Okay I know I haven’t been very diligent about keeping up with the blog. No excuse really, just lazy I guess.
Not a lot happening over the last week; we did have a plane come in last weekend, so there’s fresh eggs, fruit and salad back on the menu. We played volleyball Saturday night on the beach behind Drifter’s. The sand is full of big chunks of coral so lots of people were complaining of cut feet and scraped knees the next day. That seems to be the most common injury we see. I actually have a fair amount of experience with ocean related injuries, like jelly fish stings, and sting ray envenomation, but those don’t seem to come up much, either in my experience or historically from what I can gather.
The Air Force sent a crew to do some kind of sampling and testing on the water supply; with them is a young woman, so the odds have improved 100% for the men. Now when you go to Drifters there are two clumps of guys, instead of one.
The mystery rat has been identified. It is rattus tanezumi, the “asian house rat”. Speculation is that it came with the refugees from Viet Nam who were housed here after the Saigon evacuation. They are still working on the e”rat”ication plan. The problem seems to be that the rats are too well fed. They don’t like what they’re being offered and there isn’t an approved coconut flavored rat poison. I know I’ve felt like I would die after drinking Pina Coladas; we should just ship the rats to a Sandals resort.
We took a walk on Wilkes Island this afternoon. It’s the southeasterly most part of the atoll, and a bird sanctuary. There are zillions of birds nesting there and they were none too pleased with our presence..The main characters are black footed boobys and red footed boobys, as well as a frigate bird I got a lot of cool pictures; also collected some bird dropping specimens.
Tonight was the big Wake Island Ping Pong tournament. I watched some of the Thais play –it was pretty scary. I did not enter.
Only a few more chances left to dive. We’re going to do a lot this weekend if we can. I also want to do a little more kayaking around the lagoon before I leave. I might even try to take the catamaran out. I’m definitely a short timer now.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
photos at 12kbaud
I’ve decided to try to post a few pictures; I’ll let it run while I go for my after dinner walk. If this works ok maybe I can add a photo or two each night and let them upload through the night.
... okay, well that ain't gonna work; tried it about 6 times and it just won't fly. So it goes. Nothing else new. I did notice ND managed to get a win. Rah, Rah! The echoes are still snoring.
... okay, well that ain't gonna work; tried it about 6 times and it just won't fly. So it goes. Nothing else new. I did notice ND managed to get a win. Rah, Rah! The echoes are still snoring.
Rattus Indeterminus
The rat guys are really an interesting group. I’ve been following their efforts; never really had much contact with real life field biology, even though that was my early life choice for a profession. They are actually having some fun with a true scientific challenge. They thought they were coming to deal with just one kind of rat; then they thought they had rats and some kind of mice. Now they have determined that what they have is two different species of rat, the common Polynesian rat that they were expecting to find, and something that they have not been able to identify as yet. They are doing all kinds of measurements of feet, ears, teeth, tails and organs to try to make a taxonomic identification, but they have reached the limit of their library on the island, and of course the internet is ridiculously slow for sending (and receiving) pictures which they are trying to exchange with colleagues who are experts in Asian rats that they may not have seen before. It makes a difference in knowing what kind of bait to use for the critters as well as what kind of traps or poisons to try. They are quite enthused by the challenge and I can appreciate that.
The clinic remains boring, weather remains hot and clear, except when it is hot and raining, and all is well but I do miss home. I don’t see how people do this for a year, or as in the case of many of the Thais, many years. One of them has been here for 21 years, going home to see his family for 6 weeks every year. It is very good money for them, so I guess that makes it worthwhile, compared to living in Thailand where they say jobs are scarce and pay much less. I suppose you make your choices based on your circumstances; I’m glad I don’t have to make that kind of choice.
The clinic remains boring, weather remains hot and clear, except when it is hot and raining, and all is well but I do miss home. I don’t see how people do this for a year, or as in the case of many of the Thais, many years. One of them has been here for 21 years, going home to see his family for 6 weeks every year. It is very good money for them, so I guess that makes it worthwhile, compared to living in Thailand where they say jobs are scarce and pay much less. I suppose you make your choices based on your circumstances; I’m glad I don’t have to make that kind of choice.
