Best moment Saturday 170610

"Coral reefs are threatened worldwide. Here's a way to rescue broken coral fragments that have fallen in sand and will die. With the expertise of NOAA, the community was able to make some racks to plant the fragments in a coral garden! After they hopefully regrow, we will be able to put them back on a safer place on the reef." --Kathy Hall, marine biologist

On Saturday volunteers met on Shacks Beach for the first "plantings" in our new coral nursery.

The nursery bed is PVC pipe with holes drilled in it. Coral fragments are attached to cups filled with cement with twisted wire. The cups are then placed in the holes and secured with cable ties.

Volunteers carry the PVC frame out to a pre-selected spot then divers secure the frame to the ocean floor with rerod driven into the sand.

Meanwhile, other volunteers collect fragments of coral, in this case elkhorn coral (and one bit of staghorn), for seeding.

And the first seed bed is in place! The coral will be allowed to grow here. Healthy coral will later be transplanted to the reef. If this bed is successful, more will be added. Several more frames are already under construction.

Best moment Friday 170609

Diving at Shacks - for the second day in a row!

Shacks Beach - "our" beach, the beach just a few minutes' walk from home - is probably my favorite beach in Puerto Rico. That's saying something because Puerto Rico has no lack of beautiful beaches and truth be told, I still have a few to explore. Part of the attraction is proximity: It's hard to not to love a beach that is a five-minute walk from home. Part of the attraction is the lack of crowds. While other beaches (Jobos and Crashboat for example) are jammed with umbrellas, boomboxes and bodies, when Shacks is at its busiest, there are maybe a couple hundred people. Most of those are packed into one small area; the other two miles of beach are nearly empty.

Part of the attraction is the variety of activities: snorkeling and scuba diving over and through a 8,000-year-old reef, paddle boarding in a protected ocean pool (behind the aforementioned reef), kite surfing, surfing and just hanging out on the beach are there, all together in one spot.

Scuba diving at Shacks is a multidimensional experience. First there is the swim-out over Blue Hole. Not as deep as the famous 3,000-foor-deep Blue Hole in Belize (ours is more like 35 feet deep), Blue Hole is an area were the reef grew around a sandy area, making a hole in the ocean.

KAP (Kite Aerial Photography) view of the inner reef and Blue Hole.

The outer reef at Shacks is called a "finger-and-groove" reef system. The reef has grown in to long "fingers" with canyons between them. The canyon walls can be as much as 35 feet from the sandy bottom to the top of the reef.

This part of the reef is like Swiss cheese, riddled with holes, nooks, crannies and swim-throughs. Beyond the finger-and-groove is a long plateau of flat reef.

The dive then loops back around to the finger-and-groove. Going out we usually swim over the outer wall of Blue Hole. That's mostly to save air, so we're not using up air getting out to the cool stuff. Coming back into Blue Hole we swim through the reef, through one of several underwater tunnels that lead from the outside back in.

Coming out of the "big tube" into Blue Hole. Not all the tunnels that lead into Blue Hole are this big.

Once divers are back in Blue Hole, we can either swim across the sand bottom -

or go around the edge of Blue Hole. More swim-throughs and holes and cracks to the surface offer an incredible laser light show. (See the photo at the top of this post.) My dive buddy Darryl even does what he calls the "caverns tour" of the edges of Blue Hole, just to experience this. Many times he does the "caverns tour" as a second dive after diving the outside reef.

Either way, whether we swim across or around Blue Hole, one more swim-through tunnel leads back to the surface and back to Shacks Beach.

Every dive we do here is different. It's the swim-throughs and holes and cracks and canyons that make the experience at Shacks unique and very popular. Pretty much everybody (including us!) wants to dive Shacks. Unfortunately, Mother Ocean tends to limit our diving here to the summer months. Shacks faces due north, right in to the teeth of every swell coming down from the North Atlantic. Some years it's ever too rough to dive in the summer. Last year for example we only dove Shacks three times and two of those were lulls during surf season.

