First Two Weeks of Living on St Thomas Fulltime! 5-11-12

The day has come, officially we have been here for two weeks! The weather has been a mixed bag with many cloudy and muggy days with no breeze, which has been ok for unpacking.

Our first few days were busy with various errands. The 4Runner which was already down here, started with no problems. Cistern for water is overflowing. Everything in the house is working. Dogs are adjusting to their new backyard. Made our trip to the mailbox at TuTu, Plaza Extra and Cost U Less for groceries.

We even snuck out on Saturday for Carnival and the adult parade! There were many interesting sites and had my first pate which tasted like a doughnut stuffed with hamburger meat!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHZwgpS3hZQ Click to view movie!

Sunday we snuck off to Sapphire Beach!

We made it to our favorite bar, Island Time Pizza

We went and looked at the boat we were buying and started that process. Tuesday was spent going to the property tax office and pay our quarterly taxes. Taxes here are the same federal tax rules, but we fill out a VI form, that is because all tax money collected here goes to the territorial government.

We stopped by Viking Moving on Wed to see where our container and Tacoma were doing and to drop off the title and much to our surprise, this was in their yard!

Wow that was fast and Tacoma will be there the next day! We choose to have the movers bring their two vans as this container would not fit at the house, there is a reason they call this place the "The Rock", most of the homes are literally built on rock and our home is at the top of a rock. We better get a move on cleaning out the house for our stuff from Reno.

Next off to submit my application for a Real Estate Broker License, change the IPhones to a local # at the AT&T store and then to meet a friend at Tickles. Well he had to test a boat, so we went with him. I love being on the water, but this boat launch may not be the most scenic? This area is known as sub base, which was at one time a submarine base starting with World War I to combat German U-boats, hence the reason for the US buying the islands from Denmark for $25 million in gold. Well now this is the site of our island's power plant, otherwise known as the most expensive electric utility known as WAPA. This plant is a dated diesel powered generator.

We also made many trips to the Humane Society flea market and even had their van come to give them a desk and two beds.

Now the moment we have not been waiting for, the container contents arriving. They filled up our home in no time!

The main thing I was waiting for was my Honda 3000 IU generator as power outages are numerous. After the movers left this come up the driveway.

Friday and Saturday were spent unpacking the kitchen. But of course it is now May 5th. Time for the Chihuahua Races at Yacht Haven Grande. We saw many people we knew there and had a great time. On the way home we got a pizza at Pizza Amore, the BEST NY style pizza I found since leaving New Jersey.

The weather has been muggy and rainy and the next week was spent unpacking and making minor home repairs. We made many trips to the dumpsters. We do not have home trash service here on the island. What we do have is strategically placed dumpsters on the island. I see it also as a place known as "take one, leave one". Whatever you have that is not worthy of donating to the Humane Society, you leave it at the dumpster, and usually when you come back in an hour it is gone. Some of our leave its: old generator, patio table and chairs, old brooms. Notice the wild chickens that make the dumpsters their home?

One home project I wanted to share was the dryer outlet. We had an old dryer here that was used and abused by the tenants over the years. We brought our newer dryer from Reno. Oh but wait, whomever wired our laundry room shed must have been on island time? The outlet was for a kitchen range, and they even set up the old dryer with a cord for a range? So I decide I am going to need to also wire our dryer for a range? I buy the plug and cut the wire on ours. Well problem is once you open the grey wire there is no inner insulation, just copper. Well that will not fit in the plug unless it is just copper with electrical tape. After sleeping on this theory, those wires are going to get hot? Now I need to get a new dryer cord and get the appropriate outlet. Viola, it wasn't hard as I thought. What cracked me up even more was how they installed the range 30/50A outlet upside down to boot!

Enough of home repairs and unpacking, time for some beach time for the dogs while we have an afternoon with sun! We took the dogs down to Vessup Beach, behind Latitude 18 for a late afternoon swim!

Yes, we sometimes curse ourselves while dripping in sweat, my foot sore, unpacking, repairing, hot and muggy, but at the end of the day, we have to remind ourselves where we are living, and for many living here is just a week for a vacation of a lifetime. We know life will be normal again after these 3 months of moving, but we have a feeling it is all going to be worth it!