Sunday, December 21, 2008

Snow, Island trip, etc.

So a few things to update.  The day before we went to Georgia for a bird count on a mostly deserted island, we got ~1.5 inches of snow!!  It was a heavy wet snow, so over night it froze to be a sheet of ice.  Awesome.  We snuck out in the Saturn to the main roads and we were fine.  We did see a few spun out cars that were left to rot in the ditches around town.  Interestingly the snow only fell and laid from downtown Nashville to about 10 miles south of our house.

My poor butterfly bush!

Artsy pict for Brian.

While in Georgia, we drove around on gators (see pict) and visited lots of friends that we don't get to see enough!

Bec on the gator.  Where are we going???


Ring-tailed lemurs that are on the island.  Some have been released back in Madagascar.  Not these individuals of course.

Beautiful live oaks and spanish moss.  This area was fairly close to a site that hit by a massive tornado and then a wild fire on Mother's Day 2008.  Impressive to see massive oaks and pines knocked over, then burned.

The lovely couple.


On a side, Gypsy had to go to the vet the day after we got back, and both cats slept in the cat carrier.  Interesting.

Well, Christmas is almost here.  We're looking forward to seeing family and friends.  I hope to exercise a good bit while on these trips to burn off the cookies and clear one's mind!  Quiet is nice too:)

Lots of bike racing coming up in January, so exercise will be critical in avoiding the holiday fat session.  Of course, I ought to put the beer down, but beer is good for you!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

addition of links

I've added a "Fun Web Links" gadget thingee to the right with, what else, funny links.

play on!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Just a few

Over the last week or so we've gotten our Christmas tree, decorated, and had the dogs take 2 hrs to pose with Bec in front of the tree.  Lastly, Betsy brought the boys for the night, on Wed night.  I had plenty of kid time and time outs to last me a while.  Plus Betsy suckered me into seeing the result of Mark pushing and pushing and getting red faced while eating dinner.  Just a big solid poo.  Oh, we have ~1.5 inches of heavy wet snow on the ground!!  Most we've seen in the almost 3 yrs I've been here.  GOOD snowball snow.  We also got 5.3 inches of rain in the last 3 days.  Good thing I have a rain gauge!

Local tree farm that stinks compared to the Kinsey Family Farm in GA.  Oh well.  Local and cheap(ish).

Chessie likes to sleep on Bec's chest.


Chess helping Bec study.

It really took about 15 min for the dogs to get in a semi-pose.  Goldie (who is getting brave and being in the same room as me) always faced forward, while Nick tried to sit on Bec and always was facing me rear end first.  Uh!



John and his new Mexican toucan "Sam."  Mark got a pink flamingo, straight from Mexico (not pictured).

Mark in the morning.


I have no clue why Mark is upset.  It had nothing to do with me, really.  He was just hungry and had a full load.  He was generally a very good boy for me.

830am nap.  Mark and I were reading cycling stuff on the internet and he plopped to sleep while we were bouncing.  It was his nap time anyway.  What a sweet boy he is!

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Whirlwind tour of PA

Wow, we did a lot! We had a crazy, busy trip to PA for Thanksgiving.

We arrived Thursday afternoon and rented a sweet Chevy HHR for the weekend. Sense sarcasm. Anyway, we did Thanksgiving with my parents that evening. Had a grand time stuffing ourselves with turkey and stuffing and watching football. E-A-G-L-E-S, Eagles!!

Thanksgiving Dinner. Mmmmmmm.

Friday morning I ran for 40 min in what seemed like 28 degree weather, while Bec walked a while too. The news swore it was 40 degrees, but I question that. Had a great time chasing a few hundred geese off a field, like a 3 year old. Anyway, we went to Wilmington DE to visit with Judy and the Austin's. We had a late lunch-type meal and hung out all afternoon into early evening. We had a wonderful time and it is always a joy to see the DE Austin's.

Mom, dad, and Judy chatting like schoolgirls.


Bec and Tabban.


Bec and Bob (between naps and candies).



Bec and Jane. How cute are these two?



Bec and the grandparents. How adorable.


Saturday morning we slept in and went to see my grandfather at a sort-of nursing home type place. He's in great shape for 92, but called me Billy (his nephew's name). I'm not sure he knew my name. We had a nice visit then we went and had cheesesteaks for lunch. Mmmmmm.