Anyone interested in diving Shacks please note: It is imperative that you dive with a guide who knows this reef. It is a beautiful dive if you know what you are doing. It can be dangerous if you don't To be honest, very few local dive guides are truly able to safely lead dives at Shacks. If you're interested, contact us and we'll hook you up, Mother Ocean allowing.

A quick transparency note: The photos in this post are not all from one dive. You probably knew that already but I just want to be clear.

 Here is a link to video I did of part of the caverns tour: Into the darkness, into the light

(Sorry it has taken so long to post this.)

Best moment Sunday 170604

How did I not post this? The best moment of Sunday, 06/04? The whole day! It was Amber the Wonder Dog's 17th birthday! That is incredible! He's still with us, still running on the beach every day.

I hope it was a happy day for him. He has brought so much joy into so many people's lives. He deserves for every day to be a great wonderful day.

Best moment Thursday 170608

Okay, the day isn't over yet and something truly amazing could still happen. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say the best moment today was diving at Shacks.

Finally! A nitrogen fix! And we're planning to go again tomorrow! I didn't take many photos today. Since it's been so long since I've been in the water, I wanted to concentrate just on getting my diving mechanics back. A wise choice I think.

It was a good dive. We say three turtles - one of them huge - French angel fish, black durgons and a bunch of other stuff. It was not only good to dive, it was nice to dive a site that a bazillion other divers don't. Very few people besides us dive the outside reef. The reef looked clean and pretty healthy, not all kicked out like some of the more popular reefs.

Ahhhhh! Back in the water again.

Best moment Wednesday 170607

Hmmm - yoga or snorkeling?

Gotta go with yoga for this one. Snorkeling was okay, a chance to be in the water. But one of our favorite snorkeling spots has become a very popular little beach. Parking is a pain and there are lots of people scaring away the sealife. Don't get me wrong: it is still beautiful and amazing and with yoga before it snorkeling would have been the best moment.

Yoga was great. Our teacher Rosie said she wants to make yoga junkies out of all of us. Well, she certainly has made one of me!

Best moment Saturday 170603

Holy Summer Surf, Batman! It doesn't happen often unless there is a hurricane but we had surf! In June! My friend Anna wanted a few late/past season photos and I manage to get a few.

I gotta say though, I am ready for the ocean to lay down for the summer so we can so some diving! I am jonesing for some nitrogen in my system. But shooting surf in June was a pretty good moment.

Best moment Thursday 170601

Oh the irony! The best weather day we've had in three weeks was June 1 - official opening day of hurricane season.

It was kind of a day of best moments: the electricity came back on after being off for 24 hours. No one knows why it was off, let alone why it was off for so long.

I actually went in the ocean for some Vitamin Sea therapy. Still didn't get dive yet but I did snorkel for an hour.

And the best moment of all was I took KTJ for a walk to the ocean. She really hasn't been out since Elaine left and she needed an outing. A couple of things about this outing: One, I'm used to being around the horses, to have all three crowd around me. I've worked with KTJ (who, remember is an almost 17-hand Thoroughbred) but a rarely take her for walks. When we work with horses, we talk about our personal space, our "bubble." When you (or in this case I) walk with her on a narrow trail, "bubble" takes on a whole new dimension. She is a big girl!

The other thing I need to mention is how good she was. I admit I was nervous taking her to the beach. The last time I did that coming home she bucked and reared and threw a bunch of kicks. No one was hurt but when it was scary. When she gets up on her hind legs, she's not just big, she's huge! And thos kicks! So I was nervous. But I didn't want to transfer my nervousness to her because that would make her nervous and more likely to act up.

I just talked to her all the way home. "Good girl! What a good girl! It's all good we're fine." Okay it was a lot of self-talk but it kept both of us calm. We got home without a single incident. Next time, I can respect her size and space, but I don't think I will be as nervous. Watchful, yes. Nervous, not as much.

