caption. Note also the cold calculating eyes, looking in two directions, watching for any unarmed infant upon which to gorge.
Here, the sated pit breed hound licks his massive jaws. Note the huge tearing teeth, especially the canines, which, when locked onto a hapless victim, don't relent until either victim or attacker is dead. Note also the kind-of-scratchy tongue, which will lick your face off without hesitation nor invitation.
This photo was undoubtedly taken seconds before the driver's ignoble end, as the beast lunges for the throat of his owner, fur flying and blood spattering to underscore that this breed is never to be trusted with one's back turned, even when the owner feels entirely comfortable. When you least expect it... EXPECT IT!
Beach flotsam and jetsam
top: scrambled beach baby- how come they don't sell dolls like this in the states?
Half a bottle of "Wodka" washed up on the beach. No, we didn't try it.
Dead turtle. Blame pollution. Blame me. Blame yourself.
Haitian butter tub washed up. Notice the logo on his hat: "U.S. Man" and the smokestacks/bar graphs spewing garbage and making progress. This is how the world views Americans, and aspires to be just like us. Yipee.
Something bit this bottle. It has identical teeth marks all the way through and out the other side. Crazy.
More photroes
The top one is a van someone is living in. We've met several people who do this. Note the airconditioner in the window.
What these crazy people drink here. Trust me it's horrible. Maybe we'll bring you some.
Why we can't call you. Evidently they use the same phone repair service that we have in the states.
Valentine's day woodcarving. This was just nailed on the side of a booth for Junkanoo. It doesn't appear to have any relevance. Except it's all of us, and the ones we love. Wow, so many of us have been finding people lately. Right ON.
picture, picture, plicture, clickture
the phone booth from the final scene of The Silence of the Lambs. It's either this one, or the next one down.
The backside of Potter's Cay, home of the best cracked conch ever
Salsa jar full of whiskey and coke
Nassau at Night
Sweetass fishing boat kicking it oldschool
pic a lix
The top picture is the rates at the Chub Cay Club. Laugh, we almost died. Then we used the free wireless signal in the lobby.
Kalik is the Bahamian beer. Named after the "kalik kalik" of cowbells on Junkanoo.
Our hammock.
the scene out front of the All Star restaurant.
Pelican, pelican, porcupine.
some mo mo pix for ya
Bahamian Telephone
Car rim as a grill
eerie scene down nassau alley
homemade potato chips
hubcap harry plying his wares
mo mo pix
The red snapper we caught leaving Georgetown. We forgot to weight it. Since it's the only fish that Jack's ever caught, we reckon it's the biggest too.
J n K productions, the technological hub of Georgetown, which is maybe the third biggest city in the Bahamas. Now do you see why we're not online every day?
Rectangle fish
Close up of a Jack we speared
Sunset yesterday
J n K productions, the technological hub of Georgetown, which is maybe the third biggest city in the Bahamas. Now do you see why we're not online every day?
Rectangle fish
Close up of a Jack we speared
Sunset yesterday
MOE PIX
SO, FYI, the house we asked about was $500,000. We laughed and laughed. Here's a picture.
This picture typifies life here.
This is of the narrow passage to Long Island. No land visible on any side, but a 12 foot deep channel for miles through the ocean, and a foot on either side you have to stay away from.
Here's Ruth with that passage in her sunglasses.
The chef at work.
Happy Valentein's Day from the Ruther
It's 4:30 on this rainy yet beautiful afternoon, and I just discovered
it's Valentine's Day!
Jack said, "Hey Sweetie?"
I respond, "Yeah?"
"Happy Valentine's Day!"
Oooooh I could just squeal with excitement! What nice surprise! I feel
like I just realized its my birthday or something. We've had such a
wonderful day so far and now we are in a resort associated with the
marina where we are docked so that we could get on the internet…over
the speakers LOVE XM is playing… otherwise I would despise this
music,
but since its V-Day….awww true love.
We have had so many adventures this past month and I have not been
writing about ANY of them! It's catch-up time!!
