Sunday, October 28, 2012

Sunday, October 28, 2012

The alarm goes off early around 6:00am.  We jump out of bed and prepare for the day ahead.  Surprisingly, Leroy is already waiting for us before 6:30.  We hurry and pack up ready to head to the airport.  The woman at the airport had told us yesterday that the airport wouldn’t open until 7:00 AM.  We beat her to the airport but she did let us slide in a few minutes early.

Dad reviews his flight plan and makes some calls before we took off.  We were finally in the air by 8:00 AM.  It was a little cloudy in the sky but overall a pleasant flight, especially since we were tailing Hurricane Sandy.

We landed in Ft. Lauderdale around 11:00 AM.  We made our way towards customs and were cleared fairly quickly, a nice surprise from our trip before.  The airport staff was pleasant and offered us all cold water bottles.  We rested a little while in the pilots lounge and Dad updated his flight plan, while we waited for the airport to finish fueling the plane. 

We checked the weather while we were there.  Dad and Brad had a discussion about where we would end up having to land.  It seemed Sandy was loitering close to our area, and may or may not still be there when we were due to arrive.  Dad talked about possibly landing further inland in Shenandoah or Roanoke.  Brad was hoping for the possibility of landing in Emporia, only about an hour drive home.

We were back in the sky in just over an hour, still unsure of where we would end up.  Another pleasant smooth flight, it was hard to believe there was a hurricane nearby.  We landed in Brunswick, Georgia a little after 3:00PM.  We asked the airport to fill the plane up and we borrowed the courtesy car to get some lunch.  We decided to check out the barbeque restaurant that we had heard so much about.  Wasting as little time as possible, we took off by 4:20PM.

Once back in the sky, the first thing I noticed was the increase of clouds.  The first thing Dad noticed, however, was that the fuel gauge was not pointing to full.  We had gotten a little fuel but not enough to make it home.  Thinking quickly, we were able to fly for an hour before landing in Charleston, South Carolina.  We were only on land long enough to fill up and in less then half an hour we were back in the air.  Another thing I noticed while we were there was how much colder it was.  We had gotten use to the hot temperature in the islands, and I was glad my sweat pants were in reach to pull over my shorts.

Once again I noticed how increasingly the clouds around us were growing.  We were definitely approaching hurricane Sandy.  Although completely confident in Dad’s flying abilities, I couldn’t help but wonder how terrified Mom would be right now.  Looking out the window, there was barely any lapse of cloud underneath us.  It almost looked like sand or water with the lack of landscape.  It seemed strange that there was barely any turbulence.  In fact, I dozed off for a few hours enjoying the melody of the motor’s hum. 

Yanked from my siesta abruptly, I was very confused by my surroundings.  Unsure of where we were or what time it was, the first thing that came to my attention was the rough ride I was on.  Outside it was dark, rainy, and very cloudy.  I heard Dad communicating with someone from the tower on the radio.  I could feel the different angles the plane was being tossed into, while Dad fought to keep it under control.  There was no visual to speak of that I could see and I have to admit I began to worry.  It seemed that we had finally come head on to Hurricane Sandy.

Dad was definitely struggling to find a runway to land on.  I hoped that the view from the pilot’s seat was better then mine, or lack there of.  I listened to the man on the radio to keep my spirits up.  I was glad that it was only dad and the tower communicating and that there was no one else in the nearby air space.  I don’t think we could have seen any other aircraft if they were there.  Luckily, only my father was crazy enough to brave the weather.

The closer to ground we approached, we may have been able to see more, but the flight grew rockier and rockier.  In my head, I could hear the ear piercing screams my mom would be making as if she were in the seat next to me.  Trying my best not to overreact, I remembered that my dad would never risk our lives.  Still dazed from my sudden return to consciousness, I had not completely recovered.

The angle of the plane to the runway had me convinced that we would lose a wheel or worse when we hit pavement.  I was pleasantly surprised that the rough jolt of the land was not nearly as powerful as I had anticipated.  Don’t get me wrong, it was still hard, just not wheel fall-off, plane crash, fly out of your seat through the window hard.  Mom probably would have disagreed though.  Lucky for all of us, she wasn’t there.

