In The Stars Villa in St John, USVI

17/12/2023

Note to all my friends
Had an email catastrophe last week - someone deleted my Comcast email account by mistake. 7 hours on the phone with Comcast and the final answer was nothing is recoverable.
So if you have kept in touch with me by that email, it is no more. If you want my new email ( and haven't already gotten it from me, as I was able to find part of my address book to notify) then contact me thru Messenger and I will give it to you.

And word to the wise - don't use an email someone else has control over!!!

15/03/2023

Had a visitor this morning off our back deck - somewhat unusual in St John but getting more common with no natural predators here.

07/03/2023

Doug put some sugar out for the birdies this morning!

01/03/2023

It’s a beautiful day here - thought these might warm you up! Doug has bee busy planting the entrance and the colors are great. And the view from the pool never disappoints

29/01/2023

This is parked behind our house this morning - guess I better clean the house, looks like company is coming!

23/01/2023

Here is Doug the Tile Master cutting tile today!

23/01/2023

Hi Everyone
We are back on St John and back to work on the house - Doug is finishing the tile floor in the kitchen/great room and screened deck. Stay tuned for photos.
And we have installed Solar on our roof - a big enough system to run the whole house so no more dealing with the frequent power outages here. Used ProSolar and we were very happy with their professionalism, and speed of work. They showed up the day they told us they would and finished in just a couple days!
Can't show photos of that as its on the roof (lol) but its working great so far.

23/01/2023

https://www.briggsandstratton.com/na/en_us/product-catalog/generators/portable-generators/6250-watt-portable-generator.html

For Sale - On St John -Brand new Briggs and Stratton generator - see link for details - purchased last summer (June 2022) at Home Depot but never used. And we have recently installed solar and will not need!
Current HD price on St Thomas is $949. Asking $800 obo.

22/10/2022

Doug and I are back in NC till January so you won’t see any progress updates for awhile. Enjoy your holidays everyone and see you next year!

04/09/2022

Earl came to visit today - but he left a beautiful sunset

06/08/2022

Night blooming cactus - photo taken at 9pm

25/07/2022

The kitchen is almost done ! Just need to clean and roll in the stove and fridge!

10/07/2022

Had a visitor this morning!

07/04/2022

New A/C unit for second bedroom is in and working

07/04/2022

More kitchen photos - stove will go under the window and Fridge will go where the screen door is standing now in second photo

07/04/2022

Second bath is coming together - shower pan has been poured and Doug will begin to tile tomorrow

07/04/2022

New laundry room is done and we hung the door we made yesterday! Doug and I built it together - proud of the fact we didn't have even one argument!

04/03/2022

The pool is ready and waiting! I took my first dip in over 5 years today and it felt so good.

24/02/2022

Look!!! See that green thing going into pool? That’s a hose! We are finally putting water in the pool. It required all new plumbing and pumps and more than one leak was found. But it’s looking good now. We have had a fair amount of rain lately and cisterns pretty full so we are hoping to be able to fill without buying water. Will update with photos when full.

18/02/2022

The first of the kitchen cabinets went up AND the outside of the house is getting painted. Also notice the new windows on the second floor. Stuff is happening!

16/01/2022

For anyone wondering.

13/01/2022

We’re BACK! Went home to NC for the holidays but arrived back in St John couple days ago. And Doug is already hard at work on the pool. Look forward to swimming in it soon.

19/11/2021

I apologize for not posting in a while. We have been back on island since Oct 6 and working pretty much every day - well I work half day and Doug works the whole day - often 10 hours. But a lot of what he's been doing doesn't lend itself to photos. Running wires in the walls, hanging doors, putting together cabinetry, and spending several hours down inside the cisterns cleaning the walls. That was a little claustrophobic for him! Its not very exciting. But things are moving along. We will have our turkey here next Thursday and then fly back to NC on Dec 1 to be home for Christmas. Then we'll head back here sometime early January for a few more months. Hopefully to finish. Here are some pics though of our progress and a wonderful video of a feathered visitor who keeps an eye on Doug.
Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas/ Happy holidays to all.

19/11/2021

And here is a friend who came to check on Doug and his progress. There has been a pair of kestrels around our house for several years now and they nested in the spring. We think this may be one of the juveniles. He/she looks a little lost and confused. But wasn't more than 8 ft from Doug and calmly sat there while he filmed for 2 minutes. I think of it as an honor when wild creatures like this chose to come close or to live near my house.

19/11/2021

Before and after pics of one of the countertops in the bathrooms on lower level. They had water and makeup stains - on all 4 counters. I sanded, stained and varnished all 4 and think they look great.

19/11/2021

The deck is on the upper west bedroom. This deck had been torn off by a mini tornado that came thru during Hurricane Irma. But Doug and his friend Shiloh have put a small deck / balcony on so it is now safe to open the glass doors.

19/11/2021

So this is the cypress to be used on the roof over the front deck. It has been stored for a few years and needed cleaning - my job! Cleaned off 120 pieces - whew!

19/11/2021

This is the view from the back side of the house - that's Jost Van D**e, British Virgin Islands in the distance and Great Thatch Cay is the land closer to us. Cleaned up the landscaping a little so we could have this view as well as Coral Bay from the front

22/10/2021