I believe in taking naps!
I found some underwear I liked at Walmart yesterday, so I ordered more of the same. I need to return the one I didn’t like.
Today’s special animal friends are found on the island of St. Vincent, the eponymous main island of St. Vincent and Grenadines (SVG), a Caribbean nation of 32 islands, nine of which are inhabited. St. Vincent is currently experiencing an eruption of La Soufriere, its volcano. About 20,000 people have been displaced by the eruption.
One of St. Vincent’s iconic animals is the St. Vincent Amazon parrot, Amazona guildingii. This is a large, very colorful bird, with a distinctive gray-white face leading to a bright yellow, then green, neck. Its wings are bronze, green, and blue, and its tail is blue with bright yellow tips.
https://www.birdscaribbean.org/2020/03/the-glorious-sight-of-st-vincent-parrots-in-the-wild/
These parrots are Vulnerable, according to IUCN, because of habitat loss, poaching, and illegal capture for the pet trade, but conservation efforts have doubled the population to 400 from its historic low of 200. The Lesser Antillean Tanager is a rainforest bird found on St. Vincent and Grenada (which is a separate country, not part of SVG). It has a black head, gray body, and pretty blue wings and tail; it is a species of Least Concern.
Another endemic species is the critically endangered Union Island gecko, Gonatodes daudini, also known as the Grenadines clawed gecko. Found only on Union Island, this tiny lizard has colorful, beadlike scales in elegant patterns. Less than 1-1/2 inches long, the gecko lives on the ground in dry forests, eating termites and other small insects. Collection for the international pet trade has reduced the population by about 80% during this century. Although protected by SVG law, it has not yet been listed by CITES.
Another critically endangered species unique to St. Vincent is the St. Vincent black snake, Chironius vincenti. This nonvenomous snake grows over three feet in length. It is slate black on its back with a lighter mouth and underside. They eat rats and other small mammals such as the agouti, a common rodent species.
The main threat to the black snake and St. Vincent’s other, critically endangered, endemic snakes - Barbour’s tropical racer (Mastigodryas bruesi) and Cook’s tree boa (Corallus cookii) – is ophidiophobia. There are no venomous snakes in SVG. The only Caribbean islands with venomous snakes are Martinique, Guadeloupe, St. Lucia, and Trinidad. Competition from introduced mongooses (Why?) and domestic/feral cats is an additional threat to these nice reptile friends who never hurt anyone.
Sea life around St. Vincent and the Grenadines includes dolphins, sea turtles, moray eels, octopi, nurse sharks, and many coral reef fish species.
I’d like to do it every day, like my mother did, but the best I can do is “Quiet Time,” most days!
I’m a firm believer if buying things that I’ve used and like. I like Fruit Of The Loom. Nothing fancy. Their elastic doesn’t get waffly.
I just printed up a list of the wagon train and handcart companies that came West, not just the “Mormons,” for my records. (So MANY were names of kids I went to school with, and now I know why! LOL!) Folks that were headed for CA and OR were included in the “Pioneers” because they all came before the railroads.