A Rhinoceros what??

07/29/2014 I was beginning to feel like I was back in the Pacific Northwest with all the rain; however the crazy thunder boomers and constant lightning made sure I knew where I was. I was/am on a small speck of land in the Caribbean Sea, in a concrete and METAL home. We’re just one big lightning rod. Now that I know this, I won’t rest until we do something about it. We had storms in Pennsylvania all summer long but it was a rarity to have a good thunderstorm in WA. This past week I don’t think we had one night that we didn’t get up to the sounds of rumblings and booms and cracks coming from the sky. We had to bring the dogs inside it was so bad. Dooce was a shivering drooling puddle of fur. I put her Thundershirt on her during one bad storm and just left it on her but Bill takes it off because he thinks it upsets her. So I guess she just shivers and drools and pants without it. The other night we had some serious booms where the noise and the flash were mere seconds apart. A little too close for comfort! Today, Tuesday is a nice overcast day, pretty muggy outside.

The kitchen island is done, well, the counter top is. Bill is working on the cupboards and the back of the island. We ran errands yesterday looking for a new mattress and some door handles for the kitchen. I need 15 and I saw 1, one handle, uno, ein. ONE that I liked. Ace hardware has a huge display but they have only a few of each. They are the most poorly stocked store I have ever been in. Amazon here I come. It’s the little things. We also can’t find the small yellow fluorescent bulbs that fit in our porch lights. Until we do we can’t put the covers on them. Yes, it’s frustrating but it’s not a deal breaker by any means!

3 coats of sealer and the island counter is very hard and shiny.

DSCF2231 — This is what the window tracks look like after a rain storm. Nice huh? It’s mud.

DSCF2246 — Watching the storm come in over the south shore

Another termite hatch, they drop their wings and fly away.

Arlen finally showed up to start painting the cistern. He worked for half a day and hasn’t been back since.

This is a bad photo, taken through tinted glass, but the guy is getting a haircut under the tree.

I threw this in here for three reasons: my Dad took this photo in NYC when he was taking some photography classes. I love how he has himself superimposed over Mom. Their wedding anniversary is July 31st, 66 years and August 1st is Mom’s 89th birthday. They truly are an amazing couple.

DSCF2262 — Our neighbor is having a problem with Pileated woodpeckers. We have a LOT of them here and they have huge holes pecked in his light pole. Since the pole belongs to him, he has to keep the birds from destroying it. Bill saw him out on the ladder trying to fix it so he went down and took care of it for him. I see these woodpeckers daily.

DSCF2275 — Luck wasn’t thrilled but he hung out.

On Saturday we were invited to our friends house to hang out in the pool for the afternoon. It was a gorgeous sunny day, not a rain cloud to be seen. Trish and Dave live down in Sandy Bay way up on a hill. Needless to say they have amazing views!

DSCF2301 — We got to meet another person from the west end of the island also. He and I were FB friends but had never met. Nice to put a face with the name. We enjoyed meeting him! Bill and I stayed until the sun set and then headed home,

DSCF2302 — This is the sky changing with the coming storm viewed from our back porch.

I haven’t been driving my car very much lately. It makes me nervous that the CHECK light is still on. The last time I drove it there was a noise coming from the front wheel but I knew what it was so I kept driving. Sure enough, the underside of the car was dragging on the ground. Bill has since fixed that but the CHECK light is still on. Scarlett is such a tramp.

Condos? At Constellation Bay?? WTH IS CONSTELLATION BAY?

House in Coxen Hole. Talk about a view..

This looks like it could be a street in a civilized, developed city. It’s an illusion.

This guy was walking along the road carrying this huge piece of metal

pretty sure he was taking a leak. Little did he know he would be on the internet. WAVE!

Just standing on the bumper, great way to travel. AND, perfectly legal.

The other morning I saw some bugs on the screen and went to check them out. I realized they were inside and one was H U G E and scary looking.

This is the hole they chewed in the screen to get inside.

This is the big and ugly Rhinoceros beetle..and this was inside my screen.

This is a stock photo from the web, these people obviously know how to pose the Beetles for photos..something I have no intention of mastering.

Rhinoceros beetles are herbivorous insects named for the horn-like projections on and around the heads of males. Most are black, gray, or greenish in color, and some are covered in soft hairs. Another name given to some of these insects is Hercules beetle, because they possess strength of a herculean proportion. Adults of some species can lift objects 850 times their weight! That would be equivalent to a human lifting 9 fully grown male elephants! One of the uses for extreme strength is for the beetles to dig themselves into leaf litter and soil to escape danger. Their horns also help them to do this. Size: Rhinoceros beetles can grow up to 6 inches, making them some of the largest beetles around. They are completely harmless to humans and in many countries are kept as pets. If anybody wants one, let me know.

So now you know about Rhinoceros Beetles.

Last night I felt like making chicken with pot pie noodles. Of course, I didn’t have all the ingredients and of course it was 5:30 when I considered making it. Bill went to the store to get what we needed because he obviously was hungry. I’ll eat a bag of popcorn for dinner and call it good. I’m totally happy with that, I don’t need much more. Him, he likes food. So I made the dough, rolled it out, cut the noodles and made dinner. I think it was 7 PM when we finally ate.

DSCF2328 — The clear spots are onions, they were in the broth that I added to the flour to make the noodles.

DSCF2329 — So nice to have huge deep counters to do stuff on!

It was pretty good and just what we needed on a blustery, cool (83) Monday!

I’ve wanted a shelf unit for the living room so I would have somewhere to put my little amount of stuff. I saw one at a store that I really liked but Bill didn’t, he thought it was overpriced for the quality of it. I decided to give up on that piece, despite the fact I have looked at it at least 4 times. Sunday we went to the grocery store but before that we stopped at Lady Lee’s looking at mattresses. While there I saw a funky corner shelf. Bill looked at it and liked the way it was made, it was really heavy and unusual. Although it doesn’t have all the space I need, at least my things are out and not in a box..

DSCF2311 — Cathy Hurvitz, see what is on the second shelf?

Bill is working on the kitchen cupboards right now and I am trying to hammer out this blog before Jurgen starts bugging me..I’m not doing too well, it’s 1 PM, been at it since 8 ish.

Tomorrow we are taking our friends dog to the vet. They are in Long Island for the summer, the dogs are looked after by their watchie but he doesn’t have transportation. Later on in the day I am meeting my friend at the new police station in Oak Ridge. She is meeting with the police chief about a kids program so I am going to tag along and hopefully get involved.

This coming Sunday we are headed to West Bay Beach to meet our friends Trish and Dave and spend the day in the water. It’s a much needed beach day for me and the last we’ll see them until they return @ Christmas..

Speaking of Christmas, I saw these online and think they are fabulous