Only here

What a bizarre day. I realize I say that a lot, but some days, it is even more apparent that my many lives collide into each other in some very unique ways.

Today, for example, I had the luxury of working a shorter day than usual, because my prison visits on Thursday and Friday took so long, that I had some flex time coming. It had to be used today since it was the last day of the month--even though it did not really work out for me like it should have. I slept in, ran some errands before going in, and got to work around 10:30 a.m. Once there, things went at warp speed, and my training session got cancelled. I hate me a jacked up schedule. I was eligible to leave before 4:00, when I went to dad's house to help him get the belt on his lawn mower so that he could mow and I could borrow it.


That was a spectacle in itself. Of course, there was a larger problem that required me to lay on the concrete and dad to yell at me that I was doing it wrong, even though he was not down there and could not see even if he had been. We even had to stand it up on end to see what is wrong with it. That turned out to be things we could not fix tonight.

Then I had to rush home, shower, dress up and go to a reception for the clerk of our court, who is retiring. I even wore a DRESS! That was a far cry from the workout clothes I wore to work for no good reason. I even wore heels for pete's sake.

The reception was very nice, with a lot of dignitaries there, including some Supreme Court justices, but once again, not my favorite one, which makes me worry about him some.

Just after this, the wheels started coming off the bus. I stopped by the farm to confirm Madison had fed. She had not been able to yet, as she had been babysitting. I helped, bobbling around in my heels and trying not to jack up my dress--which is just hard to do when you are carrying buckets with 25 pounds of feed in them. That is when I got to take these pics--some of my kids who are in the wrong pastures were reminding me of this by posing for me. This is Boogie, whose cut leg is healing up nicely. And look at that grass. There is almost never grass in this particular pasture, but here is some proof that there is. It still amazes me.

This is baby Voodoo, who come hell or high water, is going to be ridden one nite this week. Which I guess leaves tomorrow or Thursday. Too bad he was not in the sun light, as he is so pretty when you can see his real color.

This is Squeaklet. She seemed to think this missing board area was designed for posing, as she was the first one to go stand there and show me how shiny she is.

I did what I could there, got Madison rolling on the rest of it, and debated bringing home a new bag of Strategy to feed the boys. I decided not to, even though I was pretty sure that they were out of feed. No big deal, they have hay and pasture to graze, so I decided to just stop in and see how they were, since I did not recall seeing the boys wandering last nite.

Good thing I did. I saw that they had a full water trough, which is good. There was more feed in their bin than there should have been, which was odd. No big deal though, obviously, they had been cared for while I was gone, as their water trough was full.

Then I happened on Twister, in a stall. We never use these stalls. Half the doors need new runners, etc, we just don't use them. We just use the barn as run in shelter for the boys. But all the same, there was Twister in the stall, looking forlorn. No water, no hay (of course not, I do not have any square bales at the house, so there could not be), nothing. I got him out and saw that he did not look good. He had clearly lost weight and was gaunt.

I moved him through, turned him into the pasture and went to watch him. Instead of eating the Strategy I had already poured out there, he grazed. He passed the water trough. It was odd. I watched a while longer, then came to the house. Keep in mind, I am still in my dress up gear, and have now tromped through yet another filthy barn.

I got to the house, and tried to convince Tequila to eat. No go. Not even with yogurt on her dog food, and she would not even finish her hot dog. Ugh--another bad deal brewing there.

I watched Twist from the porch for a while. He rolled once, but that did not concern me--any horse would after getting out of the barn, no matter how long they had been there. Sly chased him around a bit, and Fonzie followed Twist around, and he grazed some more. Then he rolled again.

Uh oh.

Graze some more. Get chased some more. He was walking sound, so he was not foundering actively enough to see anything. Still, I found it odd.

I worked on Quila to eat some more. Then I went out to see about Twister's deal. I looked in the barn--not there. He must have been hiding in the trees, as he moseyed out after a minute or two. He went to get some more water, and I watched him closely to see how much he took in. He was already filling out some, but definitely he had lost weight. He ignored the pig who by now had joined us at the horse feeding area, which is much further from the house than I thought he ever went. Only I have to deal with a potentially sick horse with a hell-raising pig underfoot, while I worry about the dog on a hunger strike, while simultaneously convincing Sly that really, I can do without his help on this particular mission, and do not need him to sniff my hair the whole time.