Finally safely on the ground, I got the skinny.  It was just after 8:00 in the evening, and we had landed in Raleigh, North Carolina.  The man in the tower had filled the guys in that the further north we would have gone, the worse the weather conditions would have become.

Brad got to work right away on renting us a car.  We made plans to find the closest hotel and make our way home in the morning.  We all made calls to our loved ones to let everyone know that we had safely landed and what are plans were.  We then piled up in the rental and headed out to look for somewhere to eat.  We settled on a sports bar and ordered a bottle of wine.

I brought up the subject of the drive home.  Half-joking I made the comment that I was surprised that the men didn’t want to push the trek through and finish the 3 hour drive to make it to Virginia Beach that night; especially since before Brad had seemed to be in a hurry to make it home.  That was all it took. 

The renewed energy spread like wildfire through the group and before I knew it, I was behind the wheel taking the first shift on our continuing journey.  Me and my big mouth…  I really didn’t mind, I must admit, after all I had taken a nice power nap earlier.  The trip was actually pleasant compared to the last few minutes of the plane ride.  It felt good to be on land and safe again.

By the time we pulled into the driveway, it was past 1:00 in the morning.  We made it!  The adventure comes to an end and I was sad to see it go.  We survived flying over the ocean and into a hurricane.  We even did some good along the way.  Next time, we will probably fly commercially.  The overall experience, I must say, was fantastic!

Until Next time…

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Atlas, our final morning of the beautiful sunrise on a terrace overlooking the ocean has come. We get up around 6:00AM and begin to pack up our trusty rental car. I arrange the little room back to the way it was when I had first seen it, (minus dirty buggy bedding of course). Dad makes his final calls about his flight plan while the weather channel plays in the background.

I can barely believe our time has come to an end here in St. Croix. It feels like just yesterday we were getting off the plane being lectured by customs. It feels like time has sped up and before long we were in our car, driving down the “road that never ends” for the last time.

We make our way to the airport and Brad turns in our friendly rental car. We pack up the plane and Dad checks his flight plan status and the weather one last time. Once again we are flying through the sky on our way to our next adventure: following hurricane Sandy up the coast and making it home in one piece.

Trusty passport in hand, Dad has no worries about landing in Puerto Ricothis trip. We seemed to go through customs easy enough, although they again claimed we were not in their system. They were nice enough and cleared us through. We re-fueled and were on our way again by 11:00am.

The 4 hour flight from Puerto Rico to Inagua was uneventful and smooth enough. We could barely tell there had been a hurricane a few days prior. I enjoyed a short name while the men took turns steering. Inagua’s airport was the same as I remembered it a week before. We went through Bahama customs and paid our landing tax. This time we re-fueled with our own fuel that we had been toting around with us. We didn’t stay in Inagua for longer than we had to. In less than an hour we were in the air again.

We landed in Grand Exuma at quarter to 6 in the evening. We hoped to re-fuel and be back in the air in no time. However, when Dad got on the phone with the international briefer, she informed him that we would not be out of the Bahama air space before dark, and that without an IFR Rating, Dad would be in trouble. Dad told me to let Brad know that we would be staying the night so we needed to grab some overnight stuff from the plane.

I ran out to let Brad know. He did not seem happy at all and tried to get someone on the phone to clear us to come in tonight. Dad and I overruled him, and he finally gave up and jumped on the bandwagon.

The taxi-driver, Leroy, was very friendly and on our way to a hotel, several cars honked “hellos” to him. When we pulled up to the hotel, we were a little worried. The lights were all off and there were no cars in the parking lot. Leroy told us to wait in the van while he went up to see if he could find something out.

We watched as a maintenance guy appeared out of nowhere and had a chat with Leroy. He returned to the car and told us the man wasn’t sure when or why or for how long but that the hotel was closed.

No worries, we were soon on our way to another hotel. It seemed to take us awhile to get there, but Leroy informed us it was the same distance from the airport just on the other side of the island.

We pulled up to a small hotel resort and Leroy helped us with our luggage. We stepped inside and the main entry was also the entry to the restaurant. It seemed to be bustling with visitors but the only person working was a bar tender. Leroy said he would stay until he made sure we had a room. The bar tender got on the phone to call in the hotel manager for the night. It took her about 10 minutes but she finally arrived. She pulled up her computer to see what rooms she had available. She told us before we decided which ones we would stay in she wanted to show us what was available. We paid Leroy and told him what time to pick us up in the morning.

