Demographic Content - Hey Baby!

While readership of Jungle Pete's Earthbound blog grows like mold on cheese, the diversity of readers couldn't be greater. The blog is read on 5 continents (come on Africa!) and nearly all of the continental United States except the ones with free range pig laws. What's most exciting is to hear that even toddlers "read" the blog, or just look at the pretty pictures. This is the demographic I'm after since most 2 year olds don't notice my misspellings and grammatical mistakes.

Happy Birthday baby Carter!

Carter's Tern-about

When a 20-something woman began running down Barefoot Beach I took notice. In front of her was a flock of 25-30 Royal Terns and assorted gulls and her intent was obvious - get every single bird to fly. As bird after bird took off to avoid the rampaging woman in a sun dress, Ma-Le suggested that we (including my sister Tara and family) get up and rampage toward the woman. I would have done it if I wasn't tired, comfortable, lazy and just too embarrassed to perform this display of karmic balance. I wish I had - I was annoyed - the woman not only disrupted our peaceful setting but when birds are disturbed like this they waste energy. One person doing this might not impact them much but repeated disruptions?

The woman and friends passed. The birds settled back down and relaxed and than my nephew decided to go for a stroll of his own.

Ah - some day I'll explain it all to him.....

New England Rewind 2008

I can't be everywhere, but during my latest trip to Vermont and Massachusetts I feel like I tried. Regardless, I couldn't visit everyone, so a recap will have to do. The purpose of the trip was to fulfill my best man duties at Sean and April's wedding on 8/8/2008 in Bennington, VT. Followed by a trip to Sharon, MA for Tiffers big 40th b-day with the family. So with apologies to everyone I couldn't see, this is what I saw - in my New England Rewind 2008 The Bennington Monument in Vermont - site of Sean and April's wedding
It rained when MaLe and I arrived and rained all day Friday. Thanks to Mandy's magic, her gift to Sean was a spell to clear the sky for the 30 minute outdoor ceremony. It worked. The rain stopped and resumed shortly after heading inside.

The lovely bride and groom
If you're going to do a best man toast, do it right. With the Bee Gees in the background and me with sassy pose (and one too many drinks in me), I gave my off the cuff speech which drew one audible gasp but thankfully ended with laughter and applause. I have no idea what I said. The bride made me wear pink.

But the bride may have said something to the groom a bit later about the speech.There's no intended innuendo in this picture of the monument.I'm genuinely happy for Sean and April and I meant all the good stuff I said. I miss the old days, but wish you well on the new days ahead. Hopefully it won't be another 15 months till we see each other again.

Got to spend a little time with Bill. Not enough time. He was nice enough to come get us in Bennington and travel with us east to visit Tara, Peyton and Carter.


Is Peyton not the cutest?

A trip to visit Tiffer and family is rarely without mischief. Why an 11-year old knows when to hold'em and when to fold'em is beyond me. He also knows when to run.
This is how you rock out on Guitar Hero"
Jim cookin' the dogs and burgers for the brood.
Aunt "Ga" and baby Carter
What's the problem Peyton? Why the face? (Hi Stelly - you made the blog again!)

More mischief with Abigail.
Poor Peyton - your brother gets to have birthdays too....
Nighttime geocaching with Cubbie and Little SmileyLion
The whole nighttime caching crew.
Aunt Mandy with baby Carter. Super Cheeks!

And back home on JetBlue. Only 30 minutes late this trip. Miss the family already.

New England Rewind

How often do things go according to plan? And when they do are they worth reading about? Depends on what you planned, but my trip to Massachusetts and Vermont to visit friends and family was fantastic. I'm sorry I missed out seeing a few of you - but I have the perfect destination for any of the New Englanders once winter comes. Come on down to Florida!

Since a previous post had the baby making a "fiend" face - I felt I needed to put a nicer one. 2 1/2 year olds are fun and learn many bad things from uncles.

This is not one of them. This makes me tense but the baby likes doing the Shake-n-Bake on the beach in Mass!

One of my obsessions during the vacation was to find a geocache each day. These are "treasures" hidden around the globe. You can find out where there are on http://www.geocaching.com/ and then use a GPS to find them. Here Brian and I search the rolling hills near Newburyport (with success).

Since she could walk, Peyton has marveled at the Turkeys that live outside her window. They roost in the pines nearby and when they feed in the lawn, she'll go from window to window to see what they are doing.

And sometimes she plays "Babyzilla".

