One of the interesting side stories this weekend was the arrival of several other "expert" teams beside the blowing things up guys. One was the archaeologist who came to inspect and collect the human bones that were found here a few months ago. He was looking around where they were found to see if there were anymore. He didn't find any.
The other group was the "rat team".There are lots of rats on the island, rather small brown critters that actually look more like large mice than rats. The thais tell me there was no rat problem until the environmental people came in and said that they had to get rid of the feral cats on the island because they might harm the birds. Now there are no cats and lots of rats. Actually it turns that though officially there are no cats or other pets on the island, the thais are well aware that there are 2 cats, one a pet and one feral.
There is also one dog, named Toro, who I met tonight and who has a very interesting story of his own. Toro's owner has been here for over 10 years. In the past when this base was controlled by the army, the personnell were allowed to have pets. When the AirForce came in and ultimately decreed that no pets were allowed, the dog could not leave because of hawaii's strict laws requiring a cert by a veterinarian prior to entry; no vet on the island, no entry to HI. Then when the typhoon came last year and they evacuated everyone, they refused to allow the dog to come, so the owner locked him in one of the housing buildings with a bunch of food and water. When they came back to check on things on the island in one month, he was fine and has been so ever since. He is a definite heinz 57, stubby legged lik a dachshund, and has a Michael Jordan thing going with about a half inch of his tongue sticking out all the time.
The other animals are the birds, some kind of albatross that is all dark brown, and a shore that is all white with fake looking black eyes and a long pointy beak. It's larger than a cardinal but smaller than a sea gull. It is very good at hovering into the wind, looks almost like a hummingbird in slow motion.And of course the ubiquitous hermit crabs.
So the non-male population is: 3 WOMEN, 2 CATS, 1 DOG. I think we need more dogs.
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2 comments:
How many speak English? Or does it not matter. Just universal male grunting? All can acknowledge the grunt for lousy place without women.
I did get the zip code today and then forgot and left it in the office.
about a third of the thai's I have met speak reasonably good english. All of them know how to say "hello doctor". I still am not doing much work; ai did see three patients today, a record.
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