Sunday Afternoon Stroll

Stroll maybe the wrong word...hike, sweat, climb, sweat, walk. Yeah, that's more like it. Stephen took me up to the Nimitz Hill area (that's the hill/road he likes to ride his bike up and down and up and down...and this area is where he's been mountain biking before) for a Sunday hike.

We parked pretty close to what I'd call the top - just a few hundred feet lower than all the TV towers on island that occupy the peak. It was a rocky, but slippery narrow path down to an amazing waterfall, from which Stephen pointed out where he hurt his ankle a few months back while I was in CT. We then had to use a series of ropes to get down closer to this spot of hurtful memories, during which I rolled each of my ankles once though I could still walk on them so no harm no foul. The waterfall looked even cooler from below - though the water at the bottom looked murky so no getting in it. It so weird, from up the hill by the towers you couldn't see the waterfall, just hear its little roar coming out of the valley that is lined with palm trees - very distinctively telling you where the water is. So from on top of a grass hill (and the grass can cut you here) we had descended into a tropical jungle area. Now it was more ropes and slippery clay areas that we needed to climb up to get back to the grasslands. Yeah, that's the point I almost had a break down, as I am sweating through all my clothes, the mosquitoes are starting to think I might be tasty, and I can't see the towers to know where the car is. But I kept it together and even impressed myself as I hauled my butt up some steep rocks/seasonal rain washouts with and without the help of ropes and Stephen.

Once again in the grasslandish area, we were on the easy part of the trail - the 4-wheeling area. We have the smallest Napa Auto Parts ever here, and there were so many of these people out 4-wheeling it up - I have no idea what they must spend on shipping, never mind the crap they install on those vehicles. We saw one jeep on it's side get righted as clouds of coolant burned off his engine - wonder if it will ever leave Nimitz Hill now that he started the engine upside down? It sort of made us sad, because these guys keep taking over the hiking and mountain biking trails which widens them and makes then pits of mud. There are so many trails out there and the trails after a good rain, re-level themselves in a way, that you should be able to not need new trails for your 4-wheeling. But to each their own, I guess.

After Stephen ran up a few hills to figure out the way out, we got back to the car and road home. All in all a great hike, and I'm just proud to say I did it. Never hiked anything like that in Connecticut or anywhere. Bonus was bumping into a guy in the parking lot with a nice road bike when we got back. There are other bikers on Guam!

It's an Empty-Box-of-Tissue Kind of Morning :..(

It's a gorgeous monday morning here in Guam and I am sad. Football is on and the sun is warm outside, yet my nose is runny and my eyes are watery and red.

Maggie is gone. It seems cliche to say how unique and special a dog was. Yet, anybody who ever met Maggie and had her jump up and nap in their lap, or play "tag" with her would know that it wasn't cliche. She never chased a ball. She actually did play "tag". She never growled. Never. She woofed only when she needed somebody to open a door. She was precious and gentle as could be, to the point where it was kinda silly. If God ever made a more perfect furry companion, I would be stunned to hear it.

I was really looking forward to playing with her when I went home next month. I hadn't seen her since Christmas time, when I took these pics of her. I didn't realize how much I would treasure them as they're the only pics we have of her that I know of. Sleep well BabyDog. Your Boy misses you very much.

Making Mango Jam

Success! Making this mango jam was so easy and "sooooo gooooooood" to eat.

So this little island of ours does not provide the normal access to products I'd normally use in the states to make jam (pectin, canning jars, wax), but I found a bunch of simple recipes for mango jam that didn't need pectin and gave it a whirl. Not the ideal project for a condo with the A/C just coming back on - but if you're going to be sweaty, you might as well get some jam out of it.

The basic recipe was: two mangoes, chopped up and boiled in a cup of water to get them softer (medium heat). then off the heat to use the potato masher (no food processor with us or pastry blade) to mush them up to the consistency we like (sort of chunky, you can mash more if you like). Return to medium heat and add about a cup and a half of sugar, dissolve and bring to rolling boil. I think that's when I added the juice of one lemon (no pectin products on island so I read you can use lemon juice to help it "jam" up). Then boil and stir until it's jammy. Also couldn't find any wax on island, so the jars will be living in the refrigerator for their short lives. I did sterilize the jars in boiling water just to make sure nothing starts growing from the bottom up :)

The 1/3 full jar is almost gone with just our breakfast this morning - so I'll assume that SJW likes the mango jam. I'm sure this is going to be a repeater.