Monday, December 27, 2010

XMAS/BOXING DAY MONDAY

I suppose this Monday is a holiday for some people, as Christmas fell on a Saturday, so in solidarity with those folks, let's all have the day off :)

Here's a couple of photos I took this morning from our forward hatch...

December 27, 2010 @ 8:30am - St Croix, USVI

If you'd like to get away from the arctic north and thaw out your toes, here's an opportunity... The catamaran Marolanga still has a cabin available on their special cabin cruise week, January 8-15, 2011. Click here for your quick getaway!

Bob did an Island Gourmand post this morning about New Year's Biscuits... Yummy picture. I hope this is a sign of good things to come next Saturday!

A bit of Amazon.com pimping... We only need two more orders to increase our piddling commission by 1/2%.  Not much, but everything is appreciated :)

Hmmm.... Maybe I should buy the saw guide that Bob mentioned in his Boat Bits post this morning: A tool that makes me happy...

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Attention: Browncoats, Firefly & Castle Fans

This morning we did some Christmas shopping on Amazon.com with a gift certificate we received, and we were shocked to find that Castle Season Two was only $14.99.

Wow, such a DEAL !!!  Last time we looked it was $39.99... That's a 62.5% discount.

Mr & Ms Cheapseats did not have to ponder over this purchase very long... We might be cheap but not stupid :)

Thank you, Santa!

So, all of you Browncoats, Nathan Fillion, Firefly & Castle fans, if you don't already have this DVD buy it now as maybe this is a seasonal sale.  If you already have it, buy both Season One (also $14.99) and Season Two for a deserving friend.

I forgot to order the books, Heat Wave and Naked Heat which are the Nikki Heat books the character Richard Castle is writing in the television series.  Should be interesting.  Oh well, next order :)

These books are also available on Kindle...

We need to get an e-reader... See Bob's Boat Bits post: Tis the season for e-book conundrums...

Happy Holidays!


Magnetic North Pole

Interesting article from the Scientific American that if the magnetic north pole keeps shifting as it is, it could pass the geographic north pole in a decade or so and carry on toward Siberia.

Read the article: Why is the north magnetic pole racing toward Siberia?

So It Goes...

Friday, December 24, 2010

Christmas with a twist, plus a few treats

Looking for some different things to do this Christmas and not the same old same old?

Here's a suggestion from those wild & crazy guys at Epic Meal Time... their twisted variation of a gingerbread house, including an interesting Jack Daniels eggnog :)




MP3 CHRISTMAS MUSIC
This is kind of cool...
and then, since we miss France:
plus, a couple of classics:
or how about:
or maybe:
I also found a few Christmas twist songs! Why? It's fun...

See Bob's Boat Bits blog for his Some Handy Hints for the Holidays post and watch the "A Very Zombie Holiday" instructional video.

For my fellow Beatles fans, you can find the Beatles Christmas recordings HERE

If you have forgotten someone on your Christmas list, or someone gave you a gift and you now need to buy them something (oops!), how about an Amazon.com Gift Certificate.  I know I would certainly appreciate one... hint hint...

So, dress up your cat, dog, ferret in their festive togs, grab a hunk of bacon, put on some Christmas Motown tunes, and enjoy a game of A Nightmare Before Christmas Monopoly!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Easy Honda Generator Oil Change

Last week we received our new doo-dad for our Honda EU2000i generator. It is a stainless steel extender that goes on the oil fill to make draining the oil much easier and mess free.


Bob decided to change the generator's oil Monday afternoon.  I took a couple of photos of the device before using it and then did other things while waiting for Bob to change the oil so I could take some pictures of the process using the new doo-hicky.

After awhile when I finally checked to see what Bob was up to, he was just putting the oil away. There was no swearing or other telltales that he was in process of changing the oil. I missed my photo-op but I'm not complaining as the results were fantastic. The newspaper under the generator did not have a drop of oil on it.

See Bob's Boat Bits post for more.

This is a "must have" for any Honda generator owner. Check it out at Amazon.


