AAAAHAHHHHH we are so excited to be going back to the states on Dec. 20th!!! NYE plans are up in the air right now. but we will be in TX on the 20th and leaving for CO on the 29th, hope to coordinate a meet up with some friends from SF, who will be in Houston the same time we are.

Things have picked up on the island. We went back to work on Dec something, had a large crew of surveyors out here and started clearing the center lines for the first golf course fairways, got those done yesterday. Jerry, Flamingo Bay owner took his plane out for a test run last weekend and he flew over the property, told us it looks like a huge maze. I am having dreams about the place and getting lost in all the cut outs that we have done, some are wrong and the dead end so that equals lots of extra walking.


Went to a party last week at the Cat House, going again tonight. A couple from the states that throw a party every time they come to the island which is the first 2 weeks of every month! Met a lot of other ex-pat locals and made some great contacts. Including a couple who are both pilots and have a helicopter on the island! can't wait to take a flight in that.

other than working, things are the same round here. the weather has been so-so. some great sunny days, then the clouds blow in, which is great cause it's hot as hell up in the brush. watching lots of movies, and TV, Jerry hooked up an antennae so we get 6 local channels now, more football watching than I care to admit.

Looking forward to some down time and some good, HEALTHY food, this fried crap is killing me.
So, 7 days till Nassau, first trip for us, then to TX. we have lots of last minute things to get done and just found out that a crew is coming out while we will be off the island. Hope to have some 4 wheelers out here after the new year.

love to you all, C&K

Another week gone by and not much to tell. The weather has been so hit or miss that we have not been able to go out kayaking since the last post. I have read 5 books in the past 7 days, bout to go stir crazy. Then again even if the weather was sunny we have little to do on the island. Have not been snorkeling in several weeks now.

Chris is learning a new computer program, Sketch Up and how to play the guitar. Jerry, owner of Flamingo Bay, let him borrow a guitar and some lesson books. He spent 4 hours doing so on Sunday, it helps that there is a dvd to talk you through most of the scales.

We met some Californians last week, they come out about 3 times a year and have a very rustic house on the beach just down the road from here in Bains Town. They brought chocolate, which to my surprise I had actually kinda missed. Was nice to visit with people who can relate to being on the island and how long it takes to unwind, I think I am still in this 'unwind' phase since we have not been working on the property in over 3 weeks.

Not that I want to admit this....but we have actually had endure 3 different Nascar races....Jerry is a fan and well he has the only cable tv we can watch.....and football comes on so late here that we are not able to watch a full game. So Nascar nights, Kristy tends to drink to much, trying to make the time go faster.

We did buy our ticket for NYE to CO!!! I am SOOOOOO excited to see my sister and all our CO family. We will be there for 6 days! Now the other tix to TX.....have been kinda difficult to compile, and we have to send the info to someone else to purchase them and of course we have not heard back if they have done so. Fingers crossed that they can buy the ones we need and that we make all the connections.

Hope this next week will be filled with sunshine for more than a few hours.

This hurricane is going to do me in!!! We have not seen the sun in over a week, and the weather will get worse next tues and wed. Being trapped in doors for days on end starts to make you stir crazy. Watching a lot of movies but after a while you just want to go somewhere. The mosquitoes are ridiculous right now with all the rain, I got eaten alive the other day, and with the poison wood on Chris' leg, we are kinda a mess.

Got the news that there is a 500 MB daily bandwidth limit here, GREAT, which means we can't stream any live shows from the computer OR download music....this might make me explode, to think we can't get any new music for a YEAR!!! our MAC went down a few weeks ago, and we have a hard drive loaded with new tunes, filled it pretty full right before we left, well we can't access any of it due to the type of cord it uses!!! I'm VERY music deprived right now and REALLY wish I had my hoops down here. With the lack of dancing and hooping, and over indulging in the cheap beer I have gained weight and feel like a slug. I am to the point that I will take my ipod down to the beach and just dance my face off, might have a heart attack with the humidity but I need some boogie release.