The first room she showed us was a suite. One room had a queen sized bed with a couch and the other room had a king-sized bed. She didn’t end up showing us that room since when she walked in she said it hadn’t been cleaned yet. Next, she showed us two rooms next to each other- one with a double bed that had been rolled into it. We decided on those two rooms. Dad and I would stay in the room with the two beds and Brad would stay next-door.

We left our luggage and returned to the hotel bar to get some dinner. The mix of locals and visitors made a pleasant atmosphere. We seemed to fit right in. One of the men we talked to was doing construction nearby. As soon as he found out what we had been doing in the islands, he got real excited. He introduced us to the woman next to him telling us she had many pets.

Once in deep conversation, the woman revealed to us that the only veterinarian on the entire island and nearby islands, had just recently passed away. She told us how he and his wife had moved down to the Bahamas to retire and opened up a practice. I could see excitement growing in Dad’s eyes as she spoke. I could see him picturing the excitement of a new adventure brewing.

The woman at the bar began telling us stories about patients the veterinarian had seen. She told us how it wasn’t all vacation and how a lot of the patients brought in were not in good shape at all. She spoke of how strong the vet’s heart had to be in order to keep on doing what he was doing in spite of the conditions and heartbreaking sites. She also told us that the vet had the only X-ray machine on the island and if people broke a bone they would have to go see him as well.

When the time came that the woman excused herself to leave, Dad traded e-mail addresses with her, hopeful that he could find a veterinarian who would love to retire and follow in the past vet’s footsteps. Not long after, we retreated to our rooms as well to prepare for the following day’s adventures.

 

Friday, October 26, 2012

Friday, October 26, 2012

It's nice to wake up with no real set plans. I get up around 8:30 AM and Dad and Brad are already up and making coffee. The TV is on playing the weather channel "Tracking Hurricane Sandy". They are calling it a "super-storm." Of course this was our original day to leave. Now we are really unsure what day we will be able to take off.

We had hoped to go to Bucks Island today but it looks pretty unpredictable outside.  Since we are still hoping to leave tomorrow, we decide to run some errands today.  Dad wants to check on his plane and make sure it is okay and re-fueled for tomorrow.

Once we arrive at the airport, we meet some friends of Mike.  They tell us there is a large jet-engine plane planning to land in about an hour or so and Dad should move his plane over to their side of the airport.  They drive us out to the plane and Dad moves it to the new location.  We then head up to the pilot’s lounge for Dad to start his flight plan.  He wants to be extra prepared this time.

When we left the airport we started our hunt for some “ting”.  The drinks Dr. Bailey had made for us the other day had been mixed with ting.  It is a juice that is very common in the island St. Kitts.  It wasn’t all that common on St. Croix, however.  We ended up going to at least 3 different supermarkets before we finally found it.

Kellie texted Dad informing him that his passport had finally arrived; she asked where we’d like to meet to get it.  She let us know that she was at K-Mart currently, so we made our way in that direction.  When we got to K-Mart we met Kellie in the parking lot.  At this time of day, everyone had the same thought on their mind: lunch!

We invited Kellie to join us at Mencho’s, the same sandwich place Brad had picked up for everyone a couple days ago.  She took us up on the offer, having never been there herself.  We sat around a table outside enjoying the warm island air and reminiscing over the last week.

When we made it back to the house after lunch, it was about 3:00 in the afternoon.  Brad had complained that Dad and I had yet to make it into the water.  Given the time and our track record for the last couple of days, I honestly thought it wasn’t going to happen.  Not to mention, we had dinner plans with Mike and Dr. Bailey.  I was proven wrong when Dad gathered his snorkeling gear and headed out the door.

I ran to catch up and we hiked along a nearby path to a small beach.  There were several turtle nests along the shore.  Some of the nests still had the mother turtle tracks where she made her way back to the water.  Few had tiny baby turtle tracks and I could almost imagine them hatching out of their little shells.

