a story from the past

I don't generally visit the past but a post with a nephew brought a unique story to mind and I laughed my ass off.

During our Viet Nam time I was Navy Corpsman. Many duties followed but this is a an early time.
A Soap-Suds enema: a what? Yea, I had been taught about enemas but , sucking chest wounds, traumatic amputations, and punji stick penetrations were my primary concerns. So, soap-suds enema? OK, patient X needed to shit: Dr. ordered an enema, OK. So I ask the ward nurse , how, she says to get the enema bucket, a 2 qt. thing with a handle and a spout at the bottom that you attached a latex hose to and fill it with warm water then shave in a quarter bar of Ivory soap. Shave in I say, and she say Yes, shave in using your knife, you do have a knife, don't you? Well yes I said, who doesn't have a knife. Well, these kids today don't have knives I find out. so I shave the soap, place the patient on his left side and as any good nurse will, I tell him what I'm going to do. Well, you can only imagine what this sailor thought about this!~! So in my masculine and reassuring voice I explained how this procedure would make him feel better, he allowed me to stick this small shower head up his ass and turn on the suds. Didn't take long for the affects. He said STOP! I said , little more. Soon he was off the gurney and headed to the head, spraying shit all the way. Post-procedure nursing notes noted successful results and patient resting comfortably. No mention of the mess I had to clean-up. Any future enemas I instructed and left the room. Oh Hell Yes!!! So where are these trauma cases? They soon came!!! Just another sad story I try to hide, but this was funny to all. Shit everywhere! The Newport Naval Hospital was a spooky place to begin with. It was built for the Spanish- American War and not too upgraded. It was here I had my most profound experience with the other side. Story later. Strange times!!

Nilla Waffers

The search for F'n vanilla waffers was a trip. I had been given some nice bananas and Mom got on a tangent about makine banana pudding. Ok, we had the fruit and the pudding, but no cookies. No big deal, or so I thought. During my regular grocery shop I looked for the cookies. They no have. No biggie not unusual for island life. Next day, " you get the waffers?". So when I went out that day I stopped by another store, they no have either. A special stop just for cookies! So to K-Mart I go, no waffers. Three stores in three days, and I really hate shopping. On the way back I pass a store I don't enjoy shoppping in but thought I should give a try. Well there they were. These tiny boxes of nilla waffers. Yea! Nilla Waffers!!! Never seen them in such small boxes but they got'm. $3.00 each! Oh well, make mom happy, get two. And that's my story. Mom was happy, the pudding was good, the rum was better, and we are living well untill the food crave. Cheers all!

Bologna! ????

WTF!!

Life with an 89 y/o can be interesting. boy can it be "interesting". I come home from watering the garden and Mom is complaning about the f'n bologna. "This isn't real bologna! this stuff isn't like the bologna I got up in Charleston. Look, this is made with chicken and pork, this isn't real bologna," "What", I say; "Mom, it says right on the package Bologna". "Well it isn't like I got back home! It isn't worth a flip! Take me to the store and I will so you." Well, you know I am not going to take her to no grocery store. Not a big one anyway, maybe up to FoodTown, midday with no traffic. The rant went on for about fifteen minutes then she gave up and went to her room. So, when I go to the store next I will look for real Bologna. The Arabs that own the stores on island probably have some made with goat. Oh! It is about time for a Rum run. gotta go.

Cheers!

Shrimp & Cheese stuffed Peppers

I grew a new pepper/chili this year,Costa Rican Sweet. So as i'm picking the first ones I fantasize shrimp and cream cheese oozing out of them. So that's what I did. Oh so good. Now I can't wait for some to ripen, you know turn red, so I can get the real sweetness. They are thick walled so they hold the stuffing and with a little roasting the sweetness is there.

A friend from the Botanical Garden gave me the strange little red pepper/chili seen in the photo. He said it was Puerto Rican, I finally found, Pimenta cambuci, seems they came South America then to Europe them probably to P.R. Anyway, thick and sweet. Chopped it and put in the stuffing. Yes, saved the seeds and will plant soon.
How I did it;

chili's, slightly opened and cored, roast @350 on oiled pan a few min. (7-8) just get'm warm, let cool

pk. of cream cheese

~1/4C. grated cheese, I used what I had, moz./chedder blend

palmfull fine diced red onion, green & red pepper

1/2 lb. shrimp quick sauteed w/garlic, deglaze w/splash of wine or not Chop rough. Don't add the

the juice.

Combine cheeses peppers and shrimp, then stuff into peppers pile it in.

Bake 6-8 min just till the cheese begins to melt.

ENJOY!!!

I served them with Red Rice Caribe. A variation on my Red Rice Rantoules. No tomato, annato sofrito instead. And a little mango salsa on the side.

What a Prick!