Before we left Staniel Cay (middle of the Exumas), Jack and I
snorkeled what is called Thunderball Grotto. It's a large cave
partially submerged under water, most easily accessible at low tide
but possible to enter at high tide if you're willing to swim under
water for about 15 feet. The cave has been used in such Hollywood
films as "Thunderball" (the James Bond movie with Sean Connery),
"Splash" (good ol' Tom Hanky Spanks with that silly Mermaid), as well
as numerous others. That said, we scooted over there at low tide,
parked the big boat, geared up, slid into the water, made sure the
anchor was set, and entered the mysterious hard grotto. We saw all
sorts of beautiful and colorful fish, but the coral and the cave
itself was the most fantastic part! I can't describe in words the
colors, shapes, and textures! The underwater part of the cave was
lined with the brightest, most fluorescent oranges, reds, yellows,
purples, and greens. The coral, sponges, fans, sea anemone, and other
plant life was just as colorful and some were shaded deep dark green
or purple. My imagination could never have produced such beautiful
colors and textures!
Afterwards we motored a few miles south to find a plane wreck that is
marked on the chart. I snorkeled the wreck by myself because Jack's
skin was irritating him. It was a small wreck but very interesting!
The control panel was intact with the exception of some exposed cables
and twisted joysticks. The pilot's chair was even still there! The
cables and wires were corroded, but were thick and twisting and
covered in algae that the fish were eating from. One very eerie thing
about it was that a thick metal shaft was protruding from the control
panel right into the pilot's chair, making it look like a fatal
disaster! I'd like to look up the history of the wreck just to know.
The fish life was fairly abundant around the wreck, and I saw a big
red snapper under the right wing (say, three feet long).
From there we sailed 6 miles south to Black Point. It was a very nice
sail – smooth, windy, fast, sunny, good times. Shortly after
anchoring at Black Point, Susan and Barry (friends from Canada that we
met at Warderick Wells and spent Christmas with) stopped by on their
dinghy and offered to take us in to Loraine's Café where there was an
internet connection. It turned out they were having dinner there with
Hilda and Simon (from Britain) and Glenn (from New Jersey), so we
joined the group and we all ate a big feast of chicken, ribs, Bahamian
peas n' rice, salad and Kalick! We didn't get on the internet until
the next day and it was so slow it took ALL DAY to do what I could
have done in about an hour and a half back in the States.
The following day Jack and I went on a hike around the island. Our
destination was the White Horses – white cliffs on the ocean side
that
supposedly resembled white horses. Although they didn't in the least,
I imagine they probably do when viewed out at sea. On the way we took
a detour down a beautiful path of palms and dunes that led to a blow
hole. When the waves crashed against the rocks water would spurt from
the hole. It was pretty neat, but you can imagine our disappointment
at the amount of plastic and trash around the perimeter of the hole.
The hike took all day. We took the beach and paused for a lunch we
packed. It was beautiful. Hot, but windy. We found some really cool
shells and I picked up a few sea fans for my mom and sisters that I
thought were the most outstanding that I've come across. We climbed a
lot of coral rock and took many pictures. We took a dirt road back
that ran on the other side of the island (the side where we were
anchored). We stopped to check out a couple abandoned houses on the
water. We've seen at LEAST a hundred abandoned or unfinished houses
so far on this trip. Two reasons for this is that 1) It seems a lot of
people start building here and then don't have the money to finish and
2) When a Bahamian passes away and leaves a house to their family,
there are so many members of the family laying claim to the house that
it just sits there and nothing is done with it.
Wow, I am losing momentum. I spent most of this time online dealing
with bank accounts, bills, and emails dealing with business and the
Barrett house. Since Jack has been posting a bunch of pictures and
entries on the blog, I will pause my writing because I know you are
all well-informed on our status. I will continue the story of our
trek in my next blog. I promise.
Happy V-Day, friends and lovers.
it's Valentine's Day!
Jack said, "Hey Sweetie?"
I respond, "Yeah?"
"Happy Valentine's Day!"
Oooooh I could just squeal with excitement! What nice surprise! I feel
like I just realized its my birthday or something. We've had such a
wonderful day so far and now we are in a resort associated with the
marina where we are docked so that we could get on the internet…over
the speakers LOVE XM is playing… otherwise I would despise this
music,
but since its V-Day….awww true love.
We have had so many adventures this past month and I have not been
writing about ANY of them! It's catch-up time!!
Before we left Staniel Cay (middle of the Exumas), Jack and I
snorkeled what is called Thunderball Grotto. It's a large cave
partially submerged under water, most easily accessible at low tide
but possible to enter at high tide if you're willing to swim under
water for about 15 feet. The cave has been used in such Hollywood
films as "Thunderball" (the James Bond movie with Sean Connery),
"Splash" (good ol' Tom Hanky Spanks with that silly Mermaid), as well
as numerous others. That said, we scooted over there at low tide,
parked the big boat, geared up, slid into the water, made sure the
anchor was set, and entered the mysterious hard grotto. We saw all
sorts of beautiful and colorful fish, but the coral and the cave
itself was the most fantastic part! I can't describe in words the
colors, shapes, and textures! The underwater part of the cave was
lined with the brightest, most fluorescent oranges, reds, yellows,
purples, and greens. The coral, sponges, fans, sea anemone, and other
plant life was just as colorful and some were shaded deep dark green
or purple. My imagination could never have produced such beautiful
colors and textures!