Dad had brought an additional set of snorkeling gear for me to borrow.  They were, however, a little big for me.  I watched as Brad made it out to the water first.  I had never snorkeled off the beach before and was a little nervous, especially when I saw the wide path of sea urchins that was unavoidable.  I mustered up some courage and made my way into the water.

My fear, combined with the oversized snorkel gear, didn’t keep me in the water for long.  Not to mention the scenes from Jaws kept replaying in my head.  That made matters worse and I’m sorry to say I soon retreated from the watery depths that I was consumed in.  No worries, however, I enjoyed sunbathing on the shore while the men continued their snorkeling adventures. 

We stayed a couple hours to get our island beach fix and then headed back to the house to wash up and prepare for dinner.  On our hike back, we crossed paths with a wildlife conservationist who was making her rounds to check on the turtle nests.  We also asked her about a very questionable ball of meshed sand and grass that we had seen in a tree near the shore.  She said she thought it was a nest of some kind but wasn’t entirely sure herself.

Once back at the house, we began getting ready for dinner.  I decided to put on another load of laundry, and in doing so glanced out the window.  There I saw the biggest dog I had encountered on the island.  (Most of the dogs were medium sized about 30-40lbs but no bigger)  This dog was at least 80 lbs or more.  I called to it through the window and it turned, looked at me and lay down.

I quickly ran outside to see him and found he not only had a collar, but tags with his name and address.  He belonged to the neighbors next door.  (On the other side of the house not where I had seen Misti, a few days prior, disappear).  His name was Pedro and he was very friendly and enjoyed a nice pat.

The weather began to look like the sky would open up at any moment.  It started pouring but only lasted less than a minute.  It was almost as if we had imagined the whole thing by how fast it was over.

We met Dr. Bailey and Mike at around 6:00 in the evening.  The Yacht Club, where we went, wasn’t far from where we were staying and it didn’t take us long to get there.  A  Halloween celebration was going on, and many people and children were dressed in costumes.  Dr. Bailey had once again brought her cute little Chihuahua and the shirt he wore made him look like a bumble bee.

We sat outside on a small deck that was directly followed by a small beach.  We sat and socialized while watching the many Halloween events (including a pumpkin carving contest) going on inside.  We discussed our plans to leave the next morning and hoped the weather would cooperate with us.  Hurricane Sandy should be past Florida by the time we take off.  Here’s hoping.

 

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Our first day off! It starts out fantastic as we realize the electricity went out sometime in the night. The house caretaker, Isabelle, comes by and tells us not to use the water while the power is out since the pumps do not work during that time. Quickly we prepare to go into town. We go to our favorite coffee shop once again but this time take our time savoring the lack of plans for the day.

Dad checks the progress of the hurricane via wifi and we discuss our plans for most likely staying 1 to 2 more nights here. Brad and I decide to check out the jewelry store next door and across the street for the St. Croix famous "hook bracelet". They range in price and we decide to check out another shop down the block. Dad comes with us. Brad and Dad find jewelry for their beas and I convince Dad to walk back down to the first shop where they had more the regular hook bracelets.

We decide next we are going to go through the rain forest. I convince the men to turn off the radio and roll down their windows so we can all enjoy nature. The rain forest was beautiful but small. It was on our way back from the rainforest that the real adventure begins.

We decide to take the (as it is labeled on the map) "scenic route". Let me tell you this, it should have been marked "4-wheel drive vehicles only". The beaten up path started out unpaved and overgrown. There was a small section of paving that convinced us we were on the right path but it shortly disappeared. As we continued down the questionable road, we came to a large puddle in the road. Brad goes out to check it to see if it is drivable and concludes that it is. We make our route through the puddle and then come up to a slightly larger puddle. Brad goes through the same steps and checks the depth and deems it drive-worthy. We splash through the water and continue our journey.

 

I am convinced by this point that we must be going the wrong way. Brad is convinced that it is the right way. Our next stop is a gate off the dirt road. Whoever belongs behind this gate is anything but ordinary. Hanging near the top of the gate are many different animal skulls. Signs are posted underneath warning trespassers away. "DANGER", and "NO TRESPASSING", and of course the favorite of the group "Violators will be shot" followed by "Survivors will be shot again".