Check-out the thorns on these things. They're "kasha" (Acacia farnesiana) thorns and they are way wicked. the thorns even survived the burn and got tuffer. Glad I had a tractor do the chopping last year. But these things surround us. And new ones are sprouting. Great intruder deterrent. Even old thorns come right-up through the flops. Be a while before barefootin in the yard. Now I will admit that they do have pretty little yellow flowers, but the thorns make them better in the neighbours yard and enjoy the flowers from afar.

Another tropical wave moved through yesterday with wind and rain, the plants are lovin it. Worms got to the garden before I got to them, squash gone, cucumbers gone, chard hurtin, tom's and peppers refoliating. BT working. The little lime trees are growing like crazy as are the bananas.

cheers to all!

Mango Melee

And it was a Melee! What a great event. just a total "Blow-Out"! I must say, the folks of St. Croix do love festivals. Party! and all ages enjoy. I have been avoiding other 'fests because of the sheer number of cars and crowds, but getting here way early and leaving just before the end made it good. And I was holed-up in a shady part of the nursery for most of the day. I did make it to the bar tent a couple of times for iced beer, the mango slushy thing (daiquiri?) was just too sweet. Iced beer quite refreshing. One of the vendors had "mango wine", I don't think so. shit knocked your flops off. The dread-heads loved it, the look on others faces as they sipped on the shot was hilarious. Me think he mixed some mango juice with overproof rum and called it wine. Why not. Try a shot, buy a skewer of grilled meat. try another shot, buy two skewers, and so-on. The guy was a trip, and had his gig down. I just stood there for a while and enjoyed the show. I did have to try two of the shots just to make sure the wine had reached it's peak and boy had it. The meat I passed on, just not quite sure on that one, he had been sampling the wine for some time, and I didn't see and ice chest for the uncooked skewers. I'm sure one was there and they were very well cooked. Just me on that one. Good plant sales, sell-out on vendor slots, great attendance so the place should have made some $$$. Now let's us have a party!

Chaya, got some? No, get some!

Through my misidentifying a neglected plant I have been introduced to a most fantastic herb. The chaya plant. Yall folks over there in Belize et.al. May know it as kikilchay or chaykeken since this plant is a Mayan staple. It is also known as spinach tree. here "snow coral" for the white flowers. This plant has so many health benefits it is amazing. besides tastes like and used like spinach. Probably put in many a calaloo dish here. Anyway can't wait to plant some and start adding it to the diet. Pictures soon come.
I thought the plant was a neglected papaya, similar leaves and stalk. Since on of the volunteers brought in leaves of each mature I could easily see the difference. One week at the gardens and my health is already improving.
Mango Melee this Sunday, hope they got a Mango bar! No Smoothies PleaSE!

Extra Time?

Last week I remembered that the good folks out at St. Georges Village Botanical Gardens had told me back in Jan. that they would need volunteer help come summer when all the "snow birds" were gone. so i stopped by for a look at their plant sale and they were sad. really needed water and some TLC. I asked the fellow in charge and he jumped at the offer of help. Now I am a full-time water boy at the SGVBG nursery. As with any volunteer group few want the mundane and tedious tasks when there are other more exciting tasks. So, no problem. Seems like I been watering plants all my life, and they reward me! Now I get a discount on plants, goodies at the gift shop and the "garden parties"! Oh how Cool! garden Parties. Just so happens this Sunday is the "Mango Malay" all things mango, the good, the bad and the ugly. Yes, there are ugly things about mangos, especially when they rot!

Contrast in houses

just a few houses on isle croix.

As the garden grows.

The banana that Susan planted has already sprouted pups at it's base so bloom soon come I hope. the garden is coming along slowly. the soil (clay) took forever to hydrate and loosen-up, then had to dry-out enough to be "worked", ha! not hardly. this stuff is an alkaline goo when wet, and a brick when dry. Yep, gonna be a challenge. So, for the time being I spread a thick line of gypsum, top that with composted manure from a bag (2 bags per row), top all that with bags of garden potting mix (2 bags per row), put down drip irrigation cover all that with with plastic mulch and that with cypress mulch. Them some pricey beds! But fresh veggies are pricey here. But it's still cheaper than a psychiatrist. Yep! even in Paradise you need therapy.

Looks like another tropical wave is headed our way with one following that. More rain. damn, need to get that cistern built or just go ahead and buy one and put a roof on it.
Man, have the mangos been fantastic. Made a new drink with over-ripe mango; a mango mojito. Forget the mint leaves and smash a bunch of real ripe mango in a glass, add dark rum and ice. Enjoy!! Use'm before they rot. they don't freeze well.

Cheers!

It's a bunch of Bull!

