Clogs

A woman in the neighborhood wanted to raise money for the Flamingo Rescue.  So she held a wooden clog painting event.  About 30 ladies (men don't do these things) gathered Saturday morning to paint clogs, drink Prosecco and eat goodies. We raise $730 in 2 hours.

There is an artist on the island that does scenery painting and she did this clog with a flower and the background is like cracked concrete.  It was one of the best ones.  

The clog painters featured flamingoes, turtles, flags, hummingbirds, cats, fish and palm trees.  Others attached feathers and bejeweled their tiny clogs. Some were made into bird feeders.

I stuck with basic black and gold stars. I plan to fill it with concrete and use it as a door stop.
 

Comets

 

Bonaire is the perfect place to see the annual comet show that happens in July and August. A friend set up a viewing on the northeast side of the island at the land sailing track.  From midnight to 2:00 pm we sat on the track in our beach chairs looking at the stars.  The milky way was visible and spectacular....the comets not so much.  We only saw a handful of comets.

Before we left for the track, Rick tested out his star and constellation app at the house.  This event is not spectacular for Rick.  His night blindness does not allow him to see the Milky Way.  He can see a few bright stars but nothing like what most of us see. 

In hindsight, it's probably best not to do these events that involve seeing in the dark.  I am "oohing and ahhing" about the stars and he sees nothing.  So it's really not worth it to get up in the middle of the night and drive to the other end of the island for a comet show he can't see.

We will stick with sun set and moonrise...bigger objects that light-up. 

Salsa Verde

One of our friends scored a box of tomatillos from a local grocery store.  This is a big deal because we have not seen them on the island...ever.  We all pitched in and bought several kilos of tomatillos. We had to go to the back entrance of our friend's house to pick up the private stock. It was all very clandestine.

We baked the tomatillos, jalapenos, onion and garlic until blackened. We threw everything in the blender and made a luscious salsa verde. Super easy and very tasty.

 

We dined on bacon wrapped, cream cheese stuffed jalapenos, salsa verde and corn chips. We have recipes for a salsa verde chicken casserole and enchiladas. It is always exciting to us to score something new and spicy. Now we have a dealer where we can score special ingredients.

Bird Hazing

Everywhere is a potential nesting site for birds. Although we like birds they have a habit of being noisy and dirty.  They also dive bomb you if you get close to their nest. We typically tear down the start of their nests before they lay eggs.  This one we missed. Nests are built in record time. Sometimes they are completed within hours with two birds working on a nest.

The Tropical Mockingbird mother has not been in the nest for weeks. I think they have abandoned this nest...with no assistance from us. Since it's 95 degrees outside you would think they don't need to sit on eggs to hatch...but they do.

The Bananaquit or "sugar thief" birds have been trying to build a nest in our wall art (see the twigs in the lower right sail boat). We have been tearing the twigs out of this area for two days.  Within an hour of the last cleaning they had already rebuilt.

And then there are the parrots.  They have come this year in force to eat from the mango tree. They squawk from early morning to late sunset. One day, Rick got 900 steps before breakfast just chasing them out of the tree. Our hazing only lasts seconds and they are back in the tree. They are protected so we can't be too heavy handed in our hazing.  We are considering a water gun.

 

They leave behind poop, mango seeds and half eaten mangos. This yearly event we call The Mango Wars.

We also have hummingbirds that cause no trouble at all.  They are tiny, tiny birds that feed off our flowering trees.  They are the darlings of the yard and need no hazing.  We wish we had more of these sweeties.

Anniversary

Our celebration of our 22nd wedding anniversary started with breakfast in bed.  We usually have breakfast in the cabana but it was really warm early in the day so we opted for the airco. The day we got married was hot, really hot for Colorado.  We were in a drought but it rained that day when it hadn't rained in months. This anniversary found us on a very hot day in Bonaire with no rain...it hasn't rained forever.

We decided to take a dinner cruise on our favorite boat, The Melisa. We cruised the coast line, had a six course gourmet dinner and prosecco, lots of prosecco.

John Tyson's (Tyson Foods) $80 million yacht, Horizons III, was docked in the harbour. We surmised that there must be a lot of money in chicken. 

Sunset to night lights. What a great cruise.

Still in love in Bonaire!

Night Dive

Our Grandson took his Advanced Divers certification course while visiting Bonaire.  One of the options in the class is to do a night dive. He got in the water from a dock near the dive shop and did a giant stride into the water at about sundown.

Each diver carries a torch (underwater flash light).  It's a lot of fun watching the lights under the water as they get near the surface. The divers told us that the tarpons followed side-by-side like security guards following the light and eating every fish that was illuminated. 

Rick and I sat on the dock with cocktails and snacks and watched the sunset.  The clouds were spectacular over the island.  Clouds are really great when there is a storm nearby, they move fast across the island and are very high and billowy.

 

Living the dream...Cheetos with rum and Pepsi cocktails on the Dive Friends Dock in Bonaire.

Solar Part 2

When I last reported, the contractor was building the solar bunker to house the equipment and batteries for solar power.  The bunker has been completed and the door has been installed.  That left the painting. We thought we could do that that part ourselves.  What were we thinking?

We have been working on the painting for a month. First we had to let all the plaster dry.  Our painter friend gave us an instrument to measure the moisture content.  This was followed by painting a sealer on all the surfaces inside and out of the bunker.  The sealer dried for a week.  We proceeded with a coat of white paint and waited for drying.  The second coat went on and we waited again.

We painted the floor with two coats of some grey paint we had from painting chairs.  It was too smooth and sticky.  Our painter friend said: " Use this two part epoxy to harden the paint.  You must sand the floor first" . Now the floor has four coats of paint and sealers.

