Saturday, May 23, 2009

What's eating the Aloe?

Something is eating my Aloe.  You can clearly see the bite marks in my poor Aloe Vera. 



Ah ha! I wasn't sure if it was a Banana Rat or an Iguana but I think I have my answer. 


Wipe that smile off your face Iguana. It's not funny. What am I supposed to do if I get a sun burn?


That's better.


I know I'm not supposed to feed the Iguana but I couldn't help seeing if she liked grapes.  She did. 

 I wish we could let her hang out but the dogs would have her for breakfast.  Jerry finally got her out of the yard. I found the hole where she got in and plugged it up.  

Just another day in GTMO. 

Thursday, May 7, 2009

The way things are

I have had quite a few comments from people who once lived in Guantanamo Bay. I added these photos for all those people. This is how the base looks today.




This is the Downtown Theater. Movies are shown 7 days a week. This is also the spot where bands play.


We have a free car wash that I need to visit more often.

We have a wonderful bowling alley. Jerry even plays on a bowling league. They are not half bad. They are not half good either. They were in last place last week.

The Windjammer pool has 5 water slides and a climbing wall.


This is one of the award winning galleys. They just won some huge award this year. The food is fantastic. We probably eat there at least 5 times a week.


Our Commissary and Exchange are in the same building. You can buy plant fertilizer and groceries at the same time.




This is our brand new state of the art football field, soccer field, and track.




Right next door is the brand new baseball fields.



Most neighborhoods have brand new covered play grounds. This is the one right in front of our house. We don't have many kids in our neighborhood so It's rarely used. I take the dogs over to play every now and then. You should see Nala go down the slide, It's hilarious.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Party Boat

One of the nice things about GTMO is the MWR Marina. You can rent the GTMO Queen for next to nothing and have a splendid party. The view is not half bad either.





Friday, April 17, 2009

Stub

Notice something missing?

This is Stub. Yes, that's really her name. She hangs out at Marine Hill where Jerry works. I see her almost everyday. Someone ran over her tail a few years back.


She's normally laying in the grass, in the middle of the road, or under someone's car. You would think she would learn, but no. 


She's giving me attitude now. Shaking her head at me and telling me to back off.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Sunday Stroll

Here is our debut walk with Nala's backpack. Dogs wearing backpacks have a job and will act less crazy.

Normally Nala would pull until she passed out. Wearing the pack actually worked and she was pleasant to walk. She carried her own water and bowl. Look how proud she is.





This is a Pygmy Owl. They are really small. About the size of a dove.


While walking back to the house we saw a group of buzzards off in the grass. Jerry being the male that he is had to go and investigate. This is about a 7 foot boa. A tasty treat for the buzzards.


It's defiantly spring in GTMO. Even though it's very dry these wild trees have started to bloom and my sneezing has begun.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Antique Bottle Hunt

There are areas in GTMO where antique bottles wash up on shore and get buried in the mud. Many residents spend every weekend hunting for such bottles. We have been here almost a year and have never gone. It was high time to find out what all the fuss was about. 



These are dead Mangroves. I had lots of luck finding bottles in this area. I had to get out my stick and dig them up.


Every now and then there would be one right on the surface.



I love this piece of coral. It looks like brains. And look, an old Cuban beer bottle sitting right next to it. Lucky me. 


I have never seen a cactus like this. It was so strange. It looked like a weird tree. Anyone know what it's called?

Yikes, a giant termite mound. I have only seen one of these. It was on National Geographic. You know the one. Where the villagers knock over the giant termite mound and start grabbing the termites and biting off their heads.  Tastes like chicken. I like chicken but will pass on this mound. 


I hit the jackpot with this bottle. We were walking back to the car and I saw just a speck of purple sticking out of the mud. It was in an area with lots of broken purple glass. I almost walked right past it but something told me to stop and investigate. I began to dig it up and was delighted to find a perfectly intact purple bottle. With the help of Google I learned that this bottle did not begin its life purple. Apparently, manganese was added to glass to make it clear. Over several decades and exposure to the sun the bottle becomes more and more purple. Purple glass is very desirable among collectors. For those of you scratching your heads manganese is a chemical element, designated by the symbol Mn. It also has the atomic number 25. 


I could really use some help from my readers. On the bottom of my bottle are the initials ET. I have done several searches and google has really let me down.  I can't find this company anywhere. The bottle has air bubbles in the glass and the seam where the glass is fused together does not go all the way to the top. I have been told this helps you date the bottle. Everyone seems to think it's old. 

We found about 30 antique bottles on this hunt. I will post pictures when I get off my lazy bum and clean them up. 

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Sunset GTMO Style

Here are a couple more pictures of a beautiful GTMO sunset. This is my favorite time of day. Well, actually sometimes it's my favorite time of day. This is also when the sand fleas, or no-see-ums, come looking for my legs. I don't blame them. It's just a burden I must bear for having sweet sweet blood. 


Sunday, March 8, 2009

The Trail That Makes My Thighs Burn

One of my favorite weekend activities is the morning Ridge Line hike. It's a great workout with amazing views. It always begins the same, we leave the house, cross the street and find a small gap between the trees that leads to a trail head. There are lots of trees and it's very shady and grassy. The trail becomes suddenly very steep and you climb for about 20 minutes.



Here is what it looks like when you get to the top. There is a very nice manicured trail and breathtaking views of the bay.





Many year ago some Commander dude, that was a avid hunter, brought over some deer. They have been running wild ever sense. I have seen a couple on our hikes. Jerry found these nifty antlers.


You may notice from all the pictures that it's looking very dry and desert like. We have had little rain and everything is looking a bit brown.


However, it is almost spring and the wildflowers have started to pop up all over. They are very beautiful but make my eyes itch.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Bad Mood

On Thursday I was in a terrible mood. I don't really know why. I guess it was a combination of many things. First,  I'm having terrible trouble with my internet. In fact I have been trying to load these pictures for 3 days with no luck.  Anyway, Jerry called me and told me he was in a bad mood as well. So to lift our spirits we rented a boat and had dinner on the bay. It helped. 






Sunday, February 8, 2009

Yucca Cacti

I spent the week in Norfolk Virginia learning the ends and outs of financial counseling. One week of intense learning. I feel like I'm a walking financial dictionary now. Baby, it was cold outside. One morning it was 17. GTMO had a cold front as well and got down to something like 65 degrees. I know, chilly. Jerry had to get out his long pants. I returned from my trip yesterday and was delighted to see one of our cactus grew and sprouted this several foot tall extension with strange yellow flowers.  Growing up in the desert we had a cactus similar to this one but the blooms looked different. Anyone out there know what variety this is?