Monday, December 20, 2010

Christmas Winds?

Invest 95??? What the frell???

This is too depressing for me... Please look at BoatBits for more info.

I'd rather be planning the party for the cats tomorrow and have visions of sugar plums :)

Buffy & Willow - 3 years

Today is the 3-year anniversary of when we adopted Buffy & Willow...



Little fluffy bundles of joy... plus the occasional pointy bits :)

Happy Holidays!


Friday, December 17, 2010

eBook readers for Christmas and other things...

Bob wrote a post on BoatBits the other day about finding an eBook reader in his Christmas stocking...

See his BOATBITS POST HERE: Tis the season for e-book conundrums

If you can't decide on a Christmas gift for your special person, give an Amazon Gift Certificate and then they can pick out what they'd like...

Definitely a Win / Win situation :)

Being in the Caribbean doesn't make me feel very Christmasy.  Even though I was quite chilly this morning and closed the hatch above the bed (my clock thermometer said 80.5°F) it's not the same as a White Christmas, though I'm quite happy not having to scrape ice off of my windshield like I used to way back when.

I grew up with my parents playing Perry Como and Bing Crosby-type Christmas music... such classics!  The other day I stumbled across Mele Kalikimaka by Bing Crosby & the Andrew Sisters... Give it a listen!

I am tempted by some of the selections that the MP3 French Christmas Music search search had to offer.

Oh, wow!  I'm listening to iTunes while typing this and Claudine Longet just came up singing The Beatles' "When I'm Sixty-Four".  That made me smile.

Happy Holidays!


Sunday, December 12, 2010

St Croix Fireworks Cruzan Christmas Festival 2010

Last night was the lighted boat parade in Christiansted which kicked off the 2010 Cruzan Christmas Festival of St Croix, US Virgin Islands. I'd estimate that over 15 boats participated. Very impressive and fun.

 copyright 2010 - Loose Moose Filmworks
Boat preparing for the lighted boat parade in Christiansted

I forgot there were to be fireworks afterwards.  There was a strange sound that I thought was our ladder banging into the hull, but then Buffy and Willow ran inside in a panic and wanted to hide. This was followed by larger booms and rattling of hull and flashes of light... They were shooting off the fireworks directly across from us on the beach.  Wonderful...

Short video of grand finale

I'm always worried about fireworks and potential damage to the boat.  This morning our deck was littered with bits of cardboard and ash.

One year when we were anchored in Long Bay, St Thomas, USVI the fireworks set Hassel Island on fire.

So, the festivities have begun... Enjoy!

Saturday, December 11, 2010

St Croix Christmas Boat Parade TONIGHT

Tonight will be the Christmas Boat Parade in Christiansted Harbor, St Croix. See more at StCroixTourism


Today is the kick-off for the Cruzan Christmas Festival. See the schedule of events at STXFestival

It looks like it should be a nice day for the festivities!


Thursday, December 09, 2010

NOAA 2010 Hurricane season video

This is a cool video put together by NOAA...



Check out their YouTube channel

Wonder where we will be next summer...

Wednesday, December 08, 2010

2nd day of infamy

Yesterday, December 7th, was the day of infamy... Pearl Harbor Day.  Today, December 8th, is the second day of infamy, the 30th anniversary of the assassination of John Lennon.

Do you remember where and what you were doing when you "heard the news today, oh boy"?

... Paris, saw the newspaper while entering Blvd St Denis Monoprix



The only info given is 1967... Lots of various artists pictured such as Neil Young, Michael Nesmith, etc...

I finally was able to view the entire clip (we were having a slow internet time earlier) and was disappointed when it ended before its time. I'm sure the video would have had the entire song... But, I still enjoyed it and thought you might, too. It leaves you wanting more!

Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Monday, December 06, 2010

Fun Christmas Gifts for Your Pets

I was checking out various links on my new blog template and while looking at Amazon.com came across some interesting items for the holidays for pets...



Plush Puppies 
Hanukkah Dog Toy

Hannukah Tickle Your 
Fancy Catnip Dreidel


These are cute, too...