 

We continue down the beaten path, greeted by several more large puddles. Somewhere along the path, we noticed there was a guardrail. Unbelievable! After hours of being unsure, I am finally proven wrong when we come to paved asphalt and even a sign labeling the route as "Scenic".

 

Since we had taken a fairly late breakfast, none of us were hungry when lunch time came around.  After our adventurous trek, we headed back to the house.  We planned on going snorkeling but Dad and I had forgotten our bathing suites.  Once back at the house, our plans again fell through.

We made the rest of the day “laundry day”.  It was at that time I decided to wash all the sheets and covers in the small room.  The ants that had been crawling up the wall were no longer an issue.  The house must have been sprayed because they were all dead.  After cleaning up the little room, I made the decision to switch rooms and have my own space.  I moved the bed so that it was perpendicular to the wall so the lack of headboard wouldn’t be an issue.  It was nice and cozy in there now.

When evening came around we decided to check out the casino up the street from the house and not go far for dinner.  The casino itself didn’t have a restaurant but it was across the street from an all-inclusive hotel resort. We headed over to the hotel and made our way to the restaurant area.  The place we picked ended up being a buffet.  The atmosphere was nice and there was a local jamming on steal drums.  The entire dance floor was consumed by a man who probably had had too much to drink.  It was pretty entertaining.  Of course when we got up to get our food the man was all about trying to get Dad to dance with him.  Dad managed to decline and retreat to the buffet.

The food was pretty good but was very overpriced.  Kellie told us later that had we gone a little further that there was a nice fair-priced pizza place right next door.  Well you live and learn.  Desserts were excellent there though.  All and all it was a very pleasant day.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Today we get up at 6:00 AM and decide that today we will follow the "Spay Waggin" van to the place of the event today: The Agriculture Center. Dad puts on the TV to keep an eye on a possible hurricane threat that is brewing south of Jamaica.  My husband had warned me about it the previous morning.  It is now big enough that it has a name: Sandy.  Dad and Brad have been discussing staying an extra 1-2 nights.  No decision has been made yet.

We get to the Animal Shelter a little after 6:45am. No Peacocks today like Monday. I'm a little disappointed. There is however a lone tortie cat lying the grass.  It starts to play with a bug flying around and even climbs up a nearby palm tree.

No time to waste, the shelter staff load up and we are on our way.  We follow the van to the agriculture center and already the event doesn't appear as happening as yesterday.  No one has arrived yet.  We start to get a little worried.  A car finally pulls up and has 2 cats for us. 

I get right to work and settle in helping with intake.  I pull out my spiral notebook and put together a log to keep track of who’s here and what they came with.  Today I worked with a woman named Mary and a woman named Nancy.

Liza brings everyone breakfast since there was no time to stop for coffee.  She brings us juice, coffee, muffins, and egg croissants.  It is her day off and she can’t stay away, not that anyone complained.

By 8:00AM, we’ve only taken in 4 animals: 3 cats and 1 dog.  We fear it is going to be a slow day.  The previous day we had stopped taking pets in after 9:00AM.  Today we didn’t stop until after 11:00am.  People trickled in a little at a time with dogs and cats.  It wasn’t nearly the rush as it had been the previous morning.

Dr. Bailey and Mike bring us pizza from Dominios for lunch.  Dad took a small break and the staff assisting him in surgery informed me that he was on a roll today.  He only hand a handful more surgeries to do.  No complications today.

We socialized with Dr. Bailey and Mike during the lunch break we had.  The previous day on our way back from the morning’s event, we had taken a small detour up to Point Udall, the most eastern point of the United States.  It had a great view.  Dr. Bailey told us we should come visit them at their house since they also had a great view. 

We talked about going out to dinner together, however they were going to an Italian restaurant they frequented, and Dad and Brad wanted something else.  Kellie had told us about a great Mexican restaurant, Mirims, that had $1 tacos every Wednesday night.  We had made plans since day one to see what that was all about.  We made the decision to stop for drinks at Dr. Bailey and Mike’s home and then go for our $1 tacos.

Dad finished up his surgeries around 2:30PM.  Today Dad had performed 3 cat spays, 1 cat neuter, 7 dog spays, and 6 dog neuters.  A total of 17 surgeries.  That is more than 40 surgeries in 3 days!

