Ants, Ants, Ants!

Ants. Islands ants are not the same are regular ants. Island ants come in different forms. Some are translucent and others are much bigger than any ant should be. Then there are fire ants and those aren't really ants at all but the devil disguised as ants. Being bitten by a fire ant is worse than poison ivy. When I first moved to island I thought I had stepped into poison Ivy and it took me a few years to realize that what had actually happened was that I stepped into a fire ant mound and I was bitten several times, the effects of which I felt for about two weeks and it was extremely unpleasant. 

Today, we were dealing with non-biting ants but still a problem for sure. Usually when I see ants in the house, they are tiny and we have Terro liquid ant bait which I use to eradicate the problem within a few days. This has worked for the last ten years, until today. It has been extremely dry the last couple of months and I'm not sure if that's the reason why they have started appearing more and more, but there are a lot of ants. They prefer our dog's premium dog food as their target of choice but then they also spread out into our sink and our kitchen table. 

After lifting up our dog's ant infiltrated food dispenser by the wrong part and having all her food go all over the place for the third time too many, we realized we had more ants than is an acceptable amount inside our island home. I asked my husband to take care of the problem as soon as he came home. And he did, because that's the only way living on an island with island problems like these works. 

He was great and vacuumed absolutely everything first (if medals were given out for vacuuming, he'd get the Olympic gold). Then we took out the peppermint oil that we had gotten a few years ago to counter the fire ants in our back yard and our front porch, and sprayed every spot of ingress around the outside of our house and even some spots inside the house. Since peppermint is natural, our dog may lick it but it won't hurt her which is why we got the oil in the first place since poison is not an option with pets that lick absolutely everything.

As I write this, I have not seen an ant in hours and hopefully they stay away for good this time. Also, my husband is available for ant eradication consults. The dog is already writing letters to ASPCA because her food dispenser is in the sink and her food is on the other side of room now and not on the carpet in front of the television where she prefers. 

Island Hobbies

I've been trying to find a hobby recently and it has been very challenging. We probably have just as many interest groups here as in any other area. However, after work and getting everything that a seven year old needs (today's need were shorts for gym class but that's a different blog post), all I really want to do is watch This is Us (my husband hates this show with a passion for some reason). But watching television isn't really as satisfying as it was a million watching hours ago so the search goes on. 

There is a radio amateur club that my husband really wanted to join but it usually occurs at the same time as his MUFON meetings (if you're interested in MUFON, come see us at 1 p.m. on the first Saturday of every month at VI Coffee Roasters in Christiansted). There are also organizations concerning the environment, boating, clay, painting and pretty much anything. Last year we joined the Orchid Society which has been interesting but summertime means we don't really have meetings. Through the Orchid Society, I found out that there is a Bonsai Society. I've also recently heard about a cigar club and of course, we have a Rotary Club. There are also the Freemasons, and if you want to invite us, let me know!

So tons of clubs but so hard to decide on one or even two and make time for it. And obviously there are a ton of hobbies that don't even require joining a club but I can't decide on any of those either. So after a lot of consideration, I decided to reinstate my Mensa membership and see how many other members there may be here on island. This may be a failed restart but it's the first one that I have been semi-excited about so I am going to give it a try and see what happens. 

When the lights go out...

The power went out again this morning. It feels like it goes out at least once a week now, which is better than a few years ago when it happened at least three times as often. The nice thing is that we have an automatic switch generator. I don't know much about generators, but I do know that when our power used to go out, our lives would literally stop. It's a huge difference in a place that is extremely warm all the time when you don't have an AC or fan running.

When the local electric company shuts down all the power, often island-wide, it gets hot very quickly. Now we're lucky that the generator automatically goes on, so we don't really know that we don't have power except that the lights flicker a little and the loud generator noise is tough to miss, even though it's not that close by. There used to be a time that we couldn't even use the toilet because of how the cisterns and sump pumps are situated in most houses on this island, but not anymore. The worst was after the hurricane when the shower wouldn't even work unless a generator was running.

Life has gotten a lot more comfortable than it used to be here. A decade ago, everything was so new here, and we were so young, that we didn't mind the heat or having to leave the house during the day on the weekends because it was just so hot. Now, with the automatic generator and the ACs, it's not that different from living stateside as far as summer indoor temperature.

Yesterday I also realized that the sunsets and the moon on St. Croix look so much different than in the states. I don't remember seeing the moon in Chicago very often, but here it looks like it was painted anew almost every night. We can even see it during the day. It’s really magical, especially when it’s full. The sunsets are also something to write (or text) home about.

Winter weather is a completely different story. I haven't seen snow and I haven't felt my face freeze in over a decade. I hated the cold when I lived in Chicago. Of course, all my daughter wants now is to see snow, but snow is hard to order on demand. One day she'll see snow and probably ice and frost, and the excitement will be short-lived. Until then, we'll all enjoy the bright moon and the warmth of the sun all the time.

Back to School

When I was a kid, school always started the first week of September or somewhere pretty close. In the Virgin Islands, school starts August 13 this year for public school. I used to try to get all the school supplies by ordering early online because I didn't want to pay $7 for a box of colored pencils. But this year is different. I have seen great deals at local stores lately and for very reasonable prices. 

The local OfficeMax has all the essentials priced for a few dollars in the back of the store (there are no signs, just keep walking until you can go no more). Cost-U-Less also has some good deals and if we didn't already have a backpack, I know my daughter would want the Hello Kitty backpack I saw featured online in the circular. I actually may go there next weekend to check out a few more items. Both stores also have the primary journals that every public school requires on island and that I used to spend a fortune on in the past. They are all priced at a few dollars a piece and I purchased the basic primary journals for .50 at OfficeMax. 

Other items that we always need throughout the school year are school snacks, especially for after school care time. We're trying to go healthier this year and avoiding the chips and cookies (ask me in a month how long this lasted). So far we have settled on assorted nuts like cashews, peanuts and almonds and crackers. We are also planning on sending loose fruit in a container. I found a great nut assortment pack and they were individually packed at Plaza East. I know it's more waste than just putting it into bags ourselves but if we're using our own plastic bags anyway, it does seem like a bit of a time saver and less of a chance that the nuts will go stale. 

I am still going strong on my quest not to order online so last week my husband and I drove the whole island while he entertained me with is jokes and went into every feed and grocery store in our search for a dog food feeder and dog vitamins. We did finally find a dog food feeder and glucosamine as well as other dog vitamins at Gallows Bay Hardware. They were very reasonably priced and the dog is very happy with both. She has an extra pep in her step since she started taking the vitamins. The utensils in the photo were my husband's idea but I have to agree that the Downton Abbey of it all is very fitting for her and she seemed to enjoy it. 

So it's August and that also means we're about to hit hurricane season pretty hard. On the calendar, the season goes from June to November but everyone who lives here knows that it's not really serious until end of August and through September. Then we hold our breaths for a few weeks and hope for the best. So here we are. Our propane tanks are filled for the generator and we have some canned food ready. Everything else is really up to the weather

I will try to make this blog a regular thing again and I will try to post every Sunday. See you next week!