Even longer delays in updating

Hi Rick & Jelly;
At your request, please find the latest updates below to help you enjoy Cayman.

Cayman
Things have been pretty busy lately. Besides work, there were public and work holidays, meetings on Astronomy, the Ham Radio Club as well as chicken and gardening updates. Some bike work and a bit of experimentation in photography.
I took a few days off work when a unique situation came up. Monday May 18 was a public holiday and Wed May 20 was election day (another full public holiday). The election process is a bit unique down here. Approximately 22,000 people are true Caymanians with 15,000 (local and status holders) being registered voters. These registered voters determine the future of approx 60,000 people.
I live in West Bay where there are 4 positions available as representatives of the people in the Legislative Assembly. Hence (for unknown reasons) every registered West Bay voter gets to vote for 4 people out of the list of wanna be candidates. That's right - 4 votes. Everyone in George Town also has 4 votes, Bodden Town has 3 with East End and North Side each having only 1 vote. Finally, the sister islands of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman each get 2 votes. A total of 17 elected members. I believe that there were a total of 44 candidates. The winning party was the UDP who got 9 out of 15 seats in Grand Cayman and 1 out of 2 in the Sister Islands.
What does this mean for these islands? Only time will tell!

Astronomy
The Cayman Astronomical Society had a meeting a couple Tuesdays ago. Here, we elected the new committee members as well as made some plans to start a more dedicated user section dealing with astro photography. We will start of the easy objects like the moon and progress to the planets. There ware currently 3 of us interested and keep an eye out for some of our results. This is a learn as you go project.

Cycling
I have just returned from a 5 day break in the US of A. I managed to obtain a few needed items like good tires, handlebars, specialized brake levers and assorted items need to complete the new-to-me randonneuring bike. I will post some photos as items are installed and tested.

Chickens
There has been a couple setbacks and minor improvements in this topic. The setback occurred when a certain person who shall not be called by name (the wife) went to feed the chickens one morning. I was getting ready to ride to work when she called my name. I went to see what the problem was and found that the rooster, 2 hens and a young chick had pushed their way out of the entry door when her back was turned. Needless to say, they took off running. Various attempts to catch them have failed so far and they are probably lost for good. The neighbors have also takes up the hobby of chickens and one has about 30 while the other has about 10.
The good news is that we managed to catch two young ones (one that escaped weeks ago and well as the young one who stepped out) as well as a young rooster and are now back to 7.

Fruits
On the election day holiday, Sarah came and told me that a bunch of bananas were turning yellow and she wanted to cut the down ? I said go ahead and she did. When I arrived yesterday, it was nice to eat ripe bananas from the yard. There are a two more bunches that are very close to getting ready so we will be enjoying more very soon. Nothing like a tree ripened banana!
The mangoes also look like they are getting ripe too. Janie said that while I was away, a guy came into the yard late one evening and was looking over the mango and breadfruit trees. The dogs were in their pen and they were barking loudly which got her attention. Needless to say, she picked the couple mangoes and a breadfruit that were close to being ready. I had a mango last night and this morning when looking the tree over, managed to find one that was ready and added it to the pile. You will notice in the photo that a ripe mango has the same colour as a yellow leaf making it even harder to find visually!
I believe that I have the only grafted mango tree in the whole neighborhood. This could explain all the attention the tree is producing. Just means that I will have to be more vigilant in checking on it.
While in the US, I got some books on chickens and gardening. I really did not know how much effect the economic downturn had had! Many people were at the book store or the gardeninfg centers buying plants, seeds, fertilizer and other items looking at gardening as a way to eat better. There were many more books and magazines than I had ever seen! This can only mean good things for local economies.