These are listed under Ferret Gifts, but I'm sure Buffy & Willow would enjoy them...





That was cool... Now it's time to get back to work :)


Sunday, December 05, 2010

Yes, I changed the look...

I wanted to do something different so I changed my Blogger template.  Not real thrilled, but it's OK for now... I need to do other things.

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Theoretically, it's over

Rejoice! H-season is officially over... It was an active year, with 19 named storms, 12 hurricanes, and 5 intense hurricanes.


My Wonderground Tropical Weather widget over in the right column hasn't shown anything in a while, and the  NOAA messages have been saying "No North Atlantic Tropical Advisories".

Always keep an eye on the weather though..

Now that "it" is over, it is now Christmas season.  I was surprised when I turned on the radio during the night of Thanksgiving and heard one station playing solid Christmas music. I won't be listening to them again until the new year.  The occasional song is OK but not every one, please.

We only make a few pennies on purchases but everything helps and we appreciate it!

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Leslie Nielsen

Bob & I were saddened to hear of the passing of Leslie Nielsen.

We were honored to be a part of his 75th birthday celebration back in February 2001. Word had leaked out and there was quite a crowd waiting for the Nielsen charter group at the Willy T's. It was a windy and choppy week but they had a "fabu" time... In fact, they did a return charter and condo combination. Nice people.

Were you at Willy T's that night?

For my brother's 30th birthday, Bob & I took him to see the film Airplane.


When we lived in France, the movie Y a-t-il un pilote dans l'avion? seemed to be always playing somewhere. A fun film.

Thanks for the joy you gave us, Leslie.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Monday Monday

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.  Some of you had a 4-dayer...

When I was a "fonctionnaire" in France we didn't get Thanksgiving off but it was made up for by LOTS of other holidays.  I loved the month of May, especially when the 1st fell on a Thursday because then we were able to "faire le pont" and make it into a 4-day weekend. With the 1st (Labor Day) on a Thursday, this made the 8th (VE day) also be a Thursday... Ascension usually fell in May, shortly followed by Pentecost and Whit Monday.  I used to get 6 weeks of paid vacation, too. Plus no-hassle HEALTH CARE, including dental!

Well, it hasn't rained much the past couple of days and when it has it's only been for a couple of minutes. I'm not complaining when the rain stops just as soon as I've closed the hatches. I'm not looking forward to a heavy rain because Buffy has been messing with our new weatherstripping.

Will this stop the rain from coming in?

If she's outside and notices that the forward hatch is only open an inch, she'll stick her paw in the gap and start clawing the weatherstripping along with an occasional munch.

I heard a noise a bit ago... Sounded like sails flapping which is unusual.  Popped my head out and it was the schooner Roseway heading out the channel.  She came back to St Croix last week after being up in the Great Lakes this summer.

Schooner Roseway

Not sure what to plan for today as the weather looks a bit unsettled.  Willow wants me to play with her some more :)

Listening to Randy California's Shattered Dreams album...

Hi again... I just went to check out Amazon's CyberMonday and noticed they had 40% off of BBC shows and had to tell you about this...

They have Black Adder Remastered: The Ultimate Edition available for only $44.99 today. This has the 4 seasons of Black Adder plus their various specials, as well as interviews, etc.  I bet that quite a few of you have never seen House MD's Hugh Laurie in his various comedic roles on English TV.  He is so funny in this series and Rowan Atkinson can be such a nasty, mean character... not like his more slapstick Mr.Bean character... although I really like the Mr. Bean's Holiday movie.

I would feel terribly guilty if I didn't mention this because it's something I enjoy so much and want to share.


Thursday, November 25, 2010

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Yesterday we walked up to Pueblo supermarket to do our Thanksgiving shopping. We decided on a couple of nice steaks which will be a real treat.

Good thing we didn't see this video until this morning, or we might have had to buy out the entire meat department :)


Those guys at Epic Meal Time are some real crazy dudes!