Guess Who’s coming To Dinner
I had never of “bonefish” before last spring when Ralph and I went to Belize, but fishing for them was the big thing down there. Apparently it is all the rage because they are good fighters. According to the guys here who are really into it this is one of the best places in the world for bonefishing. Bonefish are a fairly uniform and widely distributed variety of bottom feeders that occupy salty and brackish shallows in the tropics, so this certainly is their kind of place. They are a little tricky to hook because they are good at hitting and taking your bait without you getting the hook set. If you do hook them however, they fight like crazy for a relatively small fish (most of them are in the 14-24 inch range, with some up to about 3 feet).
I borrowed some tackle and went down to try my hand at it the other night and it was just as described. I used some of the rainbow runner we had caught on the fishing boat and froze and just started casting in the place these guys said they had such good luck. I started getting hits almost immediately but it took a few minutes for me to hook one. They do fight like crazy. I fished for about and hour and caught 3 of the bonefish, a large thing that looked like a sea bass but with a lot more (and bigger) teeth than the ones at home, and one of the smaller silvery blue fish they call a papillon. I let them all go.
Later I was talking with a couple of guys who had been fishing in the same spot; they had set up a small standing height table of scrap materials in the shallow water and one of them was cleaning a fish he had caught when the other guy yelled and pointed out about a 5 foot shark swimming right toward him in the shallow water. He slapped his fishing rod at it and it swam away; then they threw a bloody piece of cut fish in the water and it came right back. They hooked it and fought it for a good while before it broke the line. I thought they said there were only small sharks in the lagoon.
I borrowed some tackle and went down to try my hand at it the other night and it was just as described. I used some of the rainbow runner we had caught on the fishing boat and froze and just started casting in the place these guys said they had such good luck. I started getting hits almost immediately but it took a few minutes for me to hook one. They do fight like crazy. I fished for about and hour and caught 3 of the bonefish, a large thing that looked like a sea bass but with a lot more (and bigger) teeth than the ones at home, and one of the smaller silvery blue fish they call a papillon. I let them all go.
Later I was talking with a couple of guys who had been fishing in the same spot; they had set up a small standing height table of scrap materials in the shallow water and one of them was cleaning a fish he had caught when the other guy yelled and pointed out about a 5 foot shark swimming right toward him in the shallow water. He slapped his fishing rod at it and it swam away; then they threw a bloody piece of cut fish in the water and it came right back. They hooked it and fought it for a good while before it broke the line. I thought they said there were only small sharks in the lagoon.
Thank God For The Barge
I have been writing some entries over the last few days intending to sign and post them, then not getting around to it. For some reason I cannot sign on to the blog from the computer in the office, so I have to do it at night. It is so tediously slow it is maddening.
The big excitement for Wake over the last week was the barge, which comes from Hono every 6 months with food, fuel, and whatever large volume supplies are needed for the next 6 months. There are a lot of construction projects upcoming so the barge delivered something like 100,000 pounds of concrete, and a couple of large trucks. Also a new sail for the catamaran which you can sail in the lagoon with the morays if you like.
Unloading the supplies and then reloading the various and sundry things that they don’t want to leave on the island , like old trucks and equipment took Tuesday through Saturday, and actually a few hours on Sunday morning. We kept an ambulance manned (well, occupied) at the marina where the crane was lifting cargo containers off the barge
for the whole time they were working. Mostly quiet evenings all week; everybody was pooped.
I got a tour of the tugboat from the captain and the engineer, took some pics of the engines and engine room; very interesting, and the engineer was a real motorhead, just loved talking about any kind of engine, but especially diesels. He also liked to talk about his cat.
The tug and barge finally got under way on Sunday afternoon, and things started to get back to normal. We had a going away party for a couple of folks who are leaving on the next plane. One of the Air Force guys, and a woman who has been here on and off for several years. I’ve gone diving with her a couple of times. I didn’t realize until she mentioned it at the party that she had been here as a child when this was an active base. She went to grade school for several years on the island.
One really good thing happened from the barge coming here; when I went to drifters for the party I saw that the beer menu had been expanded dramatically; now we have Guinness, Sam Adams, and even Red Stripe (no Dogfish Head Jim, sorry). So we should be good for the next 6 months, or they will be; at my rate of consumption, I’m sure the Guinness will last ‘til the end of October. .