Oh, I alos have a cold right now, no idea where it came from, but Sudafed and Zyrtec are not working and those who know me, know that the best way to torture me is to stuff up my nose so I can't breathe.....told you we were a mess right now.

Other than Tech playing AWESOME last night we are kinda bored. Didn't even get to watch the whole game as we have to go next door to watch tv and games go so late here, we had to finish 2nd half on the computer, not as exciting as hearing it and see the crowd.

enough of my soap box, miss you all terribly and promise the next post won't be so whiny

check out our new place.....we are in the yellow bungalow!
http://www.flamingobayclub.com/index.htm

Another week of no internet, the modem went down at Greenwood. We had a busy week, picked up business partners on Monday afternoon, went straight to the property and spent several hours out there. The next 2 days were spent following a D8 tractor with a GPS and a backhoe digging soil samples. got a lot of things done, including getting one of the trucks buried in sand....not my idea to drive down that road and am SUPER glad it was not me who got it stuck while backing out of said road. So we left it over night and all crammed into one truck, let me tell you the smell the 5 of us created, was terrible!!! esp. after working to get the truck unstuck, digging in sand with our hands.

another laundry experience....even more shocking. OK, so we went to the NEW laundromat, so we thought, walk in and had seen the large front loaders from the road a few days before. Well, out of 8 washers of different sizes and states of disarray, only 2 worked. OK, we can work with that. So, a guy who was attending the place just kinda looked at us, like you wanna wash now, no tmrw dude. So then the girl from the gas station next door comes over to help. She grabs a hose from the back of washer and throws it in, tells me this is faster and the water is not hooked up on this one anyway. OK so now we are using a cold water hose to fill washer, excellent.

We had not done laundry in over 3 weeks and the clothes from the property were filthy and very stinky. Of course we had already bought soap at another store and didn't buy the cold water soap, so we gave it a go. Took 3.5 hours to do 4 loads and there were only 2 dryers in the place. Oh and the cost is outrageous due to high electric bills, so 4 loads was $20, that's a NYC price!

Got to watch some football on Sat. and ended up at the sailing club for the weekly Sat night dance. Hung out with some locals we have spent time with and watched Tech play a great game, just dont like being on EST as the games run so late. We left at start of 4th as it was after 11pm and we had been out all day. Watched the highlights on Sun at Jr.s house. We stopped in to return a chain, the one used to haul the truck out of sand bed and ended up staying for whole afternoon. His kids are super cute and his wife, Peggy is very nice. They cooked us dinner, bbq chicken, veggies and rice, great meal and the biggest one we had since last wed. They have a crab pin on their back porch and grabbed about 5 and tossed them into a pan. They bring them out a while later and Peggy proceeds to show Chris how to eat this mess. The legs are ripped off before cooking the heads. She started ripping the crowns off and yellow goo is flying everywhere, this is where my stomach starts to lurch from the sound, smell and overall fear of what she is about to do. *Grossout factor coming** they rip the crown off and take bread and dip it into the head fat, the yellow goo....Chris said it didn't taste that good, but that the actual meat was sweet.
Peggy tore at these poor things like a champion, eating, talking and spitting out unwanted parts at the same time. I couldn't watch it. It is the messiest eating I have seen yet, she had it all over herself, fingers, hands, face, shirt! She ate 3 in time Chris ate 1....funny but NO way for me. Too much work for noting to really eat.

We moved into a new place today, pics to come later. a great yellow bungalow with a kitchen! got ourselves pretty much unpacked, again, today. got here at 130 and well it's 6 and we are almost done. The place is great, a pool, hot tub, 4 bbq pits, beach access with kayak, wireless! and a garden. Got the info from business partner last week. The couple who own the place are super nice. We feel at home already.

my fingers hurt from typing and now that we have better net connection, I hope it won't be weekly postings only. LOVE you all and stayed tuned for the crazy Potcake Island Adventures, they only keep getting better.
~Kristy and Chris

What a crazy night Friday was. Our new weekend guest is Alexi Murdoch, who is on tour with Alanis as the opener. http://www.aleximurdoch.com/ Have not listened to his music yet as that would be strange as he is sitting on his laptop next to Chris.