Back to the house I went, called mom to confirm when she last eyeballed him, and confirmed that he had been fine and wandering around the pasture when she last saw him. We speculated that perhaps he went walkabout somehow, and a neighbor put him up--but surely someone would have left a note, or called me--or for God's sake, given him water. My neighbors are farmers, they would know better. And why would Sly still be standing around if a stampede had occurred? I really do not think that would happened, as I would have seen some other evidence of it. Perhaps, Twist and Sly argued and Twist hopped the short wall into that stall--but then why would he not get himself out when he got hungry and thirsty? I just really do not know what to make of this.

I started to worry, so I decided to give him some banamine, just in case. By this time, it was after 9 and getting pretty dark. But even though there was banamine in the little bathroom--do not ask me why--there were no syringes or needles. Off to the farm I went AGAIN.

There I find that Haidagirl has evidently been arrested for something, as she is now in a stall. I am sure Madison put her there-I wondered why, but she looked fine, and there was no note, so I left her there to worry about tomorrow. After all, I already had a gelding to handle, a pig on the run, and a skinny dog to address. Tub o lard HG could wait. My triage system was already in overdrive.

Also there, I saw that somehow, BOTH babies had put themselves in with Grandpa in the run-in shed, and at least one mother was distraught about it. I detoured to open that gate to reunite everyone, thereby letting the mamas loot G'pa's high dollar dinner, but as I may have mentioned, I was out of interest in any more predicaments.

I got the syringes, needles, etc and decided that my black market dipyrone would be the best call for a potential colic, and headed back here. Upon my arrival at the driveway to the house barn, I was assaulted by that nasty bastard dog from next door. He NEVER shuts up, plus looks a little mangy and has a history of biting. I told him I had needles and multiple bottles of drugs that I was not afraid to use, and threatened to kick his ass and headed out to find Twist in the pasture.

By then, it was almost completely dark. That is when I got tickled about how absurd this whole thing was. I was hiding the halter, I had a syringe in my teeth, but at least I had dressed out of my lawyer/reception suit and had on flat sandals instead of heels.

Twist gave me a second of considering whether he should be involved with me--but forgot about it when he decided to get another drink. I gave him a shot just as Sly bit him on the ass, and I gave up and came in, thinking I have done all I can do tonight, and praying that this is all unnecessary.

In one day, I have done the job of home-maker, lawyer, social/professional function-goer, lawnmower mechanic, pool cleaner and medicater, horse caretaker, vet stand in, and briber of dogs. All this with only two changes of clothes.

Tell me women can't do it all. We don't have any choice; we have to.

And on that note, I am going to bed so I can get up with the sun to confirm that Twist is okay, and to start over again with another day of doing it all.

A Paige-ish sort of day

It is actually kind of funny, how my day went. I left the NW suburbs of Chicago around 9 am--thinking I was so smart to wait until rush hour was over. I was smart. I got here a little after 1 which is amazing, but meant I had to take two vacation hours. No big deal. During the course of the day, I caught up on the workplace news I missed, reported on my prison visits, and found out that Squeak just flat will not get with the program to be bred, so she is out for the year.

I picked up Tequila from my parents after work--she behaved pretty well there and was getting around okay. I came home to start dealing with pool chemicals and that is when things started going a little berserk.

Got that started and then threw on some basketball shorts and a tank top to go to the farm to feed, and mow. I mowed two strips and ran out of gas. Of course. I found a tank, and went to the gas station. Came back and realized my shorts were on inside out. Even worse, Madison had known it the whole time, but for some reason, thought I did it on purpose.

Fine.

Got that yard mowed, and was feeling pretty cocky about that. We re-wrapped Gaandpa's support bandage--looking good. Boogie's ouch really looks good, especially since it has not been changed since before I left last Thursday.

