Rockstar's Food Weighs More Than Him!

We are very fortunate as students here at Ross University to be sponsored by Hills Science Diet. We have a Hills store on campus that we can get Science Diet dog food (good stuff says me and good stuff says Rockstar) but they only come in a 20 lb bag. I just think that this is hilarious because that bag weighs more than Rockstar does (remember, he lost weight and now weighs 19.2lbs.)



The cutest thing is how excited Rockstar gets when I bring in this giant bag of food, he can smell it and he knows that it is for him... Little does he know that that bag will last him an entire semester (4 months)

Twenty Minutes?!?

Ok, I am not leaving in twenty minute... But I will be home in twenty days... Watch out NY... Rockstar and Krista are coming to town...

There is a Brown Duck on My Balcony

Meet Brown Duck, she is the pet of Kimberly Stewart, a doctor at Ross University and the head of the St Kitts Sea Turtle Conservation Network. She also helps me feed at the zoo, which is where she met brown duck who had suffered an injury to the bill that required the removal of the lower portion of her bill!! Since she cant be returned to life in the wild, Kimberly has truly adopted her, and since she is away this week in Nevis, I am the babysitter!



For a duck with no bill, Brown Duck manages just fine. She has to eat blenderized food, but she is quite the character and manages to preen just fine and keep her feathers nice and clean! Kim says she loves to go swimming in the tub, so I am excited to film that and post that soon!



What a character she is! She has been quite quiet for me (I think that she is a bit shy) But she loved sitting out of my balcony for the day, and now that it is night she has full reign of my bathroom (we will see how much of a mess she makes tomorrow morning)!

TURTLE CAMP!

Welcome to TURTLE CAMP, a two day day camp for local children to attend to learn more about turtle conservation on the island. It is run by Dr Kimberly Stewart, who is faculty at Ross University and asked some of us students to come down and help out a bit. These are 1 day only leatherback hatchlings that Kimberly found coming out of a nest earlier in the day. She brought them to show the children and give them an up close and personal account with Leatherback Turtles. I was pretty fascinated by them myself. (click here to see the hatchlings that Mondo and I saw last year at Turtle Beach)



My friend Jen and I had lots of fun helping out. Here we are organizing a game (the children thought it would be fun to help). In the game, the kids learned about predator - prey relationships and why only 1 in a 1000 hatchlings ever make it to breeding age.



After the games and meeting the baby hatchlings, we all went to the beach that Leatherbacks commonly nest on and picked up trash to aid in the conservation efforts of the day.



PIZZA was next, the children were happy about that. All that learning works up an appetite!



After a quick slice, everyone gathered around to collect art that they had made from the day!



A local boar thought that he had been invited!



And lastly, all of the kids got a cetificate of achievement (alphabetized and organized by me and Jen!) and a t-shirt, plus a coupon to come back with Kim next nesting season to see the Momma turtles lay eggs! (Click here to see when I saw the Momma turtles laying eggs with Kristen)

All in all, what a different Saturday for me! It was lots of fun to get involved and do something totally different (but still animal related)

A Man Climbing Coconut Trees in My Backyard

Imagine that you are cleaning your house, relaxing a bit with the Pug, and you look out your window and there is a guy about 30 feet up in a coconut tree. As you keep watching you notice that he is climbing up there with no ropes, no shoes, no gloves, nothing, just shimmying his way up. This, definitely does not happen in New York and I had to tape it.

I guess these guys come around often, because when I told everyone at school about it, no one seemed to surprised. Alot of the local food is cooked with coconut oil and so people come around and collect the coconuts, cut them open and pour out the juice into a container. I asked this guy to throw me an opened coconut because I knew that the monkeys would love it.


And perhaps you arent as shocked as I am, but the man preceeded to crawl back down afterwards. I just cant believe how high up these palm trees are and that he has no shoes or gloves on... Just amazing!!

Another Singing Pug

Now we all know that Rockstar is a sweet singing pug (If you havent seen him sing and say ILOVE YOU click here)But now it seems that other pugs around the world are catching on that they too can be worldwide web superstars if they start stretching their vocal cords a bit more... This one prefers to do it to the tunes of Olivia Newton John...

Thanks for the link Selina!! See you soon soon soon

Rockstar on the Golfcourse with Friends

Having the golfcourse in our backyard is such a great thing. Sure every once in a while you will go outside and find a golfball on your front lawn, but it makes for a great place for walks, birdwatching, and dog playing. It seems that every afternoon around 545 all the dogs in my development come out to play and it is a free for all, they all run around, mark their territory and just hangout.



Here is Rockstar on the left with Fawn, Yanzi, and Riley. These are just some of Rockstar's friends that he plays with out on the golf course.



And lastly, here is Rockstar doing what he does best, butt sniffing...

Thirty One Days...

But who is counting??

