Pigs on the beach

I have been on Helene for over 4 ½ years now, and sometimes I forget that things can be weird here when compared with our ways in the states. You probably don't usually see pigs rooting in the sand on the beach when you run in the morning in the states. Not to mention the cows with their ropes wrapped around their horns wandering on the sand, in the bush, through your yard… The noisy multitude of chickens roaming everywhere should be food for the starving dogs limping up and down the path, right? Well, that is what I thought, too, until I learned recently that it is precisely because of their roaming that they can't be eaten…their meat is just too tough to chew upon. How about something that is very strange to us, but is unnoticeable to anyone in the states? Like a small pickup driving by in front of your house? I about fell out of my seat when I saw that happen several weeks ago! That sight came just days after the heart-wrenching sight of a large bulldozer chomping its way up from our dock, through the school fence and over the top of the bushes and small trees that dared to get in its path. We heard the "beep beep beep" sound familiar to anyone who has heard a truck back up, but completely out of context here on the island. Well, now there is a road cut up the side of the hill behind us, where a new cell tower has been built to provide clear cell service to the islanders, who for the most part don't have indoor bathrooms, or a kitchen sink. All in the name of progress, right?