Then it was time to hook up the red trailer to haul the mower to the house. I HATE that trailer, I cannot explain to you how much I hate that trailer. I previously tore up the dually fenders turning too tightly with it, and have been scared of it ever since. Somehow, I managed to get that hooked up. I went to load the mower onto the trailer, and that is how I found out that I had forgotten to lock it down on the hitch. Doh.

Start over and I cannot get it right. I was calling BS to ask if there was a trick, but Madison figured it out. Now that it was securely latched, I re-set the ramps. And got an inch long splinter in my hand. That had to be dug out with a needle. Fun times. I tried again, and got the stupid thing loaded. The parking brake would not set, of course. Madison got the ratchet straps out of the tool box in the back of the truck and we got it all trussed up---after about four attempts to get out of the driveway, I was on my way. That is when I realized that we had not put down the lid of the tool box, so I could not see out of my rear view mirror. I probably did not want to know what was going on back there anyway. By the time I got to my house, there was a pack of motorcyclists behind me. I was not convinced they were not coming to kick my ass for dropping something in the highway and not knowing it--but evidently not, as they continued on.

I got here and realized that I could not get the damn thing detached from the truck. Fine. Move on to something else. I mowed mowed mowed and mowed and then something started rattling. Before I knew it, when there was just a couple of strips left in random places--something fell out of the mowing deck. I thought I fixed it, but evidently not, as it is a real mess now. I think just being around it causes the mower to attempt suicide.

I gave up and came in the house. That is when I realized that I must have left my razor in one of the three hotels I have been in since I last was here. Of course I did.

On a good note though, the cleaning lady came back! Total for the gutting she and her employees did over two days--$185. Totally worth it

So you agree?

Evidently you people agree that I have shorted out in the brain.

I do not know if this concerns me, or if I should be glad that finally someone is agreeing with me.

But then I talk to my mother for a while and realize that I am heads and shoulders above her when it comes to having my head in the game. Today at lunch, she did this thing TWO TIMES--one of my pet peeves---she asked me right in front of a stranger if I knew who that was. This drives me batshit because, for various reasons, everyone knows me. They not only know who I am by name, they can hardly ever confuse me with someone else once they have met me.

Me--not so good at remembering who everyone in the world is. I am sure that shocks you. I am particularly bad at knowing who someone is, just because their dad taught with mom for twenty years, or I know their aunt. And have not seen these people since they were born. It is even worse if they are related to you.

I have a morbid fear of being embarrassed or ridiculed (or overlooked but that is another story). So when mom asks me right in front of people if I know who someone is, I just want to die. Because I promise I only know about 3 out of 100 times. What could be more insulting for someone to realize that a person does not know who they are, and there likely is a reason I should know them. It is just awful. No matter how good a faker a person is, the person always knows you are winging it.

I hate this. This is not news at all. I have hated this my whole life, and many times in a year, we have this conversation. Until this year, mom always says she is sorry, she knows I hate that and knew she had stepped in it.

TODAY, she tells me she does not see the problem and why does it bother me and she did not know that it makes me uncomfortable. Of course it makes me uncomfortable, and I have not been unclear about saying so, in the hopes that it would stop.

Is this what I have to look forward to? Forgetting everything I ever knew?

Shoot me now.

Clearly I am ADD

I cannot stay on a topic. It is odd. I seem to be losing track of myself all the time lately. I was so proud to go to the gym before work for spinning....I got all the varmints doctored, which is a lot of them lately, found my spinning shoes and got there just a couple of minutes late for class. That was when I remembered that it is canceled this week. Which means I was wearing my padded butt shorts to work for no good reason. You can imagine how cute I was.

Check out Grandpa with his wrap on to support his ouchy tendon. I did not see him walk this morning or tonight as once he had his head in the water trough and tonight he was making sure his feed bucket did not walk off--but the difference in him from Saturday nite til Monday morning when Dr Miles looked at him was amazing. He has not had a Bute since Monday morning, so when the doc is here in the morning, we will analyze his action with no Bute in him at all.

See what I mean--jumping around in topics. Really I just took a pic and so I posted it. I make no sense. And do not forget my regular disclaimer--I know Gramps is a little thin--that happens when the heat hits every year. And he is 29. He looks damn good for 29. Tell me he doesn't look good for that old. A week ago he looked AWESOME. Then the fires of hell turned up and it got vicious hot---and bam there goes the weight. Happens to a lot of them.


