Another Dead Pelican

There was a report in the newspaper this week about pelicans being found paralyzed or dead all over the Keys with botulism-like symptoms. Today I removed the band from another little guy washed up on the beach, just feet from where the last one made its final landing. Pelican #0938-53588 was banded in North Carolina last July. I can't help but wonder if these birds are falling victim to the same disease. Hard to say. I can say that the ones here are most definitely dead, though. Eeew- smelly...

Fashion...turn to the left...

I don't know why I sometimes think that my life is uninteresting. In what other kind of life would I find myself marginally lost at 10:00 at night in the agricultural communities of South Dade County, listening to the best of Paul McCartney with a backseat full of designer clothes? For a moment there, I almost felt like I had my own TV series. I say that I was marginally lost, because I knew that the road I was on paralleled the one I was supposed to be on and that I would get there eventually, but I had turned just a smidge too early and did not recognize anything around me. Now, about the clothes. It's a bit odd for me at times having developed this sudden interest in fashion. I go to Miami and purchase...ahem...invest in these little gems, and then drive right back to a place where I will never get to wear them. It becomes a game of figuring out where I can now go to see and be seen in my snazzy duds. It's stupid and shallow, I know, but I enjoy the heck out of it. That's got to count for something. I've spent entirely too much time trying to do something meaningful; a little shallowness feels good from time to time. Besides, you get what you pay for. It's like finally buying 450 thread count sheets a few months ago; I had no idea I'd been sleeping on burlap all these years. The other funny thing is that I now have other women around me admiring my fashion sense. This is not something that has ever happened at any other point in my personal existence - it's just plain weird. Apparently I have now gone from geek to fashionista. Other people are asking me for advice. I suppose these last few months of training the old eye have actually paid off, eh? Also not bad for someone who can't afford couture. Maybe I should have my own TV show...

Tortugas Snow Day

Brrr! It's cold in the subtropics! 62 degrees is not at all what I signed up for, but what can you do with the wind like this? It's been blowing pretty hard the last 36 hours or so. Yesterday we had what I like to call a "Tortugas Snow Day": wind so hard there are no ferries and no seaplanes. It was just us and the four intrepid campers clinging desperately to the moat wall to avoid being sucked out to sea. The quiet is a welcome break, but it did get a bit chilly out here. We did have both ferries and one plane today, but there were very few brave enough to ride those swells and come out. I keep forgetting that it's actually winter in other places. Just yesterday I walked by the TV in the rec. room and did a double-take. Seems some nor'easter has dumped a boatload of snow on the northeast, making me very thankful that I no longer live in Maryland. Seems they have gotten 12" of snow already in my old town, and it hasn't stopped yet. Eeergh. That I can do without.

Brought to you by the letter "P"...

Today was a P-word kind of day. I can think of no better way to start the morning than by poking a dead pelican. One of our campers came and reported it as having a band on its leg, so I went over, coffee in hand, to check it out. Mmm, bloated. Luckily for me, the legs were exposed nicely and I did not have to manipulate the poor fallen critter too much to get at the band. We logged in its ID number, but no history. Poor thing - it has died in anonymity. So long, pelican number 0938-17350! Godspeed, little buddy!

The next P-word floated in on the back of one of our commercial ferry boats. Super Seasick Man was ejecting breakfast rather forcefully off the stern, and I went aboard to check on him. Nice man, and he's feeling much better now. His party did the wise thing and flew back on the seaplane. The P-word, incase you haven't figured it out yet, is "puke".

Third P-word of the day is brought to us courtesy of the sooty tern population. They are here in force now, and that good-ole ammonia smell is wafting across the cut onto our little island. Is it pee or is it poo? Methinks it is a combination of both, and the combined forces of those two may knock us all out before the month is through. I can't imagine what it will smell like once the chicks hatch.

Well, that was my day. I will soon be taking down the flag and going home to cook some things for dinner, none of which start with the letter "P".

If I'm 31, shouldn't I look 13 in the mirror?

Ah, birthdays... Nothing like a yearly knock-knock from Father Time, just to let you know that your room is ready. A couple weeks ago I turned 31, and oddly enough I am having a much harder time with that than 30. Not sure exactly why, it's just vaguely depressing for no apparent reason. The fact that I am still getting carded by bouncers and called "sugar" by waitresses ten years my junior is somewhat encouraging, once I get over the fact that it's also really annoying. It's especially nice when they look at my I.D., do a double take, and say something like "Wow! You're old!" Oh well. Out of the mouths of babes, or whatever.

This year's birthday was rather uneventful. I was mostly dead for a couple of weeks with yet another bout of what I have dubbed "The Cuban Super Flu". I got on the boat, zonked out, got off the boat, zonked out. That was pretty much the extent of it. I did have the opportunity to celebrate early with my parents and sister in Atlanta, so that was nice. They gifted me with a Bluetooth earpiece for my cell phone so I can stop driving down U.S. 1 with one hand. This is quite appropriate, since I am usually talking to them at the time. I also had a nice dinner date with hubby the next week at Bahama Breeze, one of my favorites. He went a little overboard with the gifts, but I will not complain. I have added to both my gun and power tool collections. Sweet.

Today was mostly uneventful. I finally got out there this afternoon and scrubbed a boat, which was a nice change. If only I'd had a radio - some tunes would have been perfect. No doubt the sandpipers are out there pooping on it as I type, but at least I made the effort. Tomorrow morning we will see just how much my back appreciated that little stint of manual labor.

Thought for the day: "Ships are the nearest things to dreams that hands have ever made, for deep within their oaken hearts the soul of a song is laid."