While you are waiting for your T-Day dinner to cook or killing time during the commercials in the football games, check out what Amazon's Lightning Deals are for the hour...


As it is Thanksgiving, I must remember to listen to Alice's Restaurant Massacree today... It's tradition!

Enjoy!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Day before Turkey Day

It is a blustery morning again here in Christiansted, but at least it doesn't look like rain... although sometimes it rains when the sun is shining :)

We were going to take the bus up to the big supermarkets yesterday but guess what?  It RAINED just about the time we needed to leave to catch the bus. We plan to walk up to Pueblo at Golden Rock this morning and get some fixin's for T-Day.  It's good exercise, too.

In Bob's BoatBits post this morning "T-Day minus one..." he mentioned dropping off something at a food bank. It would be great if Pueblo had a barrel at the exit door so we could put a couple of cans in it... Way back when I was a small child, stores used to do this and, remember Toys For Tots? Does this still exist?  Hopefully they still have food drives like this stateside, but I'm sure there are people here in the USVIs who would benefit, too.

This weekend was the Wahoo Tournament. We went to Saturday's weigh-in and they said that this guy would have probably won that day's catch except that a shark made out first :)

Click photos to enlarge

We didn't go to see Sunday's fish because... it was RAINING!

Have you checked out the Black Friday Sale (all week) at Amazon?  We got one of their Lightning Deals on a TV series (6 DVD) for only $12 plus free shipping. Hurray!


And, thanks to whoever bought the Cuisinart! 
Appreciate that you followed our link
You get a Gold Star :)

At least with all of this crappy weather, I've been able to do some web work...

I heard that the folks who are messing about with that particle accellerator thingy & the big bang theory might soon have insights into other dimensions.  I could use some sort of time dimension so I could get more work done in a day (without wearing myself out) and a really useful one for all of us would be a spatial 4th dimension where you could have the accommodation of a 65-foot boat in a 34-foot boat package.

And, speaking of charities, have you pressed the purple button lately??? Go to The Animal Rescue Site and after pressing their button, run along the tabs at the top for Hunger, Breast Cancer, Child Health, Literacy, and Rain Forest and press their buttons, too.

Have an excellent day!

Monday, November 22, 2010

Amazon.com BLACK FRIDAY WEEK Saie

Amazon is having a Black Friday WEEK sale and it starts TODAY runs through Nov. 27, 2010.


They are starting Black Friday early and this is a link to their main page for this event where you can find Lightning Deals which change every few hours, so check often!

Bob & I are very interested in their Movies & TV DVD section:
Kitchen Home & Pets:
  • Gifts up to 40% Off in the Kitchen, Home & Pets Holiday Gift Guide
  • Black Friday Event with savings of up to 50% on a wide selection of products for the home from kitchen knives to vacuums from 11/22 - 11/27
Music:
  • Deluxe Editions: Hundreds of CDs and DVDs including the 25th anniversary edition of Michael Jackson's Thriller, with prices starting at $8.99 
  • Box Sets: Hundreds of box sets, including Hank Williams Sr., with prices starting at $12.99 
  • Greatest Hits: Hundreds of titles, including The Beatles, with prices starting at $6.49

Check it out... Explore the sale 


Much more to come next week... Stay tuned...

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Full Moon Party TONIGHT Trellis Bay Tortola BVI

There's a full moon party in Trellis Bay, Tortola, British Virgin Islands TONIGHT!


If you're over that way, check it out...


Saturday, November 20, 2010

Patti Smith's Book: Just Kids. And other STX stuff

Congratulations to Patti Smith for winning the National Book Award for Nonfiction for her New York Times Best-Seller, Just Kids.


I saw Patti Smith in the summer of 1979 (30+ years???? No way!) in Seattle at the Paramount.  That was (perhaps still is?) a great venue for concerts. The guy I went with (JPH) worked at a record store and was always able to score good concert seats... front row balcony. It was quite an adventure to drive up to the big city and to see her perform.

The next day, back at work in my home town, a colleague from Medical Records told me that she saw me at the concert and was so shocked to see me there... It's good to shock people :) If she only knew what I've been up to since!