I really do not have anything to talk about. I took these pics on Sunday, and since there will be no more Gabi pics until at least the fall and maybe even Xmas, you are getting these too. Plus there is Edward in them
She is scared of nothing. This is one of her favorite things--getting pitched around. I have one shot, I bet she is eight feet over the water. But you could not see her face.
How bout these gobbles? She is styling while she cruises the pool.
Edward. I got to see him for about two hours and one of those was dinner out where he sat at the other end of the table. He is pretty much swell. He did not even mention the pig staying away from Gabi, which I know full well is something he likes to happen. I think he does not trust pig. Gabi loves him.
This was at the dinner that night--she is always trying to share things. She was offering me those golf tees from the brainiac wooden test thing at Cracker Barrel. She says "Want some?" about everything before she takes it for herself. She is very polite for such a short person. Except she did stuff some of the tees up her nose.

What else? I had an excellent workout with the Beast over lunch today. I am not convinced he is not trying to kill me. I will be feeling this one tomorrow for sure--but I like it that way. I see him again Thursday before I leave town, and he is making me a workout for the weekend, in case BS gets in his apartment, giving me access to a gym.

Speaking of leaving town, Tequila stayed inside today all day and boy was she ready to go when I got home at 8:30 tonight. She looked damn near able-bodied trotting out of here to potty. Don't ask me why leaving town made me think of that-probably because I am going to leave her with my dad to take care of--I figure she cannot trick him like all the other dogs do because she is not about to run off anywhere. That way he can give her the meds every twelve hours--between him and mom, surely they can keep her on schedule--she is doing better all the time.

Ah ha--other thing---Slater's pantry pillaging evidently was not confined to the carnage in the living room. I got out of bed this morning and stepped right on an empty packet of hot dogs. He must have taken them from Tequila's stash--that is how I give her pills.


Back to Barry's apartment. They are still not moved in. In fact, they have changed their minds a jillion times. I highly doubt that he will be in it by the weekend which will be terribly disappointing. I had to give up a weekend in North Carolina with some dog friends to do this prison visit, and it was made okay to do it since I was going to get to shop for BS new housing, hang out at the pool and generally feel like I am on vacation. I surely do not have to tell you that if I have to stay at a damn Super 8 instead, I will be sadly disappointed. Very sadly. That takes a bit of the fun out of it--especially if there is no pool. Cross your fingers that things move a little more quickly that they seem to have so far. Now it is not just the company but the apartment people that are not sure they can get it done on time.

I went to the movies tonight--The Proposal with Sandra Bullock. So funny. Definitely see it. I love her and some Betty White. It was good.

What else have I got? Nada. I swore I was going to bed early because Dr M will be here between 7:30 and 8 am and I want to get Boogie's wrap stripped off by then so he can see the progress---but I do not think I even have it in me. I seem to think the world will stop or something if I actually fall asleep early. I am so not that important.

Catch up post

I really have been too busy to post since my last post--for real this time, and not just out of laziness. I feel like I have been going non-stop since then.

I think this is day 5 or 6 of the heat wave--heat indices over 100 every day. Today, the truck said it was 99 actual degrees, so who knows what the heat index was. That makes everything hard.

Friday nite, Jodi and I went to see Jackie and her new baby Analeigh. She is five weeks old now, so yeah--we were a little late. She is beautiful though. Especially for someone whose mother is "a woman her age", which is what Jackie's doc kept calling her throughout her pregnancy. Nice, huh?

When I got home a little after ten, Barry was just rolling in from his first week on the job in the Chicago area. So far he likes it, but I am sure last week was not normal, since they are still assembling their team, and he had to spend some time hunting an apartment to live in while he is there. He met some of the other guys though, and seems to be excited about the possibilities. We stayed up talking a while, but we were both exhausted from the week.