The big excitement for Wake over the last week was the barge, which comes from Hono every 6 months with food, fuel, and whatever large volume supplies are needed for the next 6 months. There are a lot of construction projects upcoming so the barge delivered something like 100,000 pounds of concrete, and a couple of large trucks. Also a new sail for the catamaran which you can sail in the lagoon with the morays if you like.
Unloading the supplies and then reloading the various and sundry things that they don’t want to leave on the island , like old trucks and equipment took Tuesday through Saturday, and actually a few hours on Sunday morning. We kept an ambulance manned (well, occupied) at the marina where the crane was lifting cargo containers off the barge
for the whole time they were working. Mostly quiet evenings all week; everybody was pooped.
I got a tour of the tugboat from the captain and the engineer, took some pics of the engines and engine room; very interesting, and the engineer was a real motorhead, just loved talking about any kind of engine, but especially diesels. He also liked to talk about his cat.
The tug and barge finally got under way on Sunday afternoon, and things started to get back to normal. We had a going away party for a couple of folks who are leaving on the next plane. One of the Air Force guys, and a woman who has been here on and off for several years. I’ve gone diving with her a couple of times. I didn’t realize until she mentioned it at the party that she had been here as a child when this was an active base. She went to grade school for several years on the island.
One really good thing happened from the barge coming here; when I went to drifters for the party I saw that the beer menu had been expanded dramatically; now we have Guinness, Sam Adams, and even Red Stripe (no Dogfish Head Jim, sorry). So we should be good for the next 6 months, or they will be; at my rate of consumption, I’m sure the Guinness will last ‘til the end of October. .
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
That's a Moray
Sung to the tune of Dean Martin's "That's amore" (after a few Guiness)
There's a thing on the reef, with big shiny white teeth - it's a Moray
If he's big and he's mean, and he's slimy and green - it's a Moray
Put your hand in the crack and you won't get it back - It's a Moray
When you're movin' your hands, best take care where they land - Watch for Morays
When some teeth catch your eye. and an eel wriggles by - It's a Moray
when something, bites your fin, and throws off your trim - It's a Moray
Keep your fingers in tight and you won't have a fright - It's a Moray
When you're moving by feel and then up pops the eel - It's a Moray
When an eel bites your thigh, as you're just swimming by - It's a Moray
When you scream, and you beg, but it still bites your leg - It's a Moray
Watch you don't get a shark, When you search, after dark - for amore
When you're out of your depth, and you run short of breath - that's amore air
When he's fanning his gills, Better head for the hills - It's a Moray
When your light, in the night, gets swallowed out of sight, - It's a Moray
When your horse munches straw, And the bales total four - That's some more hay.When you're down and it's dark, Over there - that a shark?, No - It's a Moray
When you ace your last test, Like you did all the rest - That's some more "A"s! When your boat comes home fine, And you tie up her line - That's a moor, eh?
When you've had quite enough, Of this daft rhyming stuff, that's "no more!", eh?
There's a thing on the reef, with big shiny white teeth - it's a Moray
If he's big and he's mean, and he's slimy and green - it's a Moray
Put your hand in the crack and you won't get it back - It's a Moray
When you're movin' your hands, best take care where they land - Watch for Morays
When some teeth catch your eye. and an eel wriggles by - It's a Moray
when something, bites your fin, and throws off your trim - It's a Moray
Keep your fingers in tight and you won't have a fright - It's a Moray
When you're moving by feel and then up pops the eel - It's a Moray
When an eel bites your thigh, as you're just swimming by - It's a Moray
When you scream, and you beg, but it still bites your leg - It's a Moray
Watch you don't get a shark, When you search, after dark - for amore
When you're out of your depth, and you run short of breath - that's amore air
When he's fanning his gills, Better head for the hills - It's a Moray
When your light, in the night, gets swallowed out of sight, - It's a Moray
When your horse munches straw, And the bales total four - That's some more hay.When you're down and it's dark, Over there - that a shark?, No - It's a Moray
When you ace your last test, Like you did all the rest - That's some more "A"s! When your boat comes home fine, And you tie up her line - That's a moor, eh?
When you've had quite enough, Of this daft rhyming stuff, that's "no more!", eh?
A Better Mousetrap
A Better Mousetrap
Umbra on live trapping
Q: Dear Umbra,
In discussing potential remedies for a mouse problem with a fellow congregation member, I recounted how I recently trapped four mice in our home and transported them gingerly to fields and parking lots a couple of miles away. To my surprise, she expressed dismay ... Isn't it better to give mice a fighting chance to reestablish themselves in the wild than to break their backs or necks in those time-honored, spring-loaded Tom and Jerry devices?