The air is still and humid, but still cooler than SC. They been having 90's and we in the mid 80's. And when the clouds come along it is quite pleasant. The plants are all doing well and the garden has begun fruiting, or vegging as it were. The iguanas (Larry's) have not been a problem since the mongooses are rampant. Still have not found a good receipt for mongoose and the Crucians look at me as if I were more daft than I am. I think any prep done for rabbit would work for mongoose. Like I'm really going to go out and catch one of the damn things. But if one were given to me, now that's another thing. I did find-out that some folk do raise rabbit on island and sell dressed and frozen ones. that is on the menu.

Posting has been frustrating lately, our wireless modem comes and goes. be online then off with no notice. Unplug the thing let it rest, plug back in and maybe a few minutes of access. so when I feel like sitting here it may not want to play. damn thing. going to the shop Monday. i see it flashing that weird flash now, may be gone? Yep, gone. Hope this saves. Yep it saved now gonna post.

Rain atlast!

It has been a long dry first part of the year. Good for tourism, what little of that there was. But rough on the farmers of the island and their livestock. Man, they grow alot of goats here. Eat alot too, I must say I enjoy stewed goat on rice a whole lot. The horses seem to just roam around and find grazing whereever it's available, shopping center parkink median, hospital grounds, apartment grounds, roadside, and ofcourse vacant lots. Susan noted that they keeps horses like we keep dogs on the continent. Difference is we fence our horses and dogs, here they only fence their dogs, to protect the house.

Anyway, we finally got some significant rain. A small tropical front meandered over us from the SW and just dumped on us. Hooray!! The trees we have been planting have begun to put-out new leaves and you can see them smiling. The pineapples are perking-up as are the peppers and tomatoes, fruit all of a sudden, Yes. The soil now loosened and Susan could put shovel into it. So, she planted an orange tree, bannana, and a frangapanni. Grow for it farmer Susan!

Mangos have been coming-in for a few weeks now and boy are they sweet. Not to big butn Sweet. So many falling along the roads the sweet smell can overwhelm as they rot. Yes, mangos rot.

Cheers!

Lot cleared, but not by me?

Last weekend Susan and I drove out to the lot and as we reached the end of the road to turn toward the sea I noticed some burned area. I commented that someone must be clearing their lot. Susan says, I told you last week there had been a brush fire out-West and she thought it was near our property. Me, "WTF?", no! i don't remember any such thing! Well, boy had there been a brush fire. About 20 acres! That's a lot on this island. So going on down toward the sea and our place there is nothing but burn on the right. Shit! Didn't cross the road so neighbours houses were OK. Then i say to Susan we just saved $350.00 not having to have it chopped. We lucked-out. I have been cutting down the Guinea grass cane that remained and then started planting trees; coconut, lime, avocado, and of course MANGO!

Nuts in a tree

On my morning wander I found some cute little conchs, but nothing size enough to eat. One nice shell was reoccupied so i left him to carry-on.

Oh, can you find the nuts in the tree?

Wanna see my Nuts?

Well here they are! In my wanderings if I see a sprouted one I pick it up and bring it home. These are destined of the property once they are well rooted. I've ordered some grow bags, 2+ wks. ago, still no word. 5gal. pots are hard to come-by on island, so am using whatever. I've started many seeds but the sea wind just destroys them, drying wind and salt combo. So started more in other side window. They will be moved into growboxes when ready. Check-out this really cool hibiscus, never seen this one before. So of course I took some cuttings. The hummingbirds seem to love it.

Cheers!

Wind Chill?

Yes! It was overcast and windy yesterday and out on the Northside it was "cold" when in the wind. But I was up North after-all. Today breezy mostly cloudy but beautiful sunrise. It's been fun watching the Sun move along the ridge as She make that northerly trek. the place I was at had a really nice mural the wind didn't seem to bother her at all.

Where we Stay

ok, Ok, you know this "islandtime" thing is true. So we been here nie-on seven weeks, and my posting has been lacking, wish I could say I been busy. But No! It's islandtime! Ok! Here some pics of where we stay for now. Granada Dal Mar. Nice condo, but wouldn't want to own one.

Seems Mom was enjoying the Full Moon. Hope yall did too. You did see it didn't you?

I got fluked!

Yep! Sho did. It was a damn fluke, thought I was seein things. So I turn to stare and THERE! The damn thing jumped out of the water, mostly, I yell WHALE! Yep, right out there from our porch, gallery down here, there was a whale frolicking. So with cocktail-in-hand we tookup seats and enjoyed the show. First a blow, then a hump, then a fluke, how cool! Shortly came a breach. Great evening entertainment. Now since I was stunned to see the events I sure didn't grab the camera, and probably wouldn't have caught the shots i found these images. Looked just like that, just with Buck island as a back drop. Purdy damn cool!

Morning Suprise

Ok, so I'm a little sluggish this morning, but I'm going on my walk. So I stroll out to the road and these animals greet me. Well Hi i say, where did yall come from? They look, they snort, them back to munching. Then off I go thinking OK now maybe I find some conch shells.