Best moment Wednesday 170531

You know Elaine has been off training for her Therapeutic Riding Instructor certification at Reins of Life in Indiana. We talk every day, frequently about what is happening with her training.

At first the going was a bit tough. She learned that what she is doing in a month "normally" takes 12 to 18 months. Her mentor Amanda is the senior TR instructor at Reins so her client list has all the most difficult cases. These are the clients Elaine is training with. Again, "normally" many of these clients would never be assigned to a newly certified instructor, let alone an instructor-in-training. But, "ah, you can handle it!"

And she has been! On Wednesday evening when we talked, she sounded great! She is now seeing some of the clients for the second and third time and that makes so much difference.

I won't go into long boring detail (Thank you, John!); it wouldn't make much sense anyway. Suffice it to say she had two really great productive teaching sessions that day. She was really happy about it.

And that made my best moment of the day. I was so glad to hear her sounding and feeling really good about a teaching session. That truly is magical!

Best moment Tuesday 170530

My mornings at "the ranch" are pretty much the same: Have coffee, feed the cat, feed horses, run dogs on the beach, feed dogs, feed me, make sure horses have hay and let Chocolate out of the corral.

Tuesday was a normal day. All the critters were taken care of, the horses safely in the paddock grazing on hay.

Until I looked out the window and saw three horses in the field across the street.

What the...? I just left our horses! How did they get out so quickly? I ran to the window and looked out at the paddock. There were our horses, alert to the other horses but safely inside their enclosure.

 

 
After a moment of panic, the best moment was when I realized those weren't our horses out in the field, that ours were indeed tucked in the paddock.

different photos

I wrote before about being interested in all kinds of photography: land/seascapes, food, etc. Working with Matt in the food truck MiraSur here at Ola Lola's is giving me the opportunity to play with my food. Here are a couple of photos so far.

Above is the MiraSur pulled pork sandwich on their own homemade potato bread roll. Below is the grilled portobello sandwich on homemade sourdough bread.

Matt does amazing things with food but he really wants to be a baker full time. He's making bread to sell so I hope to get a lot more practice photographing bread.

The nice thing about this gig is then I get to eat it!

off topic - more photos

Here are more photos from the "morning light" series:

First, I love black and white photography. Back in the film days, I had my own darkroom. In the digital age I've struggle to find ways to create black and white photos I really like. Recently I found a couple of ways to make black and whites. This is another take on that sunshine "moonlight" photo from a couple of days ago.

I call this photo "Molten Silver Sea." It's not black and white, although it looks like it. If you look closely there is just a bit of color in the sky.

 Another dramatic black and white although not as contrasty as the others. I like the tight horizontal crop.

 

These two are the same photo, one with color left in, one contrasty black and white. I can't decide which I like better.

Hope you enjoy them all.

Best moment Thurday 170525

Did I say surf was gone for the season? I spoke too soon! On Thursday there was a nice little swell bump. I got a great set of photos from it. Since usually surf is done by this time, this session was a bonus - and a best moment.

You can see more of the photos from this session on our website, www.PuertoRicoSurfPhoto.com

Best moment Saturday 170520

(Sorry these posts are out of order. I'm trying get the story of my life back in order after a confusing week of rain, thunderstorms, squirrelly dogs and power outages.)

Because of the weather - unseasonably warm one week, daily thunderstorms the next - I spent a lot more time indoors through the midday. And I admit it: much of the time I could have been writing I've spent learning more about photography.

I've been into photography since I was 16, a really long time ago. Most of the time I consider myself to be a good photographer, self-taught, but pretty knowledgeable. Every now and then I realize how much I don't know and how much better I could be.

Since the surf is down and the drought on diving continues, I'm looking for other things to photograph. As a true Gemini, I'm interested in all of it. For a while I'll focus on portraits, then land/seascapes, then food photography. That's a lot of ground to cover. I've spent a lot of time watching videos, learning about software, studying other photographers' work, and then more time trying to practice what I'm learning.

