Seapasture, here we come!

Monday, August 20th

Today we say good bye to Marty, who is following her husband to Grenada where he will teach medicine and study veterinary medicine. We officially begin our care of the animals at Seapasture, home of the Nevis Humane Society, as well as the two that we bring with us, Bob's cat, Sidecar, and the puppy we are keeping for a student during the break, Vinny. Vinny follows me everywhere, and is asleep right now with his head draped over my foot. They come with these cute tricks built in, so we don't pull their ears off for peeing on the floor. So far it has worked for Vinny, but I'm making no promises.

Each month we get $450EC from the Society account to buy grain, condensed milk, cat food and the like for the animals. The pig belongs to a neighbor, so we just give him our food scraps for free! Last week we unloaded seven goats at the very impressive estate of the mad scientist (whose lab finally passed through customs, yeah! except for the chemicals! awww.) and four went to market, presumably to end up on the table. We have one employee, a 14-year-old named Kenroy, who helps walk the remaining goats/sheep/donkey and keeps the yard cleaned up.

First things to change: no sheep or donkey living in the front yard (although we'll ALWAYS have to wear shoes outside) and no cats on the kitchen counter. Marty showed me the watering bowl that stays on the kitchen counter, and I thought, "nooooooo!". However, even after I lower the feline feeding station to the ground, the cats won't feel the least bit obligated to stay on or near the floor. They nap on top of the kitchen cabinets, and on the shelves of all the closets that have curtains instead of doors. It's weird, because unless you hunt for them, you don't see ANY cats anywhere, except Sakopuss (sp?) who came with the house. He lounges around on the furniture like a proper cat. He has the HUGEST underbite--both of his lower canines (felines?) are visible ALL THE TIME. They're like tusks. Upside-down tusks.

There's a tiny pool, hot-tub sized, at Seapasture, attached to the porch. Ava adores it. She wanted to swim in it every day until she discovered the pool at the Mad Scientist's house. His pool is much larger, and she can't touch the bottom anywhere, but adding to the charm is the FREE MONKEY SHOW every afternoon at 5pm. The island monkeys frequent the yard on their daily outing to the mango trees around the pool area. They are amazing to watch up close, and they watch us, too. We watch them watching us, and so on. So far it hasn't gotten old. But Rick (the Mad Scientist) isn't as crazy about them because of....MONKEY POOP!

But that's the way of Nevis. Lotsa animals. Lotsa poop.

Well, gotta pack my bag for our first overnight at Animal House. We're not doing any extensive moving since we'll have both houses until the end of the year. Speaking of moving, did I mention Alden moved into his dorm on Saturday? I wasn't there but he had plenty of help from Robert and my mom and sister, Emily. They even made a run to the SuperK for a wok and a fan.

Also, thanks to all who wrote to ask about Hurricane Dean. We just got wind and rain from that event, so a good warm up for the hurricane season. Other highlights of the past few days: dinner at Nisbett Plantation (very swanky, thank you, Mad Scientist!) and cocktails at home with Gary and Michele, married, he a teacher, she a student at the medical school, both nudists. We ALWAYS honk as we drive up! Great rum punch with a gorgeous view of St. Kitts across the water.

Have a great week!

Love,
Rachel