A few locals showed up after dinner last night due to Mr. Christie being on the island. One in particular is a total drunk and super annoying, she was making a complete fool of herself and also making many very uncomfortable as well. Not to go into to details but there was yelling and boob flashing and our poor actual guest was accosted by her as she attempted to give him a massage he did not want.

Lots of talk about music, which as anyone can tell you I am very passionate about and I miss talking about music and miss even more the live experience. So it was exciting to talk music and bands, btw Alexi is from Scotland, cause we have a terrible playlist here at Greenwood that we are forced to listen to every evening. The conversation then moved to snow skiing and Colorado of all places. We all chatted about Boulder and our favorite mountains to ski and the local bands of the area, was crazy to be sitting on a beach front while longing for some Colorado snow. (miss you CO babies a lot)

so another day has come and gone, we sat pool side for a while had a nice lunch and got to talking about the bugs in Alexi's room, as in bed bugs and 2 others we can't ID. GROSS!!!! he says they are lined all up on the back of the mattress and are jumping all over his bed. I am so scared to go check our bed which has 2 mattress pads on it, one being the new one we brought with us. He says they bite like crazy and that he was unable to sleep at all last night. Well they are acting as if it's no big deal, BED BUGS, I repeat, and he is scoffed at and told well the maid will be here sunday. I was also told to not leave the AC running all day. I do not agree of course as it's hot as can be back where the rooms are, no sea breeze at all. We also have a lot of electronics in the room, 3 laptops alone.

BTW the moon was incredible last night and didn't rise till 9:07, another big ball of cheese.

http://www.snip-spayneuter.com/snipwpotmore.html

a long article but very informative, so all those out there who are thinking the opposite can rest assured....

today was quite, one guest that was here a week from the UK has returned home and we have another guest from England for the weekend.

Lots of time online, the connection goes in and out all the time, very frustrating, esp when checking your bank account and the like.

We went snorkeling at Deep South, a building on a cleared site that is used for community and church events. Didn't see much today, the water was cloudy. Did see a Barracuda that was about 3 feet long, very shiny. A few fish I had not seen in the last few times out, very colorful. The salt level was so high today that you could see salt lines on your body as you started to dry off.

After we got out of the water we were sitting on the truck bed having a beer and a red tahoe drives up, stops on the road, sits for a bit, goes forward, sits a bit then reverses and finally comes down the dirt path to where we are sitting. An older English gentleman asks if we own the building/property. We tell him no that it's community. He then introduces himself as Peter Christie, as in the family that owns pretty much ALL of Cat Island. We immediately hop off the truck and go to meet him. When I say old, I mean my grandfather old, round 80 at least. Even had the same shaking of arms that my Gpa has. He knew that we were working for the Property and asked how we liked it. Turns out he is coming to Greenwood for dinner tonight.

So another large dinner tonight, let me tell you these 4 course meals as doing me in. I feel like a slug after we eat and of course have our shots of Rum. Chris and I have never eaten meals this large in portion. I had to tell Sheila, one of the cooks, to seriously, cut our portions in half. They dont save your meal they throw it away. UMM hello, I am here all day and we don't get breakfast, that's a long story but they will eat right in front of us and not offer any and they sure don't make enough for 4 people. Don't even get coffee, they only have the huge buffet canister AND they recycle the coffee, UBER gross!!! they put saran wrap over the opening and SAVE it!!! and the large canister the other day was sitting out in the kitchen open with FLIES in it.....I miss Starbuck immensely! and Chris' breakfast burritos and Crepes A Go-Go....mmmmh....breakfast

enough ranting, the moon rise last night was incredible, like a big ball of cheese, seriously, the color was insane....but the clouds took over and we lost the rise after it appeared over the ocean.

Oct 14th was a great 30th birthday. A long walk on the beach, followed by a few hours reading by the pool. Chris and I then went to Old Bight to hike up Mt Alvernia to the Hermitage site. It was an old monastery built by hand on the highest point of the Bahamas, only 206 feet, lol. Don't have the pics just yet, had to borrow a camera as we had just picked up our new laptop and camera a few minutes before at the airport.