Early Saturday morning, we got up and immediately launched into the errands. He went to get the mower from the dealer/repair shop--AGAIN. He dealt with the Gator, which Madison said was broken--but really was just stuck in the mud. That was a relief, but it is true that something is wrong with the four-wheel drive, or six-wheel drive or whatever the hell it is. It makes it hard to turn, but it did not make the list of things that had to be dealt with this weekend. I picked up his chainsaw from the shop--also did not get used. I mowed the front pasture and a great deal of the middle pasture at the farm. It looks so pretty and at least I got some sun. I should have stopped there.

But do I ever---hell no. So when he got back with the mower, I mowed most of the yard at the house. By that time, it was mid-afternoon, and too hot for living people, so we hung out in the pool the rest of the day and waited for our dinner with Headleys. They are always fun, and so relaxing to be with people you just get, and you know get you. After that--more mowing! It was pretty much all mowing, all the time weekend.

Sunday morning was a little like Groundhog's day. More freaking bushhogging, more mowing of yards--the pasture here at the house got the bulk of it dealt with--at least the wide open areas. I finished mowing the yard here, and took the mower to the farm and knocked that out. That makes it sound easy, but by that point, I was probably into hour eight of the mowing weekend. Which also means I was sunburned. I seem to have forgotten that you can still get sunburned even though you are working.

Again, it was too hot to do anything, so back in the pool we went--and eventually, Mandy, Gabi and Edward came to play. Eventually it was time for dinner with mom and dad for Father's Day, so that was the next step. After all the time I spent telling Barry how funny Gabi was talking about her baby doll Lily who makes bad choices and goes poopoo in her diaper all the time, so that Gabi has to change her--she would not tell him about it for love or money. Unless you see it, you cannot know how funny it is. Smart as I am, I videoed it on my phone one day last week.

All hell broke loose weather-wise while we were at dinner, so when we got done around 8, we had to collect horses for the vet to see this morning, and move hay to the back pastures, etc. It must have stormed like mad, as it was so slippy, my foot twisted up in my Crocs and broke them. My favorite shoes too--that really pisses me off. So does tromping around in the pasture watering and opening gates with no shoes on--and now I have a monster thorn in my foot that is starting to feel like it is growing branches.

Barry left town around 5:30 this morning, headed back to Chicago. Right now, the hours he keeps are not vital, so he could still get in his time whenever he arrived. It helped to have him home one more night, for all the laundry we had to do, and all the plans and packing we did in anticipation of getting into an apartment this week.

No wonder I was so exhausted when I got to work today!

The vet came and diagnoses Grandpa with a strained tendon, who needs furacin/saran wrap and standing wraps to get over himself. He addressed Boogie's booboo, which needs a wrap as well--now that one I knew. And damn Diablo who should have been 17-18 days in foal was open, so we start that game all over again, bright and early Wednesday morning. I got all that done as soon as it got dark and the temp dropped to a mere 90 degrees tonight.

I worked an extra hour today because it was way too hot to do anything anyway. I finally gave in around 6 and came home to try to weedeat--but weedeater won't go. Drives me crazy. I can never get it all done at once-- so things never look good. Either I need to mow, or I need to weedeat, but never is it all done at once.

To hell with it I say, I got in the pool--which is HOT HOT HOT. Somehow that has to be dealt with. I need to shock her as well, so add another errand to the list for tomorrow. Gabi was in a bit of a mood tonight, as Edward left to went home and she could talk about little else but how she needed her daddy--it was pathetic. They go home tomorrow, so she can get her fill of him.

When I got in from that, I found that Slater had eaten the peanut butter again. In fact, he was still at it--two paws wrapped around it and his head jammed in the jar. I have lost count of how many things he has done that. When I came back again, he had eaten some special bread I got to make wraps that are low carb and a bunch of good stuff and not even gotten to try yet. Damn dog.

The remnants of that still have to be cleaned up--because the cleaning lady is coming back! Hallelujah! She will be here while I am out of town at a prison visit later in the week, so somehow, I have to fit in time to pick up all the clutter I have made.

And now that Simba has gotten off the blanket she pulled in the floor, I see someone has taken my good mustard---am I the only person whose dogs open doors and loot the pantry?

