Coastal Cleanup Take 2

My friend McGill with a bag full of cans, bottles and plastic.

The typhoons have come and gone and the seas around the north coast have finally cleared up enough for safe diving.  The Water temperatures have dropped considerably since I was last diving, but it’s still tolerable.  This was our rescheduled Coastal Cleanup day since the first one was delayed for poor weather.  Our plan was to go out and pick up the small debris on the first dive and then go back for the bigger stuff on the second dive.

This basket of garbage was from our first dive.  It felt really good to go out there and make a difference in the underwater habitats of some small sea creatures.  Unfortunately we didn’t even make a dent in the amount of garbage we saw littering the bottom.

This was from our second haul.  We aimed at getting the bigger stuff on our second dive, mostly abandoned fishing nets.  We spent almost the entire second dive cutting fishing nets away from coral.   We even managed to recover a plastic lawn chair.

This just in…

About 5 minutes ago the Taipei government canceled schools and businesses for the upcoming typhoon, Wipha.  It doesn’t look as powerful as the one a couple weeks ago, but apparently the government thinks otherwise.  I sure am glad we have all those emergency rations from Emma. 

Thanks Emma!

I guess the question is: When are you too old to get a care package from home?  I sure hope that I don’t find out the cut-off age, because this is heavenly.  It’s kind of a funny thing your taste buds go through from living overseas for a few years.  All those delicious treats in the photo were never regular items in our house with the exception of the Kool Aid and Cheese Its.   (BTW – When did Kool Aid Singles come out?) Funny thing is that after a few years you get a huge craving for something in particular that becomes even more of a craving obsession because you can’t just go to your local Safeway and buy some. 

Long story short, thanks for going out and getting this stuff Emma.  I couldn’t ask for a better little sister. 

 

I may be in a sugar induced coma by the end of the night.

Getting this package, all 17.2 lbs of it, was quite a story in itself.  All of those involved know who you are and we REALLY appreciate all of your efforts to get that stuff to us.  Can I repay you by sending some Taiwanese delicacies like fresh frog, hundred year eggs, or stinky tofu (that’s actually what it’s called)?

Coneheads

 

Pixie and Millie went in last week to be spayed and came home with shaved bellies, four stitches and very kitten friendly (not really) orange cones.  They were fairly drugged up for the first few days and had trouble walking because of the medication and the awkwardness of the big cone.  All of the normal places that they would dart in and out of became quite a struggle and a bit of a comedy routine at their expense.  The saddest part was that they didn’t recognize each other with the cones and spent the first two days hissing at each other.  We looked it up and found that it wasn’t the cones, instead it was the medical smells that remaining on their wounds that masked their normal scents and kept them from recognizing one-another.  Fortunately this only lasted a couple days and then they were back to what you see above.  The cones come off in three days, just when they start adjusting to life with the cones.

What a treat!

  

Once in a while we come across a store that normally wouldn’t be too exciting if we were still living back home, but since we’ve been overseas these places have a whole new level of excitement.  Over the summer they finished construction on a Dunkin Donuts that’s just across the street from the school and down the block from a newly opened Cold Stone Creamery.  We could do without the dietary implications of places like these, but the comfort of walking into familiar surroundings and ordering food that is familiar is very special.