Me, mom, and my grandfather.

That afternoon we did Christmas with my parents. We didn't gorge again, but saved it for that evening. See below.

Pile of presents!!!

That night we celebrated my parents 40th wedding anniversary with Uncle Gene and Lexi, and Aunt Terri and Uncle Monnie. Their anniversary is Dec 7th, but we partied a little early. We ate well, drank a few, looked at pictures of my parents wedding on CD, and ate and drank some more. My folks got some sweet goods for 40 yrs, incl a BlueRay disc player.


Mom and Dad, 40 years together!


The family.

Sunday morning we hurried off through sleet to the airport to fly home. Our plane left an hour late and we arrived in ATL at the time our connection was to leave. Good thing our connection was an hour late too!! We got to Nashville an hour late and our bags arrived! I couldn't believe it. We used frequent flier miles and scored first class on the return flights. Sweet!!!

Upon return we found that the kid watching our zoo doesn't follow instructions (again). Goldie evidently was never in her kennel at night, so there were a few #1 spots and a couple #2 spots that were sort of "cleaned up." Doesn't smell like #2, but it sure doesn't smell like roses. The dogs ate probably 12 lbs of food this weekend since "1 cup of food per dog twice a day," was interpretted as, "keep bowl outside and full." The dog food container, which I just filled up, is 3/4 empty! Plus the litter I'm pretty sure was never scooped. At least Goldie didn't eat anything (we know of), nor did she shred anything. Not cool neighbor kid. You might be out of a job after 2 mess ups. Now we have a carpet that NEEDS to be cleaned.


On a lighter note, a paper I've been revising for publication was accepted!!! So now I have more work to do this week. Uh!!!!

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Race Day 2 (much better result!!)

So only 9 starters today though. We started with 100m straight on pavement then a 180 degree turn. Got a bad start and was 8th through the corner. Lovely. Rode hard around a few people and was riding in 6th place. Top 3 guys were long gone. They are super fast and shouldn't be in our race anymore. Anyway, I was on the wheel of the guy I want to beat (name is Keith) on the first lap. I passed him on a flat since he was lully gagging and he passed me back on a sketchy corner. I knew he felt bad yesterday, so I was not sure how he felt today. I decided to sit on his wheel for a couple laps and see what happened (can I hang on?). There is a long uphill that hurt me everytime and he'd gap me. There were other parts where I caught up to him and could recover in his draft. Those spots I think I could power away from him if I wanted. We caught this guy that was ahead fo us and it was kind of weird. I actually thought we should work together to reel him in and pass him hard, but decided to just sit in as along as possible to save my energy. No one was close behind us and my teammate crashed, so he was just back there watching our race.

Anyway, this YMCA rider we caught would fall back to us and sit on the front, then take off and fade again. Didn't know what to make of it and I also wasn't sure if I passed Keith that he'd work with me to drop him. Keith and I didn't talk at all.

Sadly for me, the tough part of the course for me was the last quarter lap. So I sat on Keith's wheel for 4 laps, wondering if I could attack and keep away without blowing up. So just before the last lap my teammate yelled at me to go go go and not sure if it was the right time, I went all out. I sprinted up a hill and just gunned it with everythig I had. I got a 20m gap immediately and held it for a LONG time. I was calculated in my dismounts, turns, etc. and went more aggressive at the same time. The best part of the course for me was the first 1/2 so if I was going to atack, that was when I HAD to do it. I had to get the gap and hope to hold off his attack in the end where I was struggling. As we approaching the barriers on the last lap (which is near the start of the lap), that YMCA rider that was ahead of me crashed going over the barriers really hard (he didn't get up for about 30 sec and he quit the race, he is ok). I was right behind him and managed to go to the right and pass him.

It was then just Keith and I fighting for 4th and 5th. I had the gap and just took every corner, flat, hill as hard as I could. I had no choice. On the long climb near the finish he didn't gain on me so I was figuring he didn't have my left to catch me. I had a 20m gap before a TIGHT left turn on a hill descent and I locked the rear wheel, skidded a bit, but stayed up. I had a 20m gap going around the last corner and sprinted a bit to the line. He came back, but I beat him by a second or so. He came back hard! I finally won a big battle.