Photography
I managed to pick up three camera lenses that I had ordered. I currently use a Canon DSLR and find that all too frequently, I have problems in trying to use the electronic focus on a particular item when it is in a different focal plane than the background. A real pain when you are trying to get that one off, there for a second shot! This really bothers me as you buy auto-focus lenses to solve this problem. The lenses were all manual focus, Japan made (means all metal construction). Two were Canon FD mount (35-105 F3.4-4.5 & 35-105 F3.5) as well as a M42 mount Soligor (35-70 F2.5-3.5) for use with a webcam. Why did I get them? First of all, they were cheap. The Canons were about $50 each and the Soligor was about $20. Secondly, they are from a time when things were made to last. I have a EF telephoto that I bought about 3 years ago. It has stopped working and the quoted cost to fix it is more that I paid for the lens. It is mainly plastic construction. And finally, I get to play with them. The first project is to convert the lenses from FD to EF mount.
I currently have 9 FD mount lenses of various focal lengths. I converted a 400mm F5.6 lens to EF mount about a year ago and all can say it that it works perfectly. Just have to repeat the same thing for the others. The result is quality lenses for a small fraction of the going price. For example, the most I have paid for a lens is $125 for a 85mm 1.8 FD lens. The EF version goes for about $450 and is mainly plastic. The parts for the conversion run around $20. Needless to say, the 85mm will be the last one I convert!
I can use an FD to EF adapter, but it becomes a hassle to swap it back and forth between lenses.
FD lenses can be had from around $10 to $2500with the L series all occupying the higher end. Without the L lenses, it tops out around 550 for an 85mm F1.2. In the EF arena, the range is $150 to $10,000 . Without the L lenses, it tops out at $2500 with the EF 85mm F.12 coming in at around $1,800. And many of the new lenses are zooms which are not as optimized for the whole range as a fixed focal length lens is.
But enough chitter chatter, see you next time.

What's been happening?

It's been a while since I have added anything so here goes.
Last weekend, Janie and I went for a drive around the eastern end of Grand Cayman to get some pictures for a request made by Richard. Hope these images help you Richard! The second view is from the cabana! What a rough life we live!
The chicken population has increased. Dorothy managed to catch and rooster and hen early last week. Then I managed to catch another hen and then 3 pullets over the weekend, bringing
our population up to 9. It's more than I planned but we can always let the ones we don't want go. There were actually 4 pullets caught but one managed to sneak out from the tractor when we were rolling it to a new location. On the other hand, the escaped pullet and another hen are now following the tractor around, gleaning the food remainders when we shift location. And the answer to the big question - YES! We did manage to have 4 eggs last week. And the taste is by far superior to the store bought eggs. None this week but we are not concerned. The chickens are still getting settled in their new location.
Home Grown eggs on the left, store bought on the right.
We have been experimenting with different foods to give them - ranging from kitchen scraps to bird feed and cracked corn. They seem to enjoy it all so we are happy.
My niece has seen the tractor and has requested that I make her one too. She lives besides a large wooded areas and has many chickens in her yard. She too likes the idea of free-range eggs.
A neighbor two doors down has begun to build what looks like a portable chicken coop. I'm keeping an eye on his construction to see what happens. I also noticed that he has made a chicken trap too! Could be catching on!
Janie was talking to one of her co-workers about our new venture and the co-worker said that she had built a chicken coop and began trapping chickens. She now has over 80 in her possession! I'm impressed! Makes my little project seem like child's play!
Well, with that little item completed and successful, time to start something else.
We already have a few fruit trees in the yard. Here are mangoes and guavas - both are green but will ripen. There is nothing like picking a ripe fruit from the tree and eating it. You can smell both the ripe mangoes and guavas before even seeing them. Many times I can be found searching the tree for a ripe mango. Smelling, yet not seeing.














I have been looking at constructing a raised garden bed. While we have a year round growing climate, we are unfortunate to be a coral island with very little topsoil. There are good area with 2-3' of soil depth and other areas (like where I live) with the topsoil depth being 2"-3" or less. There are pockets of soil but they are few and far between.
The reasons are that it gives me something to pass the time on, allows me to tinker with something else and provides a food resource on an island where probably 95% of the food we eat comes from or through the USA. Countries like Australia are recommending their inhabitants to stockpile some basic food for when there are shortages. In Cayman's case, a shortage in the US will mean that there will be less to sell and if it is there, a higher price! It is already recommended that locals stock extra supplies in the event of a hurricane and most people do. I'm just taking it a bit further!
We had a bit of a joke last week. Dorothy and Janie said that it was time to cut down two bunches of bananas that had matured and were ready for cooking (yes - there are cooking and eating bananas). The plants were about 10' high so I did as requested.
In one bunch, there was a frog hiding between the hands. Dorothy saw it first and the next thing we knew was she had placed herself far away from the critter on the top of the wall !