Back out at Rockport, we check out the lighthouse and the old quarry 1/4 miles from the ocean. We're as high up as it looks.

New baby is thinking "Please don't blog this". Poking the baby does not make him crawl. It's been 10 days since he was born. Do something exciting!

Jacob, Abigail, Tiff and I went geocaching to find Abigail's birthday cache. The fun is going to places you might not ever know about otherwise.

I rented the Ford "Funion" in Mass to get me to Vt. I dunno what it is really but the kids got a kick out of me driving around in a pumpkinmobile. It was so energy inefficient that even the picture drains the amount of space I have on this blog for photos.

In the hills of Grafton, VT is the Starry Mountain Alpaca Farm run by friends John and Kim. It's the most ideal spot I can think of. They grow their own food, raise the Alpacas for wool, live off the grid using solar and they have DSL! The animals are beautiful if not territorial as I found out while feeding one of them. She made a cute little squeaking sound which I thought was a happy noise until she sneezed/spit the food back in my face and all over my shirt. I was lucky, as it was recently swallowed and had not been dredged up from the rumen where it would have come out hot and gooey - which is how I like Krispy Kreme Donuts - not Alpaca spit.

I love this picture. It's even better in person.

Bill, me, John, Kim and Sandy the barkless dog (thanks to a deterring citronella spray)

Had a nice 2 day visit with Bill who darted around Vermont with me. We even went antiquing (for Smurfs - kids lov 'em...) Bill and I visited my old stomping grounds. The view is from the edge of Lowell Lake in Londonderry where I was the Park Ranger for 6 years.

There's a beautiful log cabin at the state park with requisite Moose head. I do miss the place.

The gang gathered at the Inn at Long Trail in Sherburne where everyone seemed to have a Guinness - but I a Margarita. From left to right (Benjamin, Amy, Annie, Lisa P, Mrs. S from the witness protection program, Debbie, Steve, Sharon and Survivalman Mike. Bill and Pete in the front.

I don't know what i did wrong, but click on the picture and it looks like I am getting a serious scolding from Lisa.

I always said "Home is where the mom is" and these days I sometimes feel a little homeless. But here in Plymouth, VT, where mom worked for 6 years is where she is in spirit to me and I can't help but associate her with this quintessential Vermont scene. Mountains, rolling hills, pasture and gigantic Swiss Rolls.

Back in Mass to visit Lil Sister in Plymouth, Ma where husband Josh and Estelle are searching for frogs.

Found one.

And Stelly and I rounded out the week with another cache on the 9th straight day. Fun little spot and cool little walking bridge!

And just to come full circle - My final evening at Brian and Tara's before heading home where I was treated to the Boot Scootin Boogy.

Can't wait to come back. Can't wait for you to come down.

Signs of Laziness

Jungle Pete is returning North - if only for a few days to visit the family and anyone else he can round up. He's also practicing speaking in the third person for no apparent reason. Pete can't leave without writing one more time, but seeing as he's been tying up loose ends at work before he goes, he hasn't had time to put together a cohesive thought. So Pete presents to you a few of the crazy signs he's seen on my exploits. I mean his exploits. They didn't really fit anywhere else so here they are.
Is it me or does the proprietor seem a little peeved with the police? Hey Police! You are on notice! (Naples, FL)

This one was put up after a raccoon swung a club and lost the grip, sending a 9-iron through the windshield of a BMW. (Cape Coral, FL)

I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't know if this is a goof or if there are "land crabs" I need to worry about running over. I'd hate to think I was needlessly concerned. (Hollywood, FL)

It's hard enough to go 12 MPH, but this is impossible. The squirrel looks a bit flat already. (Punta Gorda, FL)

This one I think I may have posted before - but it bears repeating. (Did I say bear and but in the same sentence.) (LaBelle, FL)
This is a bonus. This is called the Cape Coral Tower of Terror. It was constructed by Rotary volunteers and has withstood hurricanes, high winds and poor construction. It's not trick photography. It really looks like an Eischer drawing. It's listing and shakes when you go up it. How it has not collapsed is beyond me.

Ok - this is perhaps the worst entry to date, but it's really just an announcement of my temporary departure from Florida. I'm looking forward to seeing new nephew Carter and the rest of the nieces and nephews. I'll be in Vermont on Thursday 9/6 for anyone who wishes to gather at the Long Trail Pub and Brewery in Bridgewater, VT.