My morning walks with Amber and Oz are frequently among my best moments. Lately, the early morning light at the beach is fascinating. The strong highlights on the water are mesmerizing. This photo from Saturday is one I love, and puts into practice a lot of what I've been working on. The dark moodiness almost looks like moonlight but it is hard morning sunlight.

There are more of these to come. I'll post more later, maybe not as best moments but just because.

Best moment Sunday 170521

Still a drought on diving so Sunday's best moment was - ho-hum - another beach ride

Best moment Monday 170522

(Update: My days are so screwed up! I've updated the date for this post. This wasn't Monday, the 15th. It was Monday, 22nd! We were closed on Mother's Day.)

I forgot how time consuming taking care of everything is. It's not hard. There is no really hard work I have to do in my day. And it much easier than when Elaine was in St. Lucia a few years ago: I don't have people renting the kitchen and other facilities that I am somehow responsible to. I don't even have our own kitchen crew to be responsible to. But still, many times I get to the end of my day and ask myself, "what did I do today? How did I get here without taking a few minutes to think about and write about a best moment? How did I let that get away from me?"

None of this is a complaint, mind you. It's meant as an observation, a snapshot if you will, of my life at this moment.

So best moment Monday: This is a bit of a backhanded best moment. Sunday evening, Mother's Day, just as we closed, we had a flash flood. I mean flash! It rained a bit but not enough to expect even a little flood. It must have rained a whole lot more up on top because here came the water!

Monday was full of those totally unexpected activities: cleaning up. It wasn't too bad. I got everything up off the floor and moved the car and truck to high ground before I came in for the night.

Monday's best moment was when I finished the unexpected mop up/clean up. No damage, just time and effort expended.

And water. The great irony of a flood is after it's over, what you need is - more water.

best moment Sunday 170514 Mothers Day

Hope all the mothers had a wonderful, special day. We miss our mothers, Elaine and I, not just on Mother's Day, but every day. And on this particular Mother's Day, none of the important mothers in my life were around,

So, Marie and I celebrated Mother's Day by going for a ride. And after all, this is a post about best moments.

I took the time with Chocolate again before the ride. As we now say, I "phoned ahead for an appointment." It was a beautiful ride!

The importance of taking time to make a solid connection with the horse from the beginning became even more apparent about halfway through the ride.

We left the beach and started over dune through a pass we used dozens of times. For some reason both horses were skittish and hesitant to go through. But eventually they did go over the dune with Chocolate and me in the lead. As we came down the back side of the dune, Choco stopped and shied. Something was really freaking him out. He tried to spin but we were in a tight space on the trail, what horse people call a "squeeze." He tried to back up but Marie and Zip were right behind us. There was nowhere to run.

From the saddle I managed to calm Choco and get him to stand still. I dismounted and he immediately let me lead him past the "danger." (We still don't know what it was. It's not important that we don't perceive whatever it was as a danger - the horses do.)

How gently and calmly this situation - which could have been extremely dangerous to both horses and riders - was resolved is due in part to the mutual trust and respect Chocolate and I have developed over the past couple of years. He now sees me as a leader, as someone he can follow and be safe. Until recently he hasn't truly seen me as a trustworthy leader. In a pinch (or a "squeeze") he believed he needed to take charge because he didn't fully trust me.

That changed on Sunday. Or at least it became evident. Once I dismounted, he was ready and willing to follow me anywhere, even past what he perceived as mortal danger. (Horses see all possible danger as mortal. There are no grey areas for horses.)

I firmly believe the calm resolution was also due to the time spent making that connection, making that "phone call for an appointment" at the beginning. We were totally synced. And it got us safely out of a tight spot.

It was another gorgeous ride and another best moment connecting with my horse. I love it!

Best moment Saturday 170513

What can I say? Saturday was a beautiful day for a beach ride.