Afterwards we motored a few miles south to find a plane wreck that is
marked on the chart. I snorkeled the wreck by myself because Jack's
skin was irritating him. It was a small wreck but very interesting!
The control panel was intact with the exception of some exposed cables
and twisted joysticks. The pilot's chair was even still there! The
cables and wires were corroded, but were thick and twisting and
covered in algae that the fish were eating from. One very eerie thing
about it was that a thick metal shaft was protruding from the control
panel right into the pilot's chair, making it look like a fatal
disaster! I'd like to look up the history of the wreck just to know.
The fish life was fairly abundant around the wreck, and I saw a big
red snapper under the right wing (say, three feet long).
From there we sailed 6 miles south to Black Point. It was a very nice
sail – smooth, windy, fast, sunny, good times. Shortly after
anchoring at Black Point, Susan and Barry (friends from Canada that we
met at Warderick Wells and spent Christmas with) stopped by on their
dinghy and offered to take us in to Loraine's Café where there was an
internet connection. It turned out they were having dinner there with
Hilda and Simon (from Britain) and Glenn (from New Jersey), so we
joined the group and we all ate a big feast of chicken, ribs, Bahamian
peas n' rice, salad and Kalick! We didn't get on the internet until
the next day and it was so slow it took ALL DAY to do what I could
have done in about an hour and a half back in the States.
The following day Jack and I went on a hike around the island. Our
destination was the White Horses – white cliffs on the ocean side
that
supposedly resembled white horses. Although they didn't in the least,
I imagine they probably do when viewed out at sea. On the way we took
a detour down a beautiful path of palms and dunes that led to a blow
hole. When the waves crashed against the rocks water would spurt from
the hole. It was pretty neat, but you can imagine our disappointment
at the amount of plastic and trash around the perimeter of the hole.
The hike took all day. We took the beach and paused for a lunch we
packed. It was beautiful. Hot, but windy. We found some really cool
shells and I picked up a few sea fans for my mom and sisters that I
thought were the most outstanding that I've come across. We climbed a
lot of coral rock and took many pictures. We took a dirt road back
that ran on the other side of the island (the side where we were
anchored). We stopped to check out a couple abandoned houses on the
water. We've seen at LEAST a hundred abandoned or unfinished houses
so far on this trip. Two reasons for this is that 1) It seems a lot of
people start building here and then don't have the money to finish and
2) When a Bahamian passes away and leaves a house to their family,
there are so many members of the family laying claim to the house that
it just sits there and nothing is done with it.
Wow, I am losing momentum. I spent most of this time online dealing
with bank accounts, bills, and emails dealing with business and the
Barrett house. Since Jack has been posting a bunch of pictures and
entries on the blog, I will pause my writing because I know you are
all well-informed on our status. I will continue the story of our
trek in my next blog. I promise.
Happy V-Day, friends and lovers.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2008
YO,
Ruth and I are up at Stella Maris, at the resort here. I’ll get online and post this in a second, but I’ll just give another update. Nothing totally amazing to report, but just that it’s really, really pretty here, and as usual, people are very nice.
We’re going to get our engine looked at in the morning, so we’re staying the night, charging the batteries, and now, here at the hotel, there’s free internet. We bought a coke, just in case. Really nice though, to just stick out your thumb, and the second vehicle that drives by not only stops, but drives out of his way to take us here. Plus, it’s fun riding in the back of pickup trucks anyway.
Some things don’t change though. Unfortunately, since it’s St. Valentine’s Day Massacre Day, they’re jamming XM 23 “the romance” station on XM radio. Bette Midler (yeeechh), Air Supply (acccchhhhhh), and (gasp) Christopher Cross, and… and… Peter… (gag)… Cetera (sound of retching, splattering vomit, etc.) Sorry if that was too graphic. Rest assured, you had one moment of discomfort, simply so that you may more easily understand what I’m having to endure here, for literally MINUTES AT A TIME.
Happy St. Valentine’s Day Massacre Day, everybody. I have to get online now and look for a mercury manual to try to fix our alternator.