We made our way to Dr. Bailey and Mike’s house.  It was more on the way back to the house than from the house to the Mexican Restaurant.  They weren’t kidding about the view!  The drive itself was a little scary.  We went from rocky unpaved roads to concrete on and off.  The driveway was very steep.  Our car almost didn’t make it down.  I wondered aloud how Dr. Bailey would make it down when she goes into labor.  I can’t imagine it will be a fun drive.  We were quite awed with the view from the house.  It was definitely worth the drive, but I couldn’t imagine doing it every day. 

Mike pulled up the storm watch on his laptop.  Dad and Brad talked serious about traveling plans.  We decided we would have to at least stay 1 extra night and then re-evaluate.  With that in mind, we began to make plans for Friday.  The storm wasn’t supposed to hit St. Croix.

Brad had wanted to make a trip to Bucks Island where the best snorkeling and scuba diving was.  Since Mike and Dr. Bailey owned a boat, Dr. Bailey made the suggestion that we all go together, weather pending.  Mike would have to take a half day of work, but that shouldn’t be a problem as long as the weather held out.  We decided either way we would at least meet up for dinner that night.  We thanked Dr. Bailey and Mike for the visit and for the drinks Dr Bailey had made us. 

We headed back to the house to prepare for our highly anticipated $1 Tacos.  During the day’s festivities, Brad had bought a spiny lobster from a stand.  When we got back to the house he began to prepare a pot to boil it.  He explained that it was going to be the perfect appetizer to our tacos.  He looked through the cabinets for some flavoring.  The only thing he could find was so old it was caked on the bottom of the shaker in one big clump.  He settled for just butter.

We gathered around the island kitchen counter and enjoyed our lobster with some wine Brad had brought.  The lobster was excellent and indeed the perfect appetizer.  After enjoying our mini meal, we piled back into the car to head out for dinner.

We weren’t the only ones with a craving for tacos, however.  The place was packed with locals and finding a parking spot was an event upon itself.  Once we made it inside, we were lucky to find 3 open seats at the bar and quickly sat down.  We were greeted by Miram herself right away and were amazed at how good the service was even with the crowd that had gathered.

Surprisingly, our tacos came out quite quickly.  They were delicious!  The staff was also fantastic.  Our waitress even pointed out to Brad when his wallet had slipped out of his back pocket onto the floor.  For her honesty, we made sure she was rewarded in tips.

Back at the house, everyone was pretty exhausted.  We all made it an early night.  Tomorrow was our first day to just enjoy the island and we were looking forward to it.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

My alarm goes off at 6:00 am and I am amazed to see that Dad and Brad are already up and moving. I get in gear and hurry up myself. Kellie had mapped out directions to our event today to the St. Bishop High School. We decide instead to follow her from the Coffee shop we had gone to the morning before.

When we first arrived at the high school, the van has not yet made an appearance.  The parking lot, however, is full of people with their pets waiting to drop-off.  At the far end of the parking lot, a woman is standing with her chow-chow.  Dad starts up a conversation with her and finds out the chow, Simba, belongs to the woman’s son who has gone off to college.  The woman is concerned because the dog is aggressive and she has a hard time managing him.

Dad takes this opportunity to give a little behavioral advice.  He tells the woman he looks forward to following up with her when we hope to return next spring.  The van finally arrives and everyone springs into action.

The system the shelter has in play for identifying the patients is quite different from ours back at Abbey, but it seems to work.  The shelter staff use masking tape to keep track of who’s who.  They number each patient and place a piece of tape with the number on each of the pet’s foreheads.  The number coincides with records that has the pet’s actual name, their owner’s name and information written down.

Simba gets numbered “1” and the shelter staff began the pre-med stage.  Once Simba is pre-meded, the staff began to prep him for surgery by shaving the surgical site.  The staff is dismayed when they discover Simba appears to be missing 2 crucial parts of his anatomy.  Kellie gets to work calling the owner to verify that Simba has indeed not been fixed.  This was not Dad’s first crypt orchid, however, and he knew exactly where to look for Simba’s missing parts.  Kellie returns to tell us she was unsuccessful at reaching Simba’s owner.  By this time, Dad has found his MIA anatomy.  The surgery was a success!