See everyone in New York soon! Then see everyone in Maine!!

Turn OFF Your High Beams!

St Kitts is wonderful with beautiful weather, tropical breezes with a myriad of monkeys, and great beaaches. But there are somethings that just get under the skin for those of us who live here (banking hours, the slowness of the society, finding something to eat at 1am.)

One of those things is that everyone here uses their highbeams liberally while driving. Now, I understand that there are not always street lights and it is difficult to see while driving, but everyone should be considerate and turn OFF their highbeams while there is oncoming traffic!! I hardly think that me posting this will make a difference, but here is a poem by my friend Paul Henneke to let you all know just how we feel about highbeams in St Kitts.



As I’m driving in my car,

I see you coming from afar,

Shining like a brilliant star,

Driving straight at me.



And as you’re getting closer still,

I start to wonder if you will

Turn off the high-beams that would kill

My vision in the dark.



Soon you’re just fifty feet away,

Your headlights, like the light of day,

So bright that I just have to say:

Turn off your high-beams jackass!



But now you’re right in front of me,

And you’re a jerk, apparently,

Because now I’m too blind to see

The road I’m driving on.



So I don’t see the pavement curve,

And I end up having to swerve,

Then crash, and feel my body purv

The windshield and the road.



So, people, when you drive at night,

I know you want it to be bright,

But please don’t rob me of my sight,

Or I might crash and burn.

The Pug and His Peanut Butter Jar

The Pug and I have this deal. When I eat, he eats. Sometimes this is pretty easy, like at dinner time, I get my food and he gets his food and all is well in the world. Other times, it is more difficult, for instance, on the weekends when I am eating lunch, he doesnt get a full meal, so I give him a bit of mine, or let him lick my plate or whatever. So the empty peanut butter jar is often my savior. Whenever I finish a jar of peanut butter, Rockstar gets the rest. It usually gives me about 1 hour of peacefulness and not having to worry about Rockstar begging, barking, or being a pain while I study. But this time was just too cute. Rockstar actually fell asleep with the peanut butter jar and I could not resist taking a picture!!

The funniest part about this whole thing is that after finding him like this and seeing that the peanut butter jar was empty, I threw it away. During the night, Rockstar took the peanut butter jar back out of the trash because he decided he wasnt done with it...

Ahhhh... Life with the pug. Never a dull moment.

Thirty Four More Days!!

Ok, so I probably sound like I am really hating life here in St Kitts with this perpetual count down, but I promise that that is not the case. In fact life is good, but hard without close friends and family, and I cant wait to see them (in 34 days!!)

Love this picture and feel inclined to give credit where credit is due. Got it off a site www.picturejockey.com/pblog Check it out, they have some cool pics.. This one is very tropical and so very fitting...

Rockstar and His Kittian Girlfriend Lola on the Beach

Aww... Lola and Rockstar on the beach is hilarious... First off, I was rather impressed at the digging abilities of the pug, and of his ability to keep up with longlegged Lola!! They have SO MUCH FUN on the beach, it is nice to know that Lola is just right next door and the beach is a 5 minute walk away.



These are the philosophizing poses of the Rockstar and Lola, I think it makes them look very stoic. Wondering what they are pondering? (10$ says its food in the case of Rockstar!)

So glad that Lola and Rockstar and the Best of Buds!

And here they are after digging and playing right before we take up the leashes and lead them home (to a bath!) How much sand can fit on one dog face???


And then the dirty pug face... Gross, seriously it took me a whole day to get all this sand out of his face, and he HATES to have his skin folds cleaned...

My Friend and A Baby Monkey

A Beggar for a Pugger

It never fails, Rockstar can be sound asleep 5 blocks away with earplugs in and that refrigerator opens and he is breathing down my neck begging for a morsel. Of course, once I grab the camera to show the whole world how bad he acts, he starts being good, but you can see in the end of this film Rockstars barking. In reality, the entire time I eat he is barking at me like a mad man...

More Film of Rockstar and Yanzi Playing

A New Edition to the Family/Zoo

What do I hear? That we have another reptile baby at the house back in New York? It seems that for Tania's Birthday, that Nicky has gotten her a bearded dragon, an excellent idea for a pet. Now that brings the number of reptiles in the house up to 2, with Harry Potter the leopard gecko of course. I am hoping that they will name him (or her) something Harry Potter Themed, but I think that my requests will fall on deaf ears!

Ill post some real pictures when I get some (this is an adult bearded dragon, not a baby) and more pictures of Harry Potter when I go home!

Check out this Site...

www.membersproject.com

Thirty Eight More Days...

But so much to do between now and then... I have the rest of this stretch of tests (Virology, Physiology, Bacteriology, Pharmacology) and then finals... Hope it goes by quick!

A New Weight Loss Record for My Pug...