A few weeks ago our friend Chris, the horse-people trainer, held a clinic in Rincon. I couldn't go but Elaine did. She brought back this gem, this nugget, this pearl: "We don't call our horses and make an appointment to go for a ride or to work out. We just walk out and expect our horses to be ready and in the same frame of mind as we are. We take little notice of where they are. It's about what we want."

A few days ago I went out ride Chocolate. I wasn't stressed but I didn't have a lot of time and was tense and rushed. I didn't take time to really get in sync with Choco. I just put a bareback pad on him and expected him to be ready to go with me. Off we went.

It was obvious from the get-go we had different agendas. My agenda was a nice easy beach ride. His was to eat every blade of grass longer than 1" from the corral to Jobos. Obviously it was not our best ride. We struggled against each other the whole ride. We never really were in sync.

On Saturday I took Chris's wisdom to heart. I went out to the corral early so I had time to just sit and be present with Choco. Then I spent a few minutes doing a series of simple warm-ups. I almost always do these with Choco every time - unless I'm rushed or tense. They are simple and only take a few minutes but they make so much difference in the connection with him.

What a difference in the ride! We were connected. He was listening, responding. It was beautiful!

So the best moment wasn't just the ride. It was the lesson learned. This is another piece in this partnership Chocolate and I are forming.

Best moment Friday 170512

(For a number of reasons, I am way way behind. I will try to catch up.)

So this has been another one of those crazy rides our life seems to be taking lately.  I had to take nearly a week to come to grips with it, both literally and mentally.

Thursday, evening after Ola Lola's closed. I came up to check email. I usually do this first thing in the morning and last thing at night. I noticed several "unexpected sign in attempts" on a couple of accounts. On one there was a "we sent you an account key" message. We had not requested an access key. Somebody was hacking our accounts.

Although we couldn't be sure, there was a possibility they got access to some sensitive passwords.We spent several hours on Thursday night changing passwords. Apparently we missed one.

We got an email Friday morning from our bank that, per our request, a cashier's check was being sent UPS overnight to somewhere in Texas. There was also some indication the person or persons tried to get access to another bank account.

Of course we got on the phone right away to stop the check and to do whatever we could to stop the delivery. The bank was very very helpful, UPS not so much. A stop-payment was put on the check. Accounts and passwords were immediately changed. Later, we did get notification from UPS that the package was delivered but they wouldn't give us the address, just the town (which we already had).

So where is the best moment in this? Several best moments, or at least things to be grateful for: one, it happened on Thursday night/Friday. Both of us were here to work on the issues. If it happened 34 hours later, it would have been Saturday and Elaine would have been gone, on her way the States for a month.

Second, and probably most important, the people we dealt with (except for UPS). Everyone was friendly, helpful and straight forward. "Okay, it happened. Let's fix what we need to fix and get on with it."

It could have been much much worse. Thanks to everyone who helped us.

Best moment Thursday 170511

Nearly two years ago we acquired this sweet, loving but damaged little pit bull mix. He had obviously been in some kind of fight: he had two-inch long gash in his right hip. He was obviously smart but very anxious. He was very nervous about finding a home.

Our original plan was to foster him, get him will and find a home for him.

Then we found out he was heartworm positive. We couldn't pass that on to someone else so we kept him to get him well.

He did get well but more and more he settled into live here in the Ola Lola's pack. It wasn't always smooth. He was a two-year-old cannonball in a geriatric dog home (Oz is nearly 10, Jazz was 15 and Amber almost 17) He would just blast and bull his way through everything. Not mean, just totally unaware. He was still unsure and nervous about his full-time status.

All that came to a very very happy conclusion yesterday. A friend of ours recently lost her pit bull. She has been grieving but not quite ready for a new dog. Another friend suggested this guy might be just the one for her.

