The sky is falling, the sky is falling. No, only trees.

      The U.S. Congress can't seem to get out of it's own way, but here on St. John we are still moving ahead. Now that all the needed permits have been acquired, the lot is starting to be prepared for ground breaking. The trees are getting out of our way! A crew of West-Indian fellows arrived and began the clearing process. I was there to watch. The first thing I noticed was how quiet it was. No chain saws, no weed whackers, only men and machetes.
      Just machetes? And there were some pretty big trees! Take a look below.

      So this view is from the swimming pool end of the house looking towards the master bedroom. But what about the view out to the other islands? Well, here it is below. Tortola directly across. Not a great day for picture taking. There is a steady warm haze moving through the Caribbean. This warm air is what's keeping hurricanes from forming. Let there be haze!

      Today, I signed the construction contract. No backing out now! What's next? Ground breaking of course. There will be the customary photo-op. Architect, builder, clients. But Jim isn't here. He's out in Palm Springs taking pictures of sweaters. Sweaters in the desert? Anyway, we will have to wait until next week. In the meantime there will be more site prep. A stilt fence has to go around the property to control erosion. The driveway has to cleared of weeds and trees.
      On the way into town I noticed a bunch of septic tanks, some with our builders' name on them.  Yes we have 'poop' tanks. Our project is flowing nicely!