Not sure my tactic was right to sit on his wheel so long. We chatted about it afterwards. He said he felt bad and almost told me to just pass him mid-race since he couldn't hang on. I think he really didn't feel good, but not sure I could have dropped him earlier in the race. Maybe I should have attacked early, but I could have cracked and gotten worn out and he'd caught me back. I took 4th of 8. My best % placing yet and obviously 4th is nice. Just missed a prize. Who cares. I beat my target, even if he didn't feel good. I didn't know that and my tactic worked out. I rode strong and evidently smart enough to go full gas for the last 8 minutes. Felt awesome!!! I felt like I won the race! I did even pump my arm like I won something big.

My teammates said it was awesome watching us battle the entire race. I think I surprised a few people in my power today, including myself. I'm proud I didn't crash and that I took corners and everything much more aggressively and was ok. Practice is good, but racing is the best. Helps when you're chasing someone and if you don't get out fo your comfort zone and take risks, you get dropped and lose. I know we only had 8 finishers, but it was a good race for me.

I ended up 9 of 13 yesterday despite my acrobatics.

I did ride my busted saddle since it didn't bother me and wasn't unsafe. I am looking to buy a new one though.

Will post picts eventually.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

My cyclocross crash and burn

So today was race 1 this weekend. It hit about 45 at race time and felt pretty good for racing (we generate a LOT of heat, so cool is good).

Unfortunately I had a horrible race. I did a good workout Friday to loosen up real good, and had a good warm up before the race and was ready to rock when we started. The start is always a sprint and riding really hard for a lap or so to sort out order of people, groups of fast and slower riders, and then grind to the finish. I had a killer start, first time ever, and was 4th going onto the grass out of 13. I hit a little gully at full speed (that I didn't see before) and my bike went, "BANG." I slowed up and 3 people said, "that sounded really bad." No kidding. Thanks for the newsflash. I eased up thinking I broke my fork or a wheel.

I found nothing broken so I kept going and waited for my handlebars to break off. I lost probably 7 places. Thant stunk. So I cranked up the pace and was pulling myself back into the second group of riders (the one I could hang with) going around a corn field to a set of logs we had to jump over. I was way overzealous in getting back to the group and took WAY too much speed going into them. I have no clue what happened, but I think I couldnt' run as fast as I had been riding and I crashed fabulously. I wish it was on tape. I have no clue what happened really. I found myself on the dirt, bike on top of me (possibly explaining the bruised and sore right knee). I got up, shook off some mud, banged my left shifter to a manageable position (not 45 degrees off), found my chain off the cranks, put it back onm made sure I was ok and got back on the bike. My competition was done. AHHHHH!!

I had been feeling good, had what was my best start, regardless of the bang. I was now 30-45 sec back from the group I wanted to be in after getting back on the bike. I was very shook up mentally. I eventually clawed myself past 2 guys, both of whom had asked how I was while laying in the dirt between logs. I think I got 10th of 13 (I lapped someone too). In the end I cramped on the last lap, making catching that one last guy within reach impossible. I also bent the rail of my saddle (not sure in which incident) and my saddle is shot. It sits like a ship taking on water. Lovely. I didn't even notice it during the race, but found it when a guy I beat told me my saddle was bad. 3 people are hopefully bringing a saddle tomorrow so I can swap and ride something. The nasty crash certainly made me slow down a little going into barriers.

The crash also totally messed up my head. In 5 years fo racing in some capacity, I've never crashed. For 1.5 laps (~12min) I was looking only immediately ahead, overshooting turns with too much speed, going through mud at the wrong angle, and about crashed myself on a dismount on gravel just before a run up stairs (landing on railroad ties would hurt WAY more than mud). I got it together, but it was brutal! The worst thing is there is a guy I sort of work with (in my building) and he always beats me. Half way through the race he wasn't far ahead of me and later he said he felt awful. If I hadn't wrecked, I've likely have beaten his you know what. Office pride! AHHHHHH. My one chance to toast him. Maybe tomorrow he'll feel bad too and I won't be stupid!

It was funny later because a few people said that they head someone crashed really hard on the logs. That was me. Good story and I'm ok, so all is good.

Cross isn't often this horrible, really. It was fun though and a teammate got 5th. That was good.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Racing, Cape May, Racing, and Coffee

So I (Scott) haven't posted in a while since I've been a little busy. I have played with making the blog prettier, and am still going to work on this more. You'll see changes, eventually.