Our anniversary

Its today. Fifteen years ago today, we had 3-4oo people in a Baptist church ( go ahead, laugh---that goes to show how you are raised holds a place in you, especially when you are young and not a big enough girl to point out that you do not agree with all that, and that what you think matters) and the air conditioner broke. We wondered what all that flapping was about.

I could tell stories about the wedding that are funny=God knows there are a pack of them--or I could tell about the reception--a whole nother mess of funny--the honeymoon......now that was a mess that made me re-think the whole deal---

but why? what it comes down to is that I am the luckiest woman in the world. I am married to my best friend. Sure, we bicker and carry on, but if I were to design a man---this is him. He is smart. funny, so tolerant, and...well I am not sure what the word is, but he is the most best thing that I could ever have met and built a life with. We have a similar sense of adventure and have a ball living it out--but in the end, I know that the day to day experiences are what ground us. I can see that more every day. now that we are enduring another cycle that keeps us apart during the week.

Talking on the phone tonight about our day's events and our anniversary reminded me of when we were dating--way back in 1992--wow. Such a long time ago. Remember those days when you held your breath and waited for the phone to ring---I still do that.

Happy anniversary baby-- I love you

Underwater creatures

Me and Amy playing underwater--this was on a boat dive near the tiny island of Klein Bonaire...an uninhabited island a half mile from Bonaire.
This is a long-spined squirrel fish. They hide under overhangs, usually a few of them together.
Big ol honking parrotfish--probably close to two feet long, which is huge for this variety of parrotfish.
This is a midnight parrotfish. I had never seen such a thing, and you cannot tell it by this photo, but he was a big ol boy. At least three or four feet long, and thick---and somehow, he looked intelligent. The light blue on him was actually more turqouise than it looks here. He was remarkable. I think we saw him around 50 feet or so.
This is a stoplight parrotfish but you cannot tell from this pic how gorgeous they are. The trick to parrotfish is that they can change sexes! Have you ever heard such an insane thing?
This is the Queen Angelfish. She is my new favorite. She is called a queen based on that marking on her forehead that looks like a crown. This one does not show her color nearly as vibrantly as it is in real life.
This shows her color a little better, but it is still muted too much. They are almost neon looking.
This is a Black Bar Soldier Fish. Or a red Squirrel Fish--it is hard for me to tell the difference
Same deal--one or the other.
I thought these were Rock Beauty juveniles--but now I think it is a Foureye Butterfly fish. It is hard to tell if you cannot see the shape of her face.
This is a Rock Hind. They kind of creep me out. They can get up to two feet long--but mostly we saw them at a foot or so. They are kind of grouper like.
Sergeant Major--these seem to travel in a pack, and are only about four inches long.
This is a spotted drum. They are really gorgeous--with long fins. We saw a baby one and he looked like a bouncy ball out of the quarter machine, if it was wearing a dice costumeall out of the quarter machine, if it was wearing a dice costume.
This is a female parrotfish in the initial stage.
This is one of my favorite fish--the supermale parrotfish. I wish you could see his mouth--his teeth are really white, and he has white lips, so it looks like he is smiling at you.
Trumpet fish hiding in the plant.
Trunk fish. I LOVE these guys. They are flat on the bottom, and if you look at them from the front, they are bell-shaped. They are not really big--maybe six inches long.
These are pretty small skinny fish--yellowhead wrasse. Their colors are really vibrant, and they go really fast.
Amy loves these fish, I have no idea. We called them hidey fish, as it seemed like they would wait til we were past before they would move....very shy fellers. I think they are gross, but that is probably because they are speckled like eels so they startle me if you only see part of them.
This is a French Angelfish. If I ever get a saltwater aquarium, I will have to have one of these.