Didi
Harvard, Mass.
A: Dearest Didi,
I'm with you. A tough transition to a new environment is better than death by mousetrap. This is not only my personal opinion, but ...
Read the rest of Umbra's answer at http://lists.grist.org/t?ctl=11CA0:CA22DAF4A2A900FAF75145FA12142E81
Umbra on live trapping
Q: Dear Umbra,
In discussing potential remedies for a mouse problem with a fellow congregation member, I recounted how I recently trapped four mice in our home and transported them gingerly to fields and parking lots a couple of miles away. To my surprise, she expressed dismay ... Isn't it better to give mice a fighting chance to reestablish themselves in the wild than to break their backs or necks in those time-honored, spring-loaded Tom and Jerry devices?
Didi
Harvard, Mass.
A: Dearest Didi,
I'm with you. A tough transition to a new environment is better than death by mousetrap. This is not only my personal opinion, but ...
Read the rest of Umbra's answer at http://lists.grist.org/t?ctl=11CA0:CA22DAF4A2A900FAF75145FA12142E81
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Top Ten Reasons Frank is on Wake Island
10. Needs to break in a new pair of sandals on the coral studded beach.
9. Since the average temperature never gets below 76 degrees, Frank has a grant to study fungi and mold during this rainy season. He has begun collecting smegma from the full time workers on the island.
8. The one place on the planet even Frank cannot get lost on.
7. Frank bet there was no place with a higher ratio of men to women than freshman year at Notre Dame. Obviously he lost.
6. Someone told Frank the peak of Wake Island is at 13,410 feet. Unfortunately 13,392 feet are underwater. Hiking the summit will not be much of a challenge.
5. The Wake Island medical facility needed a doctor who could do it all. Frank thought the Air Force needed a Renaisance man, not that the facility looks like it was built in the 1400's.
4. Wake has a great airfield to practice flying. No crowds. Unfortunately, Frank didn'trealize he needed to be rated on a C-17 and have access to20,000 gallons of Jet-A fuel.
3. Frank heard the fishing while snorkeling was great on the island.He did not understand that meant the large Moray eels had a great timefishing for snorkelers.
2. Notre Dame football. If you are going to be away, this is the season.
1. Nora has been planning to do a small change to the kitchen, but nowseveral walls will knocked down.
9. Since the average temperature never gets below 76 degrees, Frank has a grant to study fungi and mold during this rainy season. He has begun collecting smegma from the full time workers on the island.
8. The one place on the planet even Frank cannot get lost on.
7. Frank bet there was no place with a higher ratio of men to women than freshman year at Notre Dame. Obviously he lost.
6. Someone told Frank the peak of Wake Island is at 13,410 feet. Unfortunately 13,392 feet are underwater. Hiking the summit will not be much of a challenge.
5. The Wake Island medical facility needed a doctor who could do it all. Frank thought the Air Force needed a Renaisance man, not that the facility looks like it was built in the 1400's.
4. Wake has a great airfield to practice flying. No crowds. Unfortunately, Frank didn'trealize he needed to be rated on a C-17 and have access to20,000 gallons of Jet-A fuel.
3. Frank heard the fishing while snorkeling was great on the island.He did not understand that meant the large Moray eels had a great timefishing for snorkelers.
2. Notre Dame football. If you are going to be away, this is the season.
1. Nora has been planning to do a small change to the kitchen, but nowseveral walls will knocked down.
The Plane, The Plane!
Well I am a few days behind. Nothing much happened on Friday, but Saturday was the big day - every two weeks the plane comes from Hono (as in lulu) and brings all kinds of goodies. Regular employees coming back from vacation, new employees just getting their first view of the island, supplies, especially fresh fruit, always a case or two of someomne's favorite beer, one guy even has a couple of burger king whoppers couriered out to him biweekly. I got the meds and emergency supplies that I felt we were deficient in and that made me happy. The big excitement of course was the 22 year old EMT from Vermont who came to fill the position here for a month until the new full time person gets here. Try to imagine an island with lot of young men who haven't seen a woman younger than their mother in a year - it's a scary vision. But it's working out well I think; she's an athletic type who will eat you for lunch if she thinks you are implying there is something she can't do because she's a girl. She knows her way around an ambulance real well and is working as hard on getting that up to speed as I have been in the clinic. She got introduced to the Ioke Beach House right away, with the appropriate warnings about the spices, and the glass refilling thing.
