WHY DO CATS SIT WHERE THEY DO

Is it to check the quality of my sanding?

Or is it just to be difficult?


WATER DELIVERY

They were supposed to come Friday, then it was Monday, they arrived this Tuesday morning wearing their crisp new shirts. Very spiffy.

However their pump was clearly struggling and after only 40 gallons the magic smoke escaped. As all those of you who work with anything electrical know that means that it is usually FUBAR.

Maybe manana.

Who cares we run on Island Time.

It's hot, really HOT

Too hot to do much work. Dripping sweat into the varnish ruins the finish.

But I am gradually knocking down the TO DO list.

While Dizzy stretches out in the coolest spot he can find and demands a belly rub.

We have two three masters in the bay, Vela is tied up to the dock at the new boatyard while Sagitta is at anchor.

I have to wonder at the deckhouse. Who on earth stuck that abortion on such a sturdy little ship.

Sunday Brunch at Whisper Cove and the locals were tucking in too.


ONLY IN AMERICA MOMENT

Some Mormons are stockpiling canned goods. The “blood moon,” coupled with recent natural disasters and unrest, has led some to believe the end of times are coming and retailers who sell emergency preparedness kits are making a killing

The sales of Mormon 'magic underwear' has skyrocketed too.

I will be over at the full moon party in Benjie bay and no special underwear will be worn.

Good sunset last night.

ANOTHER LIFE GONE

Well Dizzy Sox fell in. It is only the third time he has fallen in and the last two were years ago when he was about 6 months old. The last two times I heard him squalling and jumped in to find him hanging on to the rudder. I did not hear him this time but as always there is some netting hanging over the transom and he made it back on board on his own.

He submitted to the compulsory fresh water shower with a minimum of struggle and noise and after toweling off he is a subdued and tired little cat. He seems to be breathing fine so I will let him recover his dignity.

Had it been last week he could have had a free checkup from the students at a open surgery that was run at the local cricket ground. But he has just come to see me and is looking rumpled but OK.

Had a couple of unusual visitors

a really big stink pot

A stately three-masted, gaff-rigged, square topsail schooner called Vela. She was built as a sail training ship but is now in charter in the Caribbean.


The locals look at the stern of something outboard powered and say one motor, fisherman, two motors tourist transport, three motors smuggler.

So what needs FOUR motors?

A pretty all around sunset.

Made my sundowner a little special.

Rude to Your Parents

There's a legendary rum in Jamaica that's so strong it has been dubbed "Rude to Your Parents".

Well Grenada has it's own version. I was introduced to it by Nimrod who ran the little rum shop at the head of the bay while I was waiting for the local 'dolla' minibus into to town. . When he established that this was my first visit out came the book for me to sign and he insisted that I have a drink with him. He produced this bottle from the freezer and poured both of us a generous tot. Now I should have been suspicious when he also poured some water and insisted I downed it in one.

Rums are one of those drinks you take seriously and you know can pack a serious punch . That is till you’ve been to Grenada and sampled their local “firewater” rum. The River Antoine Rum Distillery has seen more than it’s share of tourists being on the tour map of everyone there and why not? They make one of the meanest brands of rum you’ll ever find anywhere. Supposedly, what they offer tourists is a sugarcane based rum with up to 75% ABV!!! However, the have the 69% bottles which tourists can take home because the 75% one is just so inflammable, the airlines won’t allow it. Rumor has it among circles that the locals get another version of the rum sold exclusively to them which goes way beyond the 75%ABV mark. Now that world make a lethal rum punch!

Well I can confirm it is no rumor. River Antoine has the capability to produce rum with 87% alcohol. I have seen the hydrometer in use and the slightly furtive look when it was sold off in unlabeled bottles just before carnival.

I think that is what Nimrod served me that day. I know that I don't remember anything much after drinking it. I came too as I wandered round St Georges with a slight headache and some considerable loss of coordination.

What prompted this trip down memory lane, well the BBC article here CLICKY is the answer.