They met Wednesday evening and took an instant liking to each other. Thursday Elaine took Orito to Kathryn's house and he moved right in. She has posted wonderful comments on Facebook about the dog. They both seem very happy.

And that is the best possible outcome: a loving companion for Kathryn and a loving home for Orito. That is a best moment for all.

Best moment Wednesday 170510

YOGA!

I've written about how much yoga has come to mean to me. But yesterday's class with Rosie was special, especially special after last weeks class. Last week I was stiff and creaky and just couldn't get my body into it. This week was completely different. I was more relaxed, less kinked up to start so I was able to get into it more.

I know intellectually that yoga is not just physical, that it is mental and spiritual as well. This week more than ever I felt that more than ever. I had a connection with the people and world around me in ways I've rarely experienced.

And it was only me. We all felt it

Part of what made this special was Rosie's sister Milly was part of our class for her first-ever yoga. Milly had a knee replaced in February and wasn't sure what or how much she could do. Rosie was nervous. Milly did a great job, better I think that even she thought she could do. As we all sat up after our final Savasana relaxation Rosie slid over to hug her sister, a deep, kind, loving embrace. Her embrace reached all of us, enclosed all of us. It was an incredible moment and we were very very privileged and honored to share it.

No question - that was the best moment of the day.

Best moment Tuesday 170509

How do you have a best moment spending four hours in a medical clinic waiting to have your ripped up thumb looked at? (The ripped up thumb is not a best moment. And, it's another story.)

Actually in Puerto Rico it's not that difficult. In many places on the mainland, people can be stuck together for hours and never say a word to each other. In fact, they may not even acknowledge there are other people around

Not so in Puerto Rico. Sitting a waiting room, standing in line at the grocery or the bank, we all talk to each other. I met several nice people. We all commented on the behavior (bad!) of one boy who kept throwing temper tantrums. Several older women - mothers and grandmothers themselves - offered advice on ways to handle the boy. We all commented on the news stories on the TV (mostly bad).

By the time I left we all felt like friends. Mostly likely I'll never see any of them again. That said, then again I may. We talked about where we live and what we do. (So much for HIPPA and medical confidentiality!) Several people promised to visit Ola Lola's. So who knows?

Many Mainlanders object to the way medical "appointments" are handled here. Basically, there aren't any appointments. You go to the office, put you name on a list, and wait for your name to be called. People who are in a mainland hurry, who get frustrated when a doctor makes them wait 10 minutes passed their appointment time don't get it. Here a trip to the doctor or clinic can be a social occasion. For some people, especially older people, the weekly or monthly trip to the doctor is like Facebook. They see some of the same people each time, catch up on gossip and families, and interact socially.

Even four hours waiting in a clinic waiting room can have a best moment. It's all in how you perceive it.

Best moment Monday 170508

First, I don't do selfies. This should answer any questions as why I don't.

Ho-hum! Another solo beach ride, another best moment.

In reality this was the second (of two) best moments on the beach. The first was the morning walk with Amber, Oz, and Beeto.

Then Chocolate and I went for a ride on the beach. As is probably apparent, I rode, he was on the beach. It was a great ride Chocolate was listening and responsive (mostly). We did a bit of ground work first and then he was ready. Who am I to argue? Off we went.

Food, glorious food! Best moment Sunday 170507

I've been working on improving my skills as a food photographer and experimenting with different techniques. I think this is especially important now we're partnering with MiraSur PR for food at Ola Lola's.

(Did I tell you about MiraSur? Hmmm...there must have been something really good for their opening not to be a best moment. More on them later.)

Matt and Angie and Juan Carlos are doing some amazing things in their food truck parked right next to Ola Lola's. They have fabulous food offerings with unique presentations. I truly want to photograph their food well, to do it justice in the photos. I also want to match their back-to-basics, rock-and-wood open-fire sort of rustic approach in the photos.

This is their slow-roasted pulled pork sandwich with manchego cheese and dijon-mayo on a house-made potato roll and served with sweet potato fries. Oh my god!!

