Random thoughts on Guam

Joyce Owen agrees with me. People complain about the traffic here but we don't think it's as bad as Folsom, CA.

Everyone complains about the bumpy roads. If you really look at it, most of the rough parts are caused by laying pipe across the road and doing a really bad repair job on the pavement (the pavement washboards like dirt roads). But, I don't see much that compares to the parts of Ponderosa Rd in Shingle Springs.

On the other hand, I have run into many many cars whose dome lights don't work (including mine) and my theory is going over oto many bad repair jobs.

Not that there are no pot holes. There is one that cars wouldn't even notice but I hurt after riding through it on my bike. There is grass growing in it.

There are a lot more birds than there were when I was here in Feb. 2008. Sometime between then and last October, sparrows showed up. There are now thousands of them (at a guess). When I arrived in October, it seemed like I only saw them near hotels and restaurants. Now, I see lots of them everywhere I go.

We had a thunder shower on Monday. I am told it is the start of the rainy season. It has been relatively dry and the ants have disappeared, mostly, from my kitchen. I assume that they will reappear in force when it really starts to rain.

I have a TINY kitchen. It's so tiny, the fridge door won't open all the way -- it runs into the stove. There is only one drawer in the cabinet. I didn't bring much and I didn't buy much but I had to expand the kitchen into the dining area because there was no place to store stuff.

My workshop is finally set up. I sometimes have to walk sideways but my tools are all usable.

The flowers are beautiful here as well as the fish at Ypao beach. I will do a post on flowers and one on fish soon. I have a waterproof case to take fish pictures while snorkeling.

Here, if one store is out of something, probably all the rest are also because they all come on the same container ship. I was looking for a "network coupler" and 2 stores were both out. Last week, they were still out.

If you see something you like, grab it, there may not be any when you run out. For example, if I see chocolate chip mini morsels, or fat free cheese, or fat free dress, or half and half, I grab it and freeze it.

I like discount bins at the grocery store. I get sandwich meat and freeze it, yogurt, and other things. Just don't pay any attention to the expiration date.

I was taught to always freeze bread. It will turn green in the fridge before you can eat it if you don't. Keep rice in the fridge, they get bole weavels (bugs) if you don't and it is a pain to pick them out of the rice. Much easier to just refrigerate it. Long grain Jasmine rice from Thailand is the best when cooked in a rice cooker. California rice is short grain and it makes a real mess of the cooker even if you wash the raw rice.

A rice cooker is an essential part of kitchen equipment. Pour in the rice, water, plug it in, and push the cook button. The switch pops when it's done. Yum. I never ate rice in the states. Here, I never buy potatoes.

Any other kind of food needs to be in the freezer, fridge, or sealed containers -- or the bugs WILL get it.

I am told potatoes grow here - the purple and orange ones. Cherry tomatoes grow really well here. They are sold in the grocery stores but aren't any cheaper. I gotta start farming in a pot.

Cochroaches here are about 1 1/2 inches long and 1/2 inch wide. I have seen only one in my apartment and it was alive. I smashed it wth the first thing that came to hand, and then I had to wash the floor and the masher tool. I was told that I then needed to either throw it outside or flush it because dead isn't dead. All the others I have seen have been dead.

There are gecko's everywhere. They are not the cute green ones like in Hawaii. They are a light tan and poop on things and run across peoples ceilings. I have one living behid my refrigerator. Probably helps keep the bugs down.

There are also little lizzards running around everywhere inside and out. One time I saw a monitor lizard about 1 foot long - it ran into the Men's Dorm. I don't know how it was ejected.

Bannana's grow everywhere here. I am spoiled by the taste of the local bannana. The commercial ones in the stores have no taste in comparison.