When Simba goes into recovery, Kellie asks me if I can help Liza, outside with intake.  I’m here to help and will go where needed so of course I tell her I will.  Outside, there isn’t much shade.  The kennels set up for recovery patients are in the little shade that there is available.

Liza seems a bit flustered with the handouts that she is preparing to send home with each patient.  The wind is constantly blowing the forms around and on top of that the patient sheets are mixed all together.  I offer suggestions to keep the patient sheets organized and Liza gets excited and tells me I should talk to Kellie about it.  I tell her I will definitely get on that.

Eventually the shade we were protecting the recovery animals with disappears.  Kellie comes to the rescue and helps us set up a tent where we move all the kennels under for the patients.  One by one recovery patients come outside and Liza and I watch them.

Around lunch time Brad arrives to get a lunch order.  Liza tells him about a sandwich place nearby called “Mencho’s” and Brad goes with it.  He takes everyone’s lunch order and goes to pick-up food for us.  He also stops by K-Mart and picks up a case of sprite for us.

After lunch, a group of students come up for some education on the fix-it foundation and how important pet care is.  Kellie opens the back door to the van which opens up right to Dad’s surgery table.  The children watch with amazement as Dad continues performing surgeries.

The teacher of the group of students and owner of the pet in surgery watches as Dad unknowingly continues.  She seems curious and only near the end of the surgery does she admit that it is her cat.  In fact several of the teachers and students had pets that were performed on that day.

The rest of the surgeries for the day went smoothly.  Dad’s tally for the day was 3 cat spays and 1 cat neuter, 7 dog spays, and 7 dog neuters counting Simba.  That is a total of 18 surgeries in one day.

We head back to the house with plans to go snorkeling.  Overly exhausted from his long day of surgeries, Dad decides to take a nap.  During his siesta, I enjoy the view around the house.  I discover many little hermit crabs wandering around the pavement that leads inside.  So close to the welcome mat outside the door, I hope they find a safer place at night.

There are also a ton of conk shells all around the walls outside.  Liza had told us earlier that the locals were very protective of their shells and no one was aloud to take them off the island.  She told us how there were organizations that go to the airport to collect all their “stolen” souvenirs.

I return to the back porch patiently waiting for the sun to set.  I am surprised to see a tan dog walking along the shore and I call to it.  It turns and looks up at me wagging its tag then disappears.  I think nothing of it until I turn and see that the dog has now joined me on the porch.  I see that the dog is a female and she is wearing a collar with the name “Misti” on it as well as a phone number without an area code.

Misti wags her tail excitedly while panting and I feel sorry for her.  I find a plastic bowl in the cupboard and fill it with water for her.  She laps it up greedily and in no time the bowl was empty again.  I refill it but now Misti is much more interested in getting attention from me than drinking the water.

I notice Misti’s feet appear swollen and callused and her stomach appears bloated.  I wonder if she is pregnant and what the protocol is for taking care of Misti.  I go inside and look for Dad’s phone to find Kellie’s number.  I call her and ask what I should do.

Kellie informs me that many dogs and cats wonder around the island without their owners.  She suggests I call the owner and let them know about the fixit foundation and where we will be tomorrow.  Kellie gives me the local area code and I wonder back outside to find Misti.  She is now across to the neighbors’ yard.  Brad suggests that maybe she is on her way home.  I try to follow her but she disappears in the heavily treed area that separates the houses.

It is starting to get dark so I make my way back to the terrace to enjoy the sunset I had sought after.  As I watch the sun go down, Dad finally gets up from his nap and we make a plan for dinner.  We decide to return to the Cheeseburger restaurant to have a real meal this time.

The night life is happening there and we enjoy the atmosphere of the Island locals.  Our waitress (different from the other day) doesn’t appear to like us.  She is young and has an accent different from the locals.  She would much rather wait on the group of young college-aged men then us, although I can’t say that I blame her.

After dinner we head home to rest and prepare for the following day.