Yesterday the barge came in loaded with several hundred tons of supplies for the next 6 months; two big dump trucks, something like 100,000 pounds of concrete, enough gasoline and diesel fuel to keep us going (I think the jet fuel comes in separately on a tanker), god only knows what else. (Actually I think Jeff the logistician knows.) I watched them bring that barge in the narrow channel into the marina and it went without a hitch. Sort of boring, but impressive nonetheless. Today they started unloading the barge, a complicated ballet with the crane lifting containers off the barge, then forklifts loading them into flatbeds to be transported around the island where they have to be lifted back off the truck with a forklift and then unloaded or stored. The trick is that there are a limited number of forklifts and flatbeds, of different capacities, and so it has to be arranged for the right size forklift to be at each place at the right time, and as you might recall, forklifts drive kinda slow. It's an interesting dance, appreciated best by listening to the radio communications. I actually stayed in the clinic cleaning up and organizing today; Diana,(the EMT) was stationed down by the marina with the ambulance. The moment they started unloading, the rains came and stopped everything for a while. They were able finally to get going and everything went well, at least from my perspective - noone got hurt. Diana had time to go through and find all the outdated meds and supplies in the ambulance and was otherwise bored. I'll take bored anytime.
The plane also brought the rat team. They are doing testing to find out what kind of poison will work the best on the rats of Wake, and then they are confident that they can get rid of them. That will be interesting although I am sure it will happen after I leave. They say that one of their main concerns is whether the hermit crabs will eat all the rat bait; most things that are used to kill rats won't affect invertebrates, but then what if the birds eat the hermit crabs? They say they have never seen a place with so many hermit crabs before, so they aren't sure what the ramifications are. They're going slow for now.
The consensus is that the Mets did have the worst choke of all time,that ND has a good chance of going winless, and the Jets just continue to stink.I think, from a Martin sports fan's perspective, that I picked a good fall to do this.
Well that's all the news from Wake, where, as Carolyn said to Diana, for a woman coming to the island, "the odds are good, but the goods are odd".
Yesterday the barge came in loaded with several hundred tons of supplies for the next 6 months; two big dump trucks, something like 100,000 pounds of concrete, enough gasoline and diesel fuel to keep us going (I think the jet fuel comes in separately on a tanker), god only knows what else. (Actually I think Jeff the logistician knows.) I watched them bring that barge in the narrow channel into the marina and it went without a hitch. Sort of boring, but impressive nonetheless. Today they started unloading the barge, a complicated ballet with the crane lifting containers off the barge, then forklifts loading them into flatbeds to be transported around the island where they have to be lifted back off the truck with a forklift and then unloaded or stored. The trick is that there are a limited number of forklifts and flatbeds, of different capacities, and so it has to be arranged for the right size forklift to be at each place at the right time, and as you might recall, forklifts drive kinda slow. It's an interesting dance, appreciated best by listening to the radio communications. I actually stayed in the clinic cleaning up and organizing today; Diana,(the EMT) was stationed down by the marina with the ambulance. The moment they started unloading, the rains came and stopped everything for a while. They were able finally to get going and everything went well, at least from my perspective - noone got hurt. Diana had time to go through and find all the outdated meds and supplies in the ambulance and was otherwise bored. I'll take bored anytime.
The plane also brought the rat team. They are doing testing to find out what kind of poison will work the best on the rats of Wake, and then they are confident that they can get rid of them. That will be interesting although I am sure it will happen after I leave. They say that one of their main concerns is whether the hermit crabs will eat all the rat bait; most things that are used to kill rats won't affect invertebrates, but then what if the birds eat the hermit crabs? They say they have never seen a place with so many hermit crabs before, so they aren't sure what the ramifications are. They're going slow for now.
The consensus is that the Mets did have the worst choke of all time,that ND has a good chance of going winless, and the Jets just continue to stink.I think, from a Martin sports fan's perspective, that I picked a good fall to do this.
Well that's all the news from Wake, where, as Carolyn said to Diana, for a woman coming to the island, "the odds are good, but the goods are odd".
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