My best moment for Sunday (besides eating this for dinner) was creating this photo for them. I'm proud of this. I'm getting there!

We live in paradise - Best moment Saturday 170506

We live in Paradise.

It's true, we do. But sometimes the emphasis is on live. Because we live here.We're not on vacation. We have to do all the same day-to-day activities you do at home. True, there are some spectacular moments. Like everywhere and everyone else, there is a certain sameness, a certain routine to our days.

So some of my best moments come from those routine activities and because they are routine, become repetitive. Watching Amber's joy on the beach every morning is always a great moment, no matter what else happens during the day. I've said this before, I know, but his mornings on the beach are his happiest moments of the day. And that makes them my best moments.

Best Moment(s) Thursday 170504

Thursday's best  moment(s) are all about the beach and the animals.

Even as he struggles with weakened muscles and the lingering effects of his stroke, Amber's happiest moments of the day are on the beach.

Now, to maximize his beach time and minimize the time and walking to get to the beach. we drive there. I know, it's only about a four minute walk (without dogs, 10-12 minutes with) but why make him walk those extra steps? For him it's all about the  beach! I'll do whatever I can to make that easier and better for him.

The other best beach moment was with Chocolate. He and I went for a ride, just the two of us. My plan was to ride down the road toward the beach to an area we call the "campground." An extended family owns a couple of lots there. Three or four times a year they all show up with tents and camp there for the weekend. Hence the name. But there are rows of trees and little open areas that are fabulous for working a horse. We can weave between the trees, pick up the pace in the "avenues" between the trees, go around them, all kinds of activity. It's just a great place to work out. Chocolate was on his best behavior. He was listening to me, responding well to my cues. So, after a bit of work, we headed on down the calle to the beach.

Frequently, if we're out alone, without the other horses, Chocolate will balk going down the dune to beach. Not Thursday! We went straight down the dune and off down the beach at a trot. Here again he was listening and responsive. Mostly I just gave him very light cues and he gave me what I asked for.

Chocolate has a habit of walking or trotting in a pretty straight line near the water's edge on the beach. We're working to break him out of this pattern, this habit by making him move up and down the beach more. He gave me some attitude about it but with some mostly gentle corrections, he was soon responding to those requests as well.

It was a great ride and more great moments with our animals on the beach.

Best moment Wednesday 170503

One of the things I do is volunteer once a month to take water samples at local beaches. There are a number of us who volunteer to do this. Among us We manage to cover quite a few beaches.

The samples are taken to Ramey School, the local school for families of federal personnel, miltary, Coast Guard, Homeland Security, Border Patrol, etc. stationed here. One of the teachers, as a science project for his class. has students test the water samples for various bacteria.

A number people, even though they do the sampling, kind of see it as an imposition on their time. Yes, it takes an hour or so. You have to drive around a bit. But it is important. Through these samples  we get a baseline and running record of water quality and dangers at the beaches. Temporary changes in bacteria levels are common. Heavy rain can change them as can heavy use like on holiday weekends. If there are big changes or long-term changes, that could indicate problems. Without this on-going record, we might not catch the problem until it's too late to do anything about it.

To me, an hour or so a month and a couple of dollars for gas are a small price to pay for knowing what's happening in our ocean. I volunteer a little bit of time to make something in my world better. that's a great moment.

And it gets me out and to some beaches I don't normally go to, like the one above, Sardinera. Every time I go there, I wonder why I don't go more often. That awareness beyond my usual boundaries is a good thing.

Best moment Tuesday 170502

We took the horses to the beach today. Not a ride, we just walked them down to let them play in the water. There are a gazillion photos form this playdate with the ocean but I don't have any of them. People on the beach, people on the balconies of the beach apartments at Villa Topical, everybody took pictures with cameras and phones. Everybody except me. I was playing with my horse and didn't bother to take a camera.

Silly me. Never again.