XOX
J
Ruth and I are up at Stella Maris, at the resort here. I’ll get online and post this in a second, but I’ll just give another update. Nothing totally amazing to report, but just that it’s really, really pretty here, and as usual, people are very nice.
We’re going to get our engine looked at in the morning, so we’re staying the night, charging the batteries, and now, here at the hotel, there’s free internet. We bought a coke, just in case. Really nice though, to just stick out your thumb, and the second vehicle that drives by not only stops, but drives out of his way to take us here. Plus, it’s fun riding in the back of pickup trucks anyway.
Some things don’t change though. Unfortunately, since it’s St. Valentine’s Day Massacre Day, they’re jamming XM 23 “the romance” station on XM radio. Bette Midler (yeeechh), Air Supply (acccchhhhhh), and (gasp) Christopher Cross, and… and… Peter… (gag)… Cetera (sound of retching, splattering vomit, etc.) Sorry if that was too graphic. Rest assured, you had one moment of discomfort, simply so that you may more easily understand what I’m having to endure here, for literally MINUTES AT A TIME.
Happy St. Valentine’s Day Massacre Day, everybody. I have to get online now and look for a mercury manual to try to fix our alternator.
XOX
J
FEBRUARY 13, 2008 MORE BLOGGITY BLOGGIN
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2008
Ruth and I are on are way to Stella Maris, which is on the north side of Long Island. We’re heading up there for a few reasons, including to see Chris, who has one of our Sopranos DVDS, but also just to see him, but the big thing that’s sending us up that way is our alternator has taken a shit. It’s reading ½ a volt output, when it should be more like 15 volts or so. We’ve had some ongoing problems with wires getting pulled apart, so one light stops working one day, another day the engine won’t start, etc. The saltwater makes it tricky too, since the starter kept seizing up, but at least we knew the power was there to start it because it made a noise. So it’s an ongoing situation, as Rosanna Rosanna Danna used to say, “if it’s not one thing, it’s another.” How true, Rosanna Rosanna Danna, how true. Whatever stops working, you just go down the line and start figuring out what it’s not, and eventually, get the problem solved after taking apart ten things that aren’t broken, and following a wire to a switch that’s off. You know how it go.
The solar panels are keeping up pretty well with our energy needs, but it would be great to have the alternator working for the cloudy days, and to save on the dockage that we pay for once a week or two to charge the batteries. That gets pretty expensive.
Ruth was really sick today, got really dizzy, nauseous, and said she had tingly feelings in her fingers. She’s evidently a huge amount better, because she’s driving the boat as I write this, singing obscene songs that it wouldn’t be gentlemanly to quote here, in a family setting. Something about Pisspot Pete and Lil the Schoolmarm. Something as long as her arm, or something like that. We made good tracks today, almost to the top of Long Island, beating a retreating cold front, wind at our backs, and doing about 17 miles in a few hours. Usually, we can’t expect more than ten a day if we’re sailing, so that was pretty good. Full sails, and blowing hard, and with the waves of course, so we were really haulin’ ass. Best time we’ve done yet with a following sea. Good times.
Ruth got up early while I was a-sleeping, and hit the grocery/furniture store and picked up tons of furniture. I mean, groceries. She hauled about 6 half gallon cans of juice, in addition to all of the other stuff she got. “All natural” this, and “no preservatives” that. She’s been so sweet about all these special diets we keep trying, and buying all kinds of fresh stuff, and putting up with eating lobster all the time and whatnot. This morning she had had enough lobster, so instead of that, she ate a can of tomato soup right out of the can without mixing in the water. It’s funny how you get a taste for something. I wasn’t quite slumming it like she was, so I had a can of black beans. Since then we’ve eaten Craisins, plantain chips, and banana chips. I can’t tell if my skins getting better, but I’m sure that’s some of the healthiest eating I’ve ever done.
We got online last night for a few minutes, as evidenced by the blogs I put up last night (3), but didn’t have enough battery power to mess with pictures. I’ll get some up soon, I promise. These suckers are starting to pile up…
Books we’re a-reading, or rather, are props on our boat to impress our guests:
Gentleman’s guide to passages south
There be no dragons (crossing big oceans in small boats)
Design guide for building a house on a tropical island
The Lobster Chronicles
Into the wild
1984
The Red Badge of Courage
Hagakure, book of the Samurai
Moby Dick
Fabric of the Cosmos- Space, time, and the texture of reality
Go Tell it on the Mountain
The Naked Ape
07 Censored- top underreported yet important news stories from Project Censored
We got some news that Chris Lison might be able to come down and visit for a long weekend, Danielle Ciofani might be able to come down after that, and ol’ Tom and Becky hinted about something of a possibility a while ago too.
