Blog #7 Lobster, the Dump and a Baby Shower - What a week!!!

How I love these signs that we have posted around Bahamia, sort of a southern suburb of Freeport, where we are living. I would love to put one on Deer Lake Rd. somewhere along our ditch. Bet it would be shot up withing 24 hours. That also says something about the folks who litter our ditch and the property of others!!!! I would need one that said, "Losers Litter and Shoot Up Signs"!!!!!

I'm not sure you can see it well but Ray has a tan of the cut out at the back of his baseball cap on his head!!!! It is so funny. I just had to share it!!!

Wednesday afternoon Jerrisma and Paulette came over after they had finished work so that Jerrisama could demonstrate how to fry lobster. I forgot to take a pic but wanted to pass on the info and show you the ingredients. We had a great feast after the demo. Oh, so yummy!!!

There was an article in the Freeport newspaper last week warning people about not buying and/or eating under sized lobster. It is against the law so therefore, these lobsters are way too big to be under sized!!!

Being a fanatical environmentalist, when we arrived on the island I immediately had questions about the infrastructure. What did they do for fresh water? How did they handle sewage? Where was the dump and what was it like? I make up a list of questions for our ambassador, Jerrisma, before I ever met her and after spending some delightful times with her, I had not gotten to the list. After we ate lobster on Wednesday night, I brought out the list.

Jerrisma is such an amazing woman. She just makes things happen for us. By Friday we had an appointment to tour the dump with an Environmental official on Grand Bahams. Before we left the office to go to the site we had the oportunity to chat with an other Environmental Official. These two people ware so knowledgeabel about the einvironment and it is always a thrill to spend time with others who share your passion. Well, we learnt the most amazing things.

The big one for me was the deep well disposal that many of the industries do here. On site, the industry puts down a well for a minimum of 150 feet but could be as far as 600 feet in depth with a bore of from 6 to 14 inches. in diamerter, fourteen being the best. The industrial liquid waste is first processed to make it environmentally acceptable and then it is pumped down into the deep well, well below the aquifer. A number of test wells, also known as monitoring wells, are drilled around the main disposal well and samples are regularly tested to make sure that nothing harmful is being disposed of. It is a brilliant idea!!!!

Here you can see the numerous leache pipes coming out of the hill where samples are taken and tested. The leache is then pumped into a settling pond.

The dump, referrred to on island as the landfull because of the technology being utilized, itself would make a great ski hill like the one used in Brampton, Ontario. Only problem being.........

From the pic above you can see the plastic membrane that has been used to line this huge area. A cell has been dug then lined and the garbage has been dumped and covered. This dump has about another forty years to go. Grand Bahama Island has a lot of land to the north that could potentially be used for future sites. They are working on recycling and hopefully composting in the futrue. The Environmental Office is working in schools and putting amazing signs around like the one at the beginning of this blog to educate the public. It was a great outing and probably one not too many tourists enjoy!!! We are looking forward to going to the water plant and sewerage plant in the near future. I want to see and experience it all!!!!

How adorable is this? It is one of the properties we are considering for next year. It is right across the road from the beach. You know the kind, white sand, tourquoise water.......

I was so delighted to attend a baby shower for Jerrisma's daughter-in-law and son on Saturday night. No one was paying much attention to me taking pics except for my buddy Tristan. He is so cute!!!!!

This is my diaper team and the Mom to be Mindy. We won!!!! Mindy was the judge of this contest. There were many during the night. All producing gales of laughter. At one point we were guessing at the names of baby animals. Tristan was sitting beside me and I was asking him to help. When he got stuck, he announced that one of the baby animals was known as, "Honey child."

The food of course was fabulous. It started with a crab salad and went on to chicken in a really tasty sauce, conch fritters and mac and cheese. I had my cake on Sunday and it was excellent. I didn't even share!!!! It was a great night with lots of laughs. I was so please I went. At home, I hate to admit, I would have found an excuse not to attend!!!!

Tristan took this shot of his cousins. Don't they look angelic? Don't be fooled!!!! Great shot Tristan!!!!