I'm so bad!

June 10, 2011 is the last time I wrote??? Holy but I didn't realize that it was THAT long....

Chip is still a brat, albiet a much larger brat. He is now officially taller than Shelby.

Chip has eaten part of my wicker couch, four cushions for the kitchen chairs, an assortment of towels, one placemat, one pair of flip flops, a plastic bowl....

He is very, very sneaky...too smart for his own good! He constantly torments Shelby and Saleen. He mimicks everything Jack does. Today, Jack decided it would be a good idea to take a swim in the pool cause he was SO hot...so, Jack is swimming around the pool...Chip comes charging across the patio and jumps into the pool doing a spectacular belly flop...swims around a bit with Jack and climbs out on the stairs. Ross and I were in the pool at the time just watching in utter disbelief! One of the funniest things I have seen in quite some time!

Saleen had a close up and personal meeting with the neighbour's Rottie last week. Didn't think a dog could throw a cat that high in the air. Saleen didn't win this battle although I think the Rottie is sporting a few good scratches on it's nose. Saleen has been very, very slowly recovering from her injuries which included a couple of puncture wounds and a very sore back and hip joints. We've been giving her steriods to help the healing process, she's now eating again but we are still reluctant to let her venture outside yet as she can't jump and climb very well yet. Poor kitty!!

We had some bad news a few weeks ago. Ross's oldest daughter, Dianne, was on her way home from work in Kamloops, driving to Vernon, and was in a head on car crash. She was seriously injured and had to be air lifted from the crash site to the hospital in Kamloops. She suffered a number of broken bones that required surgery, the most serious being a shattered hip. She is sporting a number of stainless steel rods but as of July 30, she is now recovering at home.

So, as I write this note, we are closely watching Tropical Storm Emily approaching our island. We are preparing the house and yard, just in case. At this time, the storm looks like it will stay on the south side of the island, however, we decided to prepare to be on the safe side. If/when we do meet Emily, we will be sure to snap some pictures (only if safe to do so) and I will most certainly blog about the experience. Now, I like thunder and lightening storms (and boy do we get some gooders here!!!), however, a tropical storm will be a new experience for me.

We haven't had any visitors in a long, long time however our neighbours from the US were here for eight days. Had a fabulous time with them and are sure looking forward to their next trip to Sosua. Jack stayed with Richard and Tierra for the week they were here so they wouldn't be lonely...Jack had a great time on vacation...he didn't want to come home and was very depressed the day they left.

Ross recently committed a murder...can you say tarantula?? Not an itty bitty spider coming down the water spout...big creepy thing...Now, normally we don't kill these gentle, but creepy things, but we were quite concerned that the dogs might decide to play with it. He also took out a large black scorpion that was crawling across the patio. Didn't think they had scorpions here but apparently they do.

Our next crop of bananas is well on its way to being a bumper crop. We're hoping we don't get any really strong winds that take the trees down. My chinola (passion fruit) vines are growing like crazy. No blossoms yet. I have tomatoes growing in pots and the first flowers are starting to form. Pineapple plants are growing well to but they grow so very slowly. We've been feasting on the neighbour's avacados that their security guard throws over our fence for us. Usually they come at us like missles and land in the pool.

So, we have been here eight months now and boy has time passed quickly. We've settled into a routine. We are tolerating the heat. We spend lots of time in the swimming pool, we read lots and lots of books.

We absolutely love it here and at this point in time, just couldn't imagine living anywhere else.

As us that question again on Thursday morning...if we experience Tropical Storm Emily....