We got up early (7 am for Rick and 8 am for me) on paint days.  It was cooler in the morning to paint and we had all day to recover.  

What a process it has been. The bunker is now completed.  Rick has cut, sanded, painted and installed the security spikes on the top of the bunker and it now looks like a little castle.

We will install a small air conditioner to keep the batteries cool and dry. The whole reason for the bunker was to protect the batteries.

All we need now is the delivery and installation of solar panels and equipment.  This may be like waiting for our paint to dry.

 

Pastrami

"Holy Smokes" is our favorite BBQ place.  Its about 0.5 km from our house.  We can pick it up and get it home to eat before it get cold. They have ribs and turkey legs on the weekend and pulled pork sandwiches Wednesday through Friday.The guys that run it are like neighbors and really nice guys.  Besides food we always have a good conversation while we wait.

They just started making Pastrami sandwiches. We recently tried one and it was awesome complete with sauerkraut, mustard and cheese. It's made from goat.  They buy goat meat roasts and brine them.  It doesn't have much fat but it's still juicy and delicious. 

The goats around the island are the skinniest animals I have seen.  I don't know how they get goat roast from these animals.  The local goat farms must feed the goats better than the wild one walking around. Anyway, here is a photo of the goat roasts.

There is always something new to eat on Bonaire.

 

Groups

Bocce season is over. It's too hot to play and many in our group have left for the summer.  Our Bocce league got team t-shirts.  We call ourselves "Dushi Balls". Dushi is a Papiamentu word meaning love, daring, lovely  or lover. We got orange t-shirts because it is the royal color of the Dutch King. He represents the House of Orange.

 One season is in the books.  Our next seasons starts in January.

Our good friends are leaving for Saudi Arabia to work a year-long contract to gather and analyze data for a coral reef restoration project in the Red Sea. So we had a "Last Supper"  to wish them well on their new adventure. As you can see, Jesus is played by Michelle as she blesses the event.

We traveled to Kansas recently to attend the service for Mike Luce, Rick's brother. Mike wore a tie to work for 40 years. He had a collection of hundreds.  Everyone who attended the service wore one of Mike's ties. This photo is of the Luce family.

It was a profoundly sad event to say goodbye to such a nice man who touched so many people in his community.  Many people spoke of his kindness, charity work and skills as a speech therapist. The theme was:  "Be Like Mike". He will be missed and remembered.

Michael S. Luce 1955-2024

Solar Part 1

We have been talking about installing solar power on the house for long time.  The other night the power went off and we used a battery operated fan in the bedroom to keep cool.  It was this moment that we decided unequivocally to get solar installed.

The island has had difficulty keeping up with power demands.  They have not embraced solar as an energy source. They keeping talking about it, studying it and trying to get the Netherlands to pay for it.

We have studied the solar idea ourselves. We talked to others who have installed it, got bids from solar companies, and calculated our savings on utility costs when solar is working.  Our biggest issue was where to put the equipment...which incudes two large batteries that need a maximum temperature of less than 90 degrees.  We considered several locations on the property.  We settled on building an equipment building next to our main electrical panel under the famous mango tree.

"In for a penny in for a pound"  

We decided to go all in with batteries so we could essentially be off grid. This week demolition and construction started for the equipment building.  This building will be 5 feet square, have a full size door and a tiny air conditioner to keep the tiny equipment building cool. This tiny building will house the two super heavy batteries and the inverter. Building this tiny building will be 1/5th of the total cost of the project. 

The order for solar panels and the equipment has been made.  It will take two to three months to get everything to the island.  China is the originating manufacturer and shipper.

Once activated, all of our electrical needs will be covered.  When we need additional power we will draw on the island power grid, but it won't be set up to put excess power back into the power grid.  The utility company only pays a minimal amount for power into the grid, and their other requirements just didn't make it a sensible option.  

The concrete top (roof) and all the walls are up.  Next week it will be plastered and the door will be installed. Rick and I will seal and paint the tiny equipment building. Then we are all set for equipment. 

Stay tuned for reports on our progress.

Squeaky Wheel

Once again it was time to get a new International Drivers License for our Europe trip this fall.  We went to the drivers license office, gave them all our documentation (passport photo, Bonaire license, and passports) and ask for a new license.  They instructed us to go to the OLB government office to pay for the item and then return with the receipt. 

We went to the OLB payment center and stood in line with 30 other Bonaire residents waiting for an opening.  The door on the OLB payment office has no outdoor handle.  A guard is stationed inside and only allows people in that are on his appointment list.  There is no way to get into the office without an appointment.  We left, discouraged but determined to get this task done in less than 3 months. We only needed 5 minutes to pay the cashier $16.75 each for our licenses.

We returned home to schedule an appointment online.  The first appointment available was July 4th, three months away....plus the American Independence Day and we usually party that day with the expats. I deemed this unacceptable. I sent an email off to the OLM Information center:

"It is ridiculous that I couldn't get an appointment to pay for and International Drivers license until July.  Today is March 3.  All I need is to give money to the cashier.  This should take 5 minutes.  I have to wait three months to pay $16.75.

You should be ashamed of your customer service and inability to provide good services to the residents of Bonaire. Please improve!  I would like an appointment in April."   

Six days later (Easter holiday was occuring during the six days) I received an email:

"Dear Sally,

We have scheduled an appointment for you on April 8 at 8:20 am.

Klant Contact Centrum "

We are now the proud owners of International Drivers Licenses. It took two weeks and a complaint email to the OLB to get action. My squeaky wheel skills are still intact.