So the weekend of Bec's birthday, my cycling team put on bike races. Really fun courses, yet the one day it was brutal. Lots of roots, rocks, trees, drainages, steep hills, mud pits, etc to race through. I managed decent races for my abilities and finished 10 of 16 and 11 of 18. Not nearly last, so that is good. I have been working hard doing a lot of near max efforts to get stronger. We have some video we will post to give an idea of what cyclocross is all about.


The night before I left, we celebrated Bec's birthday with dinner and presents. It was a lame attempt on my part since I had so much to get done and couldn't do everything (like pack needed stuff for the week), but that's the way it goes.
The week in Cape May was great other than the rain and fog most days. I saw ~20 hawks in hand and learned how to sucker in hawks to bait birds. Bait birds were not injured in the trapping of these hawks. It's a two edged sword though: sun and wind is good for hawk migration and catching hawks, but I'm not out birding and taking pictures. Clouds, rain, and fog is bad for hawk flights, so we don't catch much or anything, nor can we go birding and see much. Oh well. Had a great time.

See picts from NJ here:

Aunt Judy, Bob and Jane were incredibly generous and lent me a vehicle for the week so I didn't have to rent a car! Thanks guys!! They all met me at the airport and I went on my way to NJ, stopping to get exact change and $ for the stupid tolls everywhere. Cost me $10 or something to get to Cape May and back. Anyway, I got to visit my folks for a night and eat like a king, then I ate like a king the next day with Judy, Bob, and Jane before I went back to the airport. Something happened on a runway in PHL, so I sat in the airport for 5 hrs. We were supposed to leave at 4pm. Well the plane we were to get on left Detroit for PHL at 4:08. Lovely. It was a long wait. When I finally got to Nashville our bags were coming out, people claimed pretty much all bags, and they turned off the lights and the belt stopped. I was like, "I didn't even have a connection!!!" I wasn't the only one who's bags didn't come out. We were about to walk away and complain when the belt started again and our bags came out. I'd have been really mad if I didn't get my bag after all that.

This weekend I'm racing again in Fayetteville, TN (not far from Huntsville AL). Should be pretty cold on Saturday and probably a boring course. It'll be good to race though as racing makes you stronger. My goal is at least a respectable finish at races in January. Bec has a 15 page paper to write and a nasty virus to get over, so I'll race and she'll write and blow her nose a lot.

I just like coffee.
Stay tuned for blog modifications.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Some videos


Apparently the problem with the videos yesterday was that they were too large.  Here are a few to enjoy even though they're grainy.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Walking in Memphis...well, Germantown




Scott's in Jersey this week, so I went to Memphis to meet H and go to a shower for Kelly.  I had a lovely, though flying, visit.  I don't have much time to post since I supposed to be studying, but here are some pictures I took of the kids.  I tried to upload video, but blogger doesn't seem to want to do that this morning.





Sunday, November 2, 2008

Fall Weekend

Saturday was a beautiful fall day...so we went to the zoo.  I so love the zoo.  It was the perfect time to walk around and see all the animals out and playing.  Scott took some pictures since he still is working on learning all the camera settings. The pictures aren't downloaded, though, so you'll just have to imagine the meerkats sunning themselves and the zebras walking around.  Got that?  Nice, huh?

In the evening, we headed over to our closest state park (about 15 minutes away) and watched the sun set over the lake.  Very pretty.  We left when the sun went down because it gets so chilly.  And then we watched TV and ate pizza.  Sidenote- We passed a house that I have decided is Charlie Daniels's since it had a tour bus parked outside.  I'll give tours of the rich and famous in town when you people come visit.  For Smyrna, that's just Charlie and the singer from 3 Doors Down.  It's a short tour.  

I'll also eventually post our pumpkin carving pictures.  We made two this year because we're so awesome.  Scott's had ghosts on it and mine was a regular old face.  The kids liked them though.  A few of the trick-or-treaters told me they were cool.  Yay!  We bought lots of candy since we had so many kids come by last year.  And now we have lots left over since we had about a third the number of kids that we had last year.  

And the most exciting news of the weekend....Hannah is now home!  Welcome to the family, sweet girl!  We're looking forward to meeting you.