Boy, we sure miss all of you guys. And those dogs. I can’t wait to get to New Orleans, and hide around the corner and call those dogs and watch their beautiful faces. I bet they miss us ALMOST as much as we miss them.
This is awesome, but the only thing missing is everyone reading this.
Thanks again to Chris Lison and my Pop for having the idea in the first place. Well, I guess I have no news, so I’ll let you go.
Ruth and I are on are way to Stella Maris, which is on the north side of Long Island. We’re heading up there for a few reasons, including to see Chris, who has one of our Sopranos DVDS, but also just to see him, but the big thing that’s sending us up that way is our alternator has taken a shit. It’s reading ½ a volt output, when it should be more like 15 volts or so. We’ve had some ongoing problems with wires getting pulled apart, so one light stops working one day, another day the engine won’t start, etc. The saltwater makes it tricky too, since the starter kept seizing up, but at least we knew the power was there to start it because it made a noise. So it’s an ongoing situation, as Rosanna Rosanna Danna used to say, “if it’s not one thing, it’s another.” How true, Rosanna Rosanna Danna, how true. Whatever stops working, you just go down the line and start figuring out what it’s not, and eventually, get the problem solved after taking apart ten things that aren’t broken, and following a wire to a switch that’s off. You know how it go.
The solar panels are keeping up pretty well with our energy needs, but it would be great to have the alternator working for the cloudy days, and to save on the dockage that we pay for once a week or two to charge the batteries. That gets pretty expensive.
Ruth was really sick today, got really dizzy, nauseous, and said she had tingly feelings in her fingers. She’s evidently a huge amount better, because she’s driving the boat as I write this, singing obscene songs that it wouldn’t be gentlemanly to quote here, in a family setting. Something about Pisspot Pete and Lil the Schoolmarm. Something as long as her arm, or something like that. We made good tracks today, almost to the top of Long Island, beating a retreating cold front, wind at our backs, and doing about 17 miles in a few hours. Usually, we can’t expect more than ten a day if we’re sailing, so that was pretty good. Full sails, and blowing hard, and with the waves of course, so we were really haulin’ ass. Best time we’ve done yet with a following sea. Good times.
Ruth got up early while I was a-sleeping, and hit the grocery/furniture store and picked up tons of furniture. I mean, groceries. She hauled about 6 half gallon cans of juice, in addition to all of the other stuff she got. “All natural” this, and “no preservatives” that. She’s been so sweet about all these special diets we keep trying, and buying all kinds of fresh stuff, and putting up with eating lobster all the time and whatnot. This morning she had had enough lobster, so instead of that, she ate a can of tomato soup right out of the can without mixing in the water. It’s funny how you get a taste for something. I wasn’t quite slumming it like she was, so I had a can of black beans. Since then we’ve eaten Craisins, plantain chips, and banana chips. I can’t tell if my skins getting better, but I’m sure that’s some of the healthiest eating I’ve ever done.
We got online last night for a few minutes, as evidenced by the blogs I put up last night (3), but didn’t have enough battery power to mess with pictures. I’ll get some up soon, I promise. These suckers are starting to pile up…
Books we’re a-reading, or rather, are props on our boat to impress our guests:
Gentleman’s guide to passages south
There be no dragons (crossing big oceans in small boats)
Design guide for building a house on a tropical island
The Lobster Chronicles
Into the wild
1984
The Red Badge of Courage
Hagakure, book of the Samurai
Moby Dick
Fabric of the Cosmos- Space, time, and the texture of reality
Go Tell it on the Mountain
The Naked Ape
07 Censored- top underreported yet important news stories from Project Censored
We got some news that Chris Lison might be able to come down and visit for a long weekend, Danielle Ciofani might be able to come down after that, and ol’ Tom and Becky hinted about something of a possibility a while ago too.
Boy, we sure miss all of you guys. And those dogs. I can’t wait to get to New Orleans, and hide around the corner and call those dogs and watch their beautiful faces. I bet they miss us ALMOST as much as we miss them.
This is awesome, but the only thing missing is everyone reading this.
Thanks again to Chris Lison and my Pop for having the idea in the first place. Well, I guess I have no news, so I’ll let you go.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Subscribe To
Posts
All Comments