The site is amazing, you can see most of the whole island both Atlantic and Caribbean ocean sides. Father Alvernia was a small man, as most were in the 1600's. There are several rooms you can walk through and a spire that still has a bell inside.

Dinner was wonderful, meatloaf, mashed potatoes, salad and soup. Followed by a lemon cake with chocolate frosting. We were unable to have the bonfire as the winds were so bad, we lost power for a few hours as well right before dinner.

After dinner Chris and I took a walk on the beach in full moon light and were joined by Gin, one of the Greenwood potcakes. He was having a hay day chasing and digging for crabs in the full moon. So fun to watch him and very entertaining.

Today we slept in and then played with our new electronics. Layed by the pool and read more of my book. Then before dinner we went to the job site to take photos.

OK, so I have to admit, I am a Princess when it comes to laundry. No questions asked. I am picky and very particular. So we have 2 washers here and 1 dryer. They line dry most items everyday, sheets and towels included. Let me tell you drying a towel on the line 100 yards away from the Atlantic makes it feel like you are drying off with sandpaper!!! Horrible feeling, feel like I am rubbing of my skin. So I ask Anna if I can do a load, we have been here 2 weeks and not done any washing. We needed underclothing and socks esp. the dirt on site is a red silty powdery sand.

So I start a load and throw them in the dryer and am loading the 2nd of shorts and pants. All of a sudden I hear, "What are you DOING?" We don't use the dryer. So I explain what the load is and she says ok. BUT we do NOT use the dryer, WTH, why is it here then!!! They line dry in the laundry room if it rains. SORRY this Princess does not line dry everything, it stretches the clothes out and takes forever! She then told me to just wait and have the housekeeper who comes to do our laundry, UMMM, NO. I am not having someone else do my laundry. That's terrible and I am too picky. Do you have any idea how long it took me to train Chris how to do my laundry, lol!

So Potcake is what the local stray dogs are called, took me forever to understand what the guy was trying to tell me, WTH is Potcake......

Potcake is what you have at the bottom of a pan after cooking, say rice and peas. You scrap it out and it's kinda in the shape of a cake, hence potcake. Wish you could hear the Bahamian pronunciation of it though, it's hilarious.

Potcakes are everywhere, and most of them are really cute muts. Mostly small in size.

So after 11 days on Cat Island we are experiencing our first big storm from Africa, huge waves with white caps and lots of wind, they tell us that this is the 1st of formations to head our way.

We were out on the property this morning and discovered some mistakes in the land clearing, hard to put back trees that have been bulldozed over. So, we left in frustration and headed to grab a bite to eat, forgetting that it is Columbus Day. Most stores and places to grab a bite are closed due to the holiday. We found that the Pilot Harbor was open, so we stopped in to eat and have a beer. The lady who works the place everyday, Charlie, is very fond of MATLOCK.....I kid you not, most houses are falling apart and look unlivable but they have satellite cable!!! After Matlock, which we have endured about 5 episodes over the course of 11 days, comes People's Court, ARUGH!!! Where is the football or even crappy talk shows.

We attempted to do some snorkeling toady, but the water was too rough. Hence the storm blowing in....I keep reaching for my camera but alas the battery has already gone out on us, so we are waiting for the next business partner to fly out Oct 20th with a replacement. There is soooo much to photograph here, a short list:

random single shoes, they are everywhere, you wouldn't believe
old decrepit buildings, they don't tear anything down, just let it fall apart
piles of conch shells, everywhere
the different bays of water
the locals we have met, several that are employees at Greenwood
the Fall Festival/Columbus day celebration at the Fry Shacks, live music, crafts, food

oh and our Mac went down on us, no idea what is wrong with it but it won't turn on. so much for technology....

We have our first set of guests at Greenwood, a lady from England and a family of 5 from Portugal, 3 small kids. So we have been listening to screaming kids and a crying baby every night at dinner, which btw is out on the patio every night.

more to come later, this is the first post and I need to figure out how to get pics on here.

Love to you all, Kristy and Chris