Monday, October 27, 2008

2 posts in 12 hrs

So I just got record from the USGS that a Mourning Dove that I banded in our yard on 24 Aug 08 was shot by a hunter on 6 Sept 08 n a National Forest on the NORTH CAROLINA coast! It left my yard and flew ~640 miles in at least 13 days and got shot. Poor bird, but this is an unusually fast recovery of a banded bird. Most birds never get recovered, let alone that fast. I am banding doves to see where they may turn up around town and on local areas where hunters could shoot them. The eastward migration is weird and we think it may have flown south and got blown north by a hurricane. The spot where ti was shot is basically on an inlet from the Atlantic ocean. Very strange, but very cool! Out of the 5000+ birds I've banded, this is the first ever that was recovered anywhere!!! Sorry it had to die though.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Race weekend

This weekend was a pair of cyclocross races in Fayetteville, TN, which is about 5 miles from the AL line. Small fields of racers (9 on Sat and Sun). Either way, Bec went down with me on Sat and took video, which I'll post someday or show on a computer when we see you. I finished 7th of 8 on Sat and 8th of 9 on Sunday. Small fields, but the fast guys showed up. I never got lapped or anything, but had to get my legs to ride hard for 30 min. Tough to do when you haven't raced all year and I was off the bike most of Sept.

Saturday highlight was chasing down my teammate (Don) in the race with 1/2 lap left. I knew he was suffering, so I caught him, passed him, put 10m between us going into the "sandpit" which is a deep pile of sand. 3 of the 4 times through the sand to this point I made it out on the bike without getting bogged down and having to dismount. I knew I had to get through the sand on the bike and I could hold Don off. I, predictably, almost crashed in the sand. Had to run out and of course Don was right on me. After the sand, we had ~120m to go to a 180 turn and sprint to the line. I ride as hard as I could and got a 5 m gap on Don at the turnaround. We sprinted our hearts out (Don almost threw his up) and I swear that finish line was a mile away. Don slowly pulled closer to me, we were going all out, threw our bikes forward on the line, and the officials say he nipped me at the line. I don't know. I was too far in oxygen debt to look. I didn't know we were fighting to not be last. I dind't care. We had an absolute blast in this race. It was probably the most fun I've had on the bike, ever. Neither of us cared who won. It was pure fun at its best. Bec had the camera going, but didn't get the finish.

Sunday's race was less eventful as Bec stayed home and studied cancer stuff for a test. The race was fun again as I tried to chase a different teammate down at the end, but couldn't. At least other teammates that weren't in our race and friends were cheering me on, yelling things about "doing it for the birds," and "searching for a big woodpecker." Made me ride harder, if not just made me a little irritated. The motivation tactic worked. I felt better on the bike and did better in some aspects of the race I wanted to improve on, like getting a better warmup, riding super hard at the start and not getting dropped for a lap, cornering better, taking more risks on corners (being more aggressive), etc., however I didn't really improve on my finish position. I have to remember that most of the guys in our race have been racing all year, have coaches, train right, and are in a lot better shape then me. I have fun, so who cares.

After Sunday's race I moved some plants and put in the arborvitae that I got to replace the holly's. Now I'm tired!

Go Phil's!!!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

We voted!!

So we voted today. Took advantage of the early voting opps here in TN. We drove by the place at 10:15 and they opened at 10. The line was about 40 people. We ran errands and went about about 10:55 and the line was the same. It took us 50 min to get out of there. This was EARLY voting. Good thing I took a manuscript I need to review. Got in a good read. The weather was nice too.

The postcard I sent Bec in mid-Sept from Mexico arrived today. Talk about snail mail!!

This evening I walked the dogs. Bec has to be here to get the harness on Goldie since I can't ever get within diving distance of her. The walk was a disaster. Well it was ok until the end when both of them started zigzagging and I stepped on Goldie twice in trying not to fall down. It works better when Bec doesn't go.

Gotta love working at home!!

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Antsy, antsy

Since Bets was antsy, and I've been lazy, here's a quickie:

So we've been married 2 whole years already. Holy Moly. And to make it better, Brian and Kelly got baby Ha today as well. Extra special day. And to make it even better, Bob and Jane Austin are celebrating 63 years today!