This is a flounder--you mostly see them hiding in the sand, but I got to see one on the move out in the open water. It was wild. I also saw one turn a corner and settle in--as he moved, his outside edges were turquoise, until he hit the sand---then he turned white and disappeared. It is pretty cool. They look like mops to me.
This is a filefish. I love the yellow fins. We almost always saw them in pairs, and one would look like this

and one would look like this one. These are pretty.
That is the tail of a spotted moray eel. That I did not hyperventilate at this stage was impressive, but I was bound and determined to get a picture of him. I re-thought it when he turned around in his cave and stuck his head out. And so did his wife. I was out of there.
This is a doctorfish. He has a little kissy mouth
That is a crab. Obviously
Now these kill me---these are called cowfish. If you look close, you will see little tiny horn looking things sticking off his forehead.
Isn't the pattern incredible? It is a honeycomb cowfish
This is a cocoa damselfish. They are pretty small, and a little agressive. Good thing they are not big, or it would be dangerous to be in the water with him.
Just a couple of inches long. There are dozens of kinds of damselfish, and I hope I got a pic of the really pretty ones that are black with turquoise spots on the top that look like sapphires.
I could not believe he stopped and looked directly at me. They dart around really quickly so that was a rare sighting.
This is a school of blue tang. They tend to travel in loose packs as well. They are really pretty--kind of the same shape as the doctorfish but a much darker almost black body with royal blue fins.
I cannot figure out what these are--they are weird blue and black and sometimes have yellow on them. They are kind of long and slender.
This is another trumpetfish. This is how they hide--in sponge or greenery or something--they wait until you go by, standing real still--they wait until everyone passes by then move on about their business. They also change colors, I saw yellow, turqoise, blackish, almost clear, purple--you name it.
Barracuda. Not terribly big, maybe two feet long. They are just ugly, but you should see them with their mouths open--all kinds of tiny sharp teeth in there. They don't bother people though.
This pic is cool because it has a shrimp hiding in it. See the purple sticking out at the top of the anenome? That is shrimp parts.

Well that is a start---I know I am missing s.ome good ones like the spotted eagle ray, some other eels, etc....but its a start! I have not even started editing the coral and sponge stuff. There were some beautiful colors to be seen---with 100 foot visibility, the colors are so much more vibrant than anywhere I have been

1000 Steps

1000 Steps is one of the most famous shore dives in Bonaire. That makes it a pretty big deal since Bonaire is supposed to have the best shore diving in the world. As pretty as this was, I did NOT want to do it.

But these yahoos talked me into it. We always make friends on these trips, and this time, we made three sets. I think we met these guys first, but we all hit it off really well. These two guys are friends from way back, and like Amy and I, they try to take a trip together as often as possible.


This is Holger, a German living in Switzerland. Such a nice guy.

Hansjoerg still lives in Germany. He reminds me of someone but I cannot for the love of God figure out who.

Amy getting ready at the top of 1000 Steps.

This is why I did not want to dive here. I am terrified of steps. And ladders. And to do a shore dive here--we had to lug all of our equipment down the steps.

And back up them again. After an hour underwater, this is pretty daunting. That equipment is heavy.

I have no idea why these guys had to wear so much insulation--the water was between 81 and 84 degrees, and they all got cold. Not me, I dove in my swimmer-the most I ever wore extra was a pair of shorts, and this day when I forgot to take off my tank top.
We all wore booties though--look at the beach. It is all bleached out coral, not sand. It sounds like you are walking on crushed glass with some bottlecaps thrown in when you walk in it.
These pictures were taken by Barry. Since he could not dive, he went on a drive on the afternoon we did the 1000 steps--many of the roads on the island are not really roads at all. He had a big time driving our dive truck on the dirt roads through the National Park--like he was in the Baja 100. In a coincidence, he took some shots of 1000 Steps Beach while we happened to there, and he did not know we were there.
You can see the steps to the left of this shot--it shows you just how steep they are. That dive is not for the faint of heart.
This is another angle, where you cannot see the steps. There is a full dive boat out in the distance, just over the reef.

The Germans had already gone to 1000 Steps, and thought it was a great dive, so I gave in and went obviously. They had seen big tarpon and some other good stuff. Evidently, whale shark sightings are not uncommon there, but I do not think we saw one. I did see a flash of something huge and with a white belly in the distance--it was big enough that the light reflected off of it got to me before it was gone, but by the time I got focused on him, he had cornered the reef so I could not identify him. The way he moved though made me think he was not a tarpon, and he definitely was not a ray of any sort.

There are a jillion underwater pics to be posted, and I cannot tell which ones were taken at each place unless it was something special, so I will post them all together and hope for the best!