Today the Pug had a bit of an adventure at Ross University. He got to come to school with me today because he had an appointment. No worries, he is not sick, just needed a yearly blood test to make sure that he didnt have any heart worms so he could get his prescription refilled.

Now, usually Rockstar is happy to stay at home all day and sleep while I am at school studying like a good little student. But today was very interactive and fun for him, and well he is sleeping right now while I am studying instead.

But, as they checked his weight, I saw, to my surprise, that my fat little pug weighed 19.2 lbs!!! A huge victory since at one point before we moved here he was 26lbs!! And I would like to think that although it means that he had to have less meat balls and pasta, that he enjoyed the extra walks, and is a happier pug to be thin (and be able to breath) in hot St Kitts!!

Does anyone know what this picture is from?? It is actually from Rockstar's 2nd birthday party when he got that bandana from his Aunt Lisa and Grandma P!! Cant believe how long ago that was now.

A Walk on the Beach with My Pug

This is how it always starts. For some reason, I love asking Rockstar if he wants to go for a walk. Usually he is dead asleep and I whisper it and he wakes up and starts running around like a freak. Today he wasnt asleep but was staring me down as I worked on some school work and I finally buckled and was going to bring him out.
There are lots of pug friendly routes to walk around our house. We can go on the golf course, down to the marriot, towards one of two beaches... Whereever... But today I wanted to bring him to the beach... And here is is tell me to "HURRY UP!" as we head down to the Atlantic Ocean Beach.

Stop for a pee break on the way. Notice that the poor pug is already panting. It has gotten much hotter here in the summer, and our walks are noticable shorter... But poor Rockstar needs to get out and stretch his bones, so a little panting is how he has to pay for it.

And here is the beach on the Atlantic (north side) of the island. It is always empty because the current is really strong, so it is a perfect dog walking beach!

And there is my chicken of a pug staying AS FAR AWAY from the water as possible!

Awww... Handsome windblown pug face!

And I thought that this was a cute picture of the pug paw in the sand... Rockstar's little mark on the beach (well besides the million pee marks he left). Not long after and we were heading home, with the pug panting like a mad man dragging me back to the ac where he relaxed on my bed and I resumed my seat at my desk, back in our normal setting.

Fourty Three More Days Until New York

New York New York lyrics

Funny, right now anything related to New York is AWESOME... Even this corny video

FOURTY THREE MORE DAYS>>>>>

Rockstar Meets Yanzi the Boston Terrier

AWW... Rockstar has a new girlfriend that lives in our development. She is a 2 year old Boston Terrier named Yanzi and they get along GREAT! Here they are in their first meeting.



Of course there was the ritual butt and private sniffing from the pug and the boston! But once they established that they were friends they were off and running about the entire apartment (much to the dismay of the resident cat, JACK)



Here is a super cute picture of Yanzi and Rockstar playing tug of war... Of course Rockstar LOVES Boston Terriers since two of his favorite Boston Terriers live at home in NY. It is funny that this cute Boston Terrier has come into our lives at a time when we just lost another one. Lucy, one of Rocktar's bestest of friends was put down about 6 weeks ago and we miss her dearly, but we are sure that she sent Yanzi to come and play with Rockstar!



And here is Yanzi's mommy, Jen. She is a new student at Ross and a GREAT neighbor, and of course, one of Rockstars Aunts!

Crazy New Trend in New York

Have You Noticed the Countdown?

Have you noticed the countdown as to when Rockstar and I will be going to New York? 45 days! and we cant wait... We wont bore you with a new number everysingle day, but every now and again we may want to remind ourselves!

Happy Fourth of July

Well, a Happy 4th of July to all, although it is hardly the Fourth when you reside outside the country! Today is a national holiday in the United States, but just another Wednesday in St Kitts. This means, school, school and more school with no breaks! It also means that there is no time for BBQ's and sitting by the pool and relaxing with family and friends...

Luckily for us though, the tourists here on the island got some fireworks, and they were easily seen from my balcony. It seems like in this video Rockstar is barking at the big booming of the fireworks like most dogs, but in reality he was just being a jerk... He likes to be mean to the dog in the balcony next to ours... A Corgie that Rockstar just DOES NOT SEEM TO LIKE! Rockstar's barking meant we had to go inside and miss the finale, but I am pretty sure that it would not have rivaled those in Rockville Centre!!

Hope everyone has a happy and healthy!

The Pug Likes Fruit Smoothies

I have always known that the pug would eat just about anything, but this is just TOO weird. No dog in the world likes all natural fruit smoothies, but Rockstar is happy to have ANYTHING in his plate!

Poor Lola is harassed by Vet Students

Now you all know that Lola is the sweetest, but I think this time we went too far! In her overload of school-work craziness, Lola's Mommy Kim, thought that a pooch fashion show would be fun. Well, Lola did look really cute, even if it is a million degrees!