October 22, 2012

Monday, October 22, 2012

            Woke up around 8:00 AM. Slept like a baby. The ambiance of the ocean waves stroking the shore combined with the sound of the crickets whistling made the perfect lullaby.  Dad was already awake and up enjoying his morning coffee on the terrace while reading the paper.  Kellie had told us she would pick us up and take us to the airport around 9-9:30 AM.  It was closer to 9:45.  Island Time, Mon!


             Kellie took us down the “road that never ends” once again and then through town in Christiansted, where we stopped at a coffee house for breakfast.  As we sat down waiting on our order, Kellie’s phone chirped.  Dr. Bailey was already waiting for us at the animal shelter.  Kellie told her we’d be there in 30 minutes.  She hung up and suddenly we were rushing our servers and changing our order to go.  Next thing I knew, I was attempting to butter my bagel as we twist and turn down the windy roads that is St. Croix.

            We are greeted in the parking lot of the shelter by a flock of beautiful peacocks.  Kellie leads us down a path behind the “Spay Waggin” where a very pregnant blonde is perched on top of a picnic table.  Kellie introduces us to Dr. Laura Bailey, the main veterinarian for the shelter.  She immediately begins showing us around the van (“Spay Waggin”) and the surgery suite of the shelter.

             Dad begins preparing himself for surgery while I get Marsden, one of the staff members, to show me the adoption center.  Nearing the end of the tour, we come across Kellie showing Brad around so I join them and Marsden excuses himself.

            

We stepped into the kitten section and my heart nearly broke.  “I’ll take them all” I exclaimed only half-joking.  Kellie immediately begins talking to Brad and I about the possibility of us transferring a couple of them back with us.  Unsure how Dad will react, especially with all our customs run-ins, I try not to get me hopes up.  But hey, it can’t hurt to ask right?

Meanwhile, back in the surgery suite, there are kittens already pre-meded and Dad is prepping for surgery.  Kellie takes Brad to the airport to rent a car and I stay to help in any way that I can.  Dad has 2 girls assisting him directly with the surgeries.  The main helper, Stephany, knows her way around very well.  Her assistant, Shana comes in and out of the room throughout the morning to help when she is needed.

             I help by taking each kitten when they are in recovery.  Brad stops in at some time in between and lets us know he is going to go get some groceries since he isn’t needed.  After the kittens, Dad performs 2 big dog spays and 1 big dog neuter.  Upon starting the dog neuter, the kittens begin to wake up fully and try to move about.  The 1^st one didn’t seem as active as the other 2.  Concerned, I pick him up and notice he is bleeding a little from his suture site.  I inform Dad, who by this time is finishing up the dog neuter.  Dad looks at the site and uses some surgical glue to keep the kitten from bleeding further. During the morning surgeries, we had seen Brad outside the window wandering around.  He finally joins us in the surgery suite and we socialize for a bit before heading out.
           

On the way back to our house, we decide to stop for something to eat.  Kellie had told us about a great restaurant called Cheeseburger in America’s Paradise.  Since we had plans for dinner and by now it is 3:00 in the afternoon, we decide to order something small, or “Scooby Snacks” as the waitress called it.  We split the Deluxe Nachos with chili. We enjoy our meal very much and soon we were back on the road to the house to prepare for the night’s festivities.

We meet Kellie, Dr Bailey and her husband Mike, on the pier at Christiansted.  The night life on the pier was filled with people bustling about.  Dr. Bailey has a very cute little black and tan Chihuahua attached to her hip.  For that reason we have to find a place to eat outside.  None of us minded that of course, since it was such a beautiful night.  We settled for Angry Nates which has greet seafood and steaks.

We socialize for a while, enjoying our company.  Mike and Dad talk about planes and flying while Dr. Bailey, Kellie and I talk about animals and such.  Mike looks at his watch and realizing the time (8:00PM).  The presidential debate will start at 9:00 PM and neither he nor Dad want to miss it.  We say our friendly goodbyes and head back to the house.

Once back and turning on the TV, however, the men realize there is only 1 channel available and the debate is not on it.  They play with the remote and buttons for a good while then give up.  Being the hero that I am, I step in and see that the TV is set to satellite and not cable.  I switch it and put on the Channel search and Voila!  We have the debate.  We only missed the first 10 minutes of it.  That concluded our 1^st official day on the Island.