As it was a punk concert, they had strict security... looking for cameras and whatever.  I didn't have safety pins in my cheek so I was pretty much overlooked.

Her hit at that time was "Because the Night" written by Bruce Springsteen, which is on her "Easter" album. (We saw "The Boss" that summer, too).

You can buy the book from Amazon as a paperback or Kindle.

***** Oh, no... We're out of coffee!!! *****

We went over to St Croix Marine to check out their "yard sale".  We bought a 1/2 gallon thermos for $2 and 46' of double-braid line for $5 (i.e. 9.2¢/foot).  We then found some reasonably priced coffee at Schooner Bay Market THANK GOODNESS!!!

STX Marine has a great deal today on a Walker Bay inflatable kayak for only $600.

Thought we'd be able to do a few epoxy/fiberglass projects today because it hasn't rained for a few days and everything has dried out pretty much (there's still some water flowing down the streets)... but GUESS WHAT???  It rained... The ropes that were out that we were waiting to dry before putting away, are wet again.  Well, at least they're getting a good fresh water rinse.

There's a Wahoo fishing tournament this weekend.  This explains why we were waked many times between 3:00 and 6:00am this morning (lines in the water at 6:30).  Is that why they're called wakes? Because they wake you up??? If it is NOT RAINING we might go check out the weighing in of fish this afternoon & see if they have put anything more out at the yard sale.

Thank you to whoever bought the power tools through Amazon. Hope your work isn't weather dependent.

So It Goes... and keeps going :)
As does Patti Smith!

Friday, November 19, 2010

Friday BOAT Cat Blogging - More boxes

Continuing with cats in boxes...

Willow surprised us by sleeping in Buffy's Box. This was a first...


Buffy took it OK and didn't seem to mind. She good and shares her toys with her sister.



Buffy finds the box very handy as it keeps her from rolling around when the anchorage is so swelly as it has been lately.  Might put out a stern anchor...

We only make a few pennies on purchases but everything helps and we appreciate it!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

FUNNY VIDEO: I want to sell my yacht

This video has great bits in it (and some profanity... you've been warned).

You can also apply it to other industries... I recognize a certain type of client we get from time to time, and you probably do too with whatever business you have :)



Hope you enjoyed it!

We only make a few pennies on purchases but everything helps and we appreciate it!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Another basket cat... Charter Yacht Marolanga

Gus and Marcella, owner-operators of the charter catamaran Marolanga, sent us this picture of ship's cat Sasha who also loves a good basket.

Sasha is a beautiful Persian.  Charter guests love him.


Marcella had bought this basket with the intention of it being her new fruit basket but Sasha got first dibs on it.  He's so cute... how could you take it away from him?

 Sasha's home, Charter Yacht Catamaran Marolanga, Virgin Islands

The charter yacht Marolanga is a fully air conditioned, 43-foot Catana catamaran which accommodates up to 6 guests in 3 cabins, plus they have an additional single cabin for kid's use. They love having families aboard and have toys for all ages and an assortment of sizes for life jackets and snorkel gear.

Marolanga is currently available for Christmas and New Years in the Virgin Islands!

Visit Paradise Connections to see more about Marolanga.

You can read a recent post about Marolanga on our Yacht Charter blog.

We have blue sky this morning... doesn't look like rain.  Maybe the weather is improving :)

So It Goes...

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Basket Case Cat & St Croix Sunday

In response to yesterday's post with the Japanese cat and his love for boxes video ("Many to small boxes and Maru") my brother sent me this picture of one of his Ragdoll cats.



Edgar seems to prefer baskets to boxes. Looks like a cozy place to be when it is 28°F outside.

It might be a bit warmer than that down here in St Croix, but guess what??? It's RAINING...

But, looking on the bright side of this gray, dismal and gloomy day, Bob has just made waffles.

Here's some real good news... After being held captive by Somali pirates for over a year, the Chandlers are free.  See the BBC report.


We only make a few pennies on purchases but everything helps and we appreciate it!