 An Alternative View of the Florida Keys The Infamous Christmas Letters - 1995 |
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| Dengue
Bells
I am very sorry about this. I usually write notes in my Christmas cards to everyone. But, this month has just been one of those months. In November I came down with Dengue, a tropical mosquito zombie disease that apparently never goes away. One of the residual effects is constant bruising. I wrote the first three cards and my pen holding fingers are bruised blue and puffed up. So. This year, I type. (By the way, only those of you not related to David are wondering why he doesn't do the cards this year for a change. Dave just missed this century mentally and has chosen to remain in the 1890's. This is fine with me for the most part. My favorite type of book is a torrid Historical Romance and he sort of fits right into that genre.) We donated our chickens to a large family up in the hills who really needed them. We were going on vacation and none of our yuppie friends could be persuaded to take care of them for a full month. For those of you who are wondering why we bought them in the first place, I'll tell you. Puerto Rico is second only to Mexico in the running for chicken capital of the universe. I even have a friend who's husband raises fighting roosters for a living. It is the national pastime. Combine that with an issue of Organic Gardening which said that chickens were good bug eaters and fertilizer factories. Add in a husband who wants to keep his own private petting zoo. And my usually solid sorority instincts wavered just long enough for twelve cute little baby chicks to appear in my back yard. On the up-side, they did lay pretty decent eggs with no chemicals. Lauren and Jonathan thought they were great fun to chase around the back yard..which is the size of three normal back yards. And the family that has them now thanks my friend who delivered them every day for our generosity. They tell her how many eggs they get a day and I think they've even named each of them. Now Dave wants a goat. We spent the month of August on our boat in Ft. Pierce and the Keys looking for Cuban rafter trash in the water. The fish hide under it so it was great trolling trash. A nice change from the elusive rip tides. Lauren caught her first Dorado under a cuban oar near Bethel Shoals. Dave was very proud. Two and a half year old Jonathan is now obsessed with boats and fish and sits with Dave every Saturday morning to watch fishing shows. He is learning useful descriptive phrases like... That's a good fish - a nice fish - a fun fish. and... Gaff and release. (ie. into the cooler) He is the perfect son for Dave. We also went diving a lot. I found out that 90 feet in Florida is a lot colder than 90 feet in the Caribbean. I think my brain froze for a few hours. For those of you into Caribbean politics, Puerto Ricans from here to NY got out and voted to maintain PR as a welfare state. They also voted to keep criminals out of jail until they've been convicted of rape or murder. (Now, at the outset this may not make sense to you. But, I've given it some thought. I suspect that the thinking here is to give the families of the victims ample opportunity to off these creatures before the trial. Barring that, they're at least more likely to meet with a foul end in the projects than they are in jail. It's way too safe in jail.) It's just a thought. Locals and Gringos here all agree that the new Walmart in Isabella (the next town over) is a GOOD thing. Crusians (People from St. Croix); however, are extremely agitated over the building of their first Walmart somewhere near Fredrickstead. If it weren't for the ganja, they might all have enough energy to stage a formal protest.
Our Black Brindle Boxer "Jemima" is expecting puppies for the New Year, which is good. Our black Puerto Rican cat is expecting kittens, which is bad. Puerto Rican cats are great at catching mice and lizards but you can't litter train them and they are very loud.
The two hamsters Dave bought Lauren for her birthday last year are both male. You would think Dave would know the difference. In any case, dreams of a hamster breeding farm have been crushed because I wouldn't let them get any more. They escape regularly and alarm dinner guests by popping up on the stove at inconvenient moments. I despise the little rodents and they know it. Still, I feed them. I think this Christmas I am going to give them one of those big plastic hamster balls that you put them in, so they can roll around the house, and then let the cats bat them around for awhile. Kind of gets you right into the Christmas Spirit.
Write and let me know what gets you into the Season.
We Miss You All.
Property of Tropical Code, Inc. All rights Reserved 2002 © 12/20/2008 10:33:34 AM
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Christmas
1995
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