I finally got up pictures from Mexico here:

http://www.pbase.com/shoeman/yucatan_sept_2008

I'm also going to ask the Mayor of Nashville if he'd be interested in starting a "Lights Out" program. Basically during spring and fall migration you get all the big buildings to voluntarily turn off most of their lights at night, saving a lot of electricity and probably 20,000 birds or more a year. The mayor is dying to make Nashville "green" and we've got some good things going for us for him to like say, "heck yeah," so I feel pretty confident we can pull this off. It's a win-win for everyone. The building managers save a lot of $$, birds have a better chance of not killing themselves at night, and all the partners in between look good (plus I look good and would probably get on TV for something positive). Good thing this has happened in several big cities and that the Building Managers Association is fine with contacting local building managers and getting them to turn off thier lights on certain ranges of dates that we give them. Keep your fingers cross.

Just another day on the job:)

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Bye bye Holly's!!!

2 posts in 2 days, it must be going to rain! No rain, but you get 2 posts.

So in my first free weekend day (Saturday), I decided it was time to destory the holly bushes that framed our house. I got 2 arborvitae from Andy in GA the week before I went to Mexico (I was in ATL for a meeting that week) and we'd planned this destruction. Doesn't take long with a good chainsaw!!


The process. Good times!!


First one almost gone.


All gone. The house looks completely different. I love it! We love it! Plus we cut out 2 spirea bushes that were next to the holly's. We didn't plant the new stuff yet, but will soon. Amazing! What a difference. Like a whole new house.

So after I cut the holly's, but cut the "big" dogwood in the backyard that was as dead as Reagan. We had a fire in the pit that night and burned much of the dogwood. We toasted to the tree. Sad it died.

After I cut that I decided to split a lot of the wood that I had gathered (trees around the block were cut and I loaded up my truck back in the spring) for firewood for our fire pit and for someone at work who has a fire place. Anyway, the wood is super dry since it hasn't rained here since 2003. All went very well. Didn't need much effort to split the logs. I was 80% done when the large chunk of one log came flying at me like a 100mph fastball. It hit my hand (which was fine) and my shin (not fine). I instantly had a knot that stuck out about a half inch. It hurt bad. We iced it a couple times and some McDonalds ice cream later and all is well. I will likely have a nasty bruise for weeks to come though. I can't remember the last time I was in such pain. Good thing I will never have to give birth, because I'm a wimp. Bec gave me credit for not passing out. I think I'm insulted. It wasn't that bad. Well for 5 min it was awful.


Bec and I went for a hike on Thursday morning at Cedars of Lebanon State Park. Saw holes in the ground to an underground stream, which is dry since it hasn't rained here since 2003.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Mexico pictures

So I hear rumors of people wanting to see picts, however I haven't gotten any comments or complaints. In the end, mi esposa made me put up pictures before I get out the chainsaw and cut down some trees this morning. The picts are in no order, but I'll put a slide show together to show cool picts from many places we went and orient you guys on where I was.


Yup, wild flamingos in NW Yucatan near Progreso.


Uxmal (pronounced Ush-mal) ruins. I got sent there one afternoon with a tour group. It rained, but I did spend the afternoon birding, hearing stories about the ruin, and had dinner and saw the evening light show (in pouring rain) with 4 Japanese women from Buenas Aires, and an old couple from Argentina. Only one of them spoke a tiny bit of English (all spoke espanol). Made for an interesting afternoon and evening.


Brown Pelican. Just an awesome shot. What do you think Brian?


Ball fields at the Coba ruins. There was another one of these opposite this one. The teams here fought for the Sun god and the Moon god. Whoever put the ball through the hole first (which could take a couple days as you couldn't use your hands and the slope is ~50%) was sacrificed. It was an honor to be killed for your god.


The view at Pez Maya, where we stayed for 5 nights. Really cool place. Plus we had fresh fish (and beer) for lunch that day!


The only decent picture of us releasing baby Green Sea Turtles (and one Loggerhead).


Yucatan Vireo.


Here is el palacio. It had 4 walls, a thatch roof, and occassional electricity, but we did have to put up with a lot of stupid foreigners, I mean tourists.


The view from el palacio wasn't bad when the beach wasn't covered with tourists and local fisherman's boats.


Caught this Royal Tern tossing a fish he'd just caught. Sweet!


Pict from the "canal" the Mayans dug that connected freshwater lagoons. This is what we floated down for an hour before we drank some beer.


Everyone knows this bird. Great Blue Heron on the beach.

I have about 4000 more pictures, but will post some on my pbase site eventually. Lots to go through.