Death by butterfly?

I stalk my mosquito net. Looking for any unlucky fucker that thinks he's invisible against the white gridlock pattern. Come, my pretty, your destiny awaits. And so help me if I find you...

My legs are absolutely covered in bites, and now they transmit radio signal to all the little critters at work to surround me when I saddle, brush, lead the horses... I am scratching all day. Need to take spray with me. I've said it before... It's just lucky I'm not here to impress anyone.

The Christmas songs started when I was saddling. My workmate J has a thing for them, and actually ENJOYS listening to them. Freak. He has a medley that goes on seemingly forever of cheesy songs that I would never choose upon my ears, and then has the audacity to plug his phone into the main speakers of work to play it in the hut where I sit for lunch and the guests wait for their rides. Not sure which is more horrific - his playlist or Mariah Carey's Christmas hits.

Ended up being in the saddle for 5 hours today, had two 2-hour rides that kinda tired me out (there really isn't enuf land for 2 hours of riding) - although the first Canadian couple were older and fine to get off n rest a while. The second Canadian couple were younger and I had to repeat some trails a little. Didn't actually think they were going to tip me, as the girl answered, "it was... interesting" when I asked if she enjoyed herself, but I ended up with $20 in my pocket so it's not all bad.

That same girl must be the first person I've ever met that is scared of butterflies. Yeah, those harmless things that flutter about and rarely come too close in fear of our gargantuan arms smashing their delicate legs apart or rubbing off the special life dust from their wings... Those things I love! I will always remember when I was at my friend's funeral and one landed on my shoulder. Special creatures.

Actually, when I asked that same couple if they'd done any boat trips around the island, I was told, "Well, she doesn't like being on boats much." Shortly after, we were in the water and one of the horses was groaning (they sometimes do that in the water). I tried to explain it was natural, that it's just the air passing through their lungs differently... she started panicking, "But I just don't like it, I don't like it!" Really? Geez. So really, it wasn't a surprise her husband kinda pushed the money into my hand when she wasn't around. Imagine being married to that. SHE'S a special creature.

The rain that I woke to this morning thankfully cleared, but made sure the mud start hard n fast to all the areas we needed to walk through. Only those areas of course... mother fucker. Makes life so damn difficult.

My last ride was late, and as a result they kinda missed the sunset, not that they could see it much anyway behind the clouds. I had to saddled two extra horses as their friends decided to come. They were from San Fran, kinda ditzy but seemed to love the experience. We even gave them a discount. So I was kinda peeved they walked away without giving any tip. I had no time to chat really, as I was already working overtime and needed to unsaddle and let the horses go for the evening, but even when I came back down to the bar they'd left me nothing. Thanks. I always wonder about Americans that don't tip. Was I really not worth it?

Turns out it is a Dutch public holiday today, Kingdom Day or something (asked someone and they had no idea what it was about) but that means I get extra money for working a public holiday. Woot! Still haven't gotten the extra cash for working St Maarten's Day but apparently that's on its way.

Spoke to the bosses on the way home today about my future plans, and how I was liking the place. I told them through no fault of their own I would be leaving sooner than later, because I wanted to go home to my boyfriend and be a boring sappy girl. A said she understood that I shouldn't let something go that I felt so connected with, I imagined she would side with me being a woman n all, however I didn't tell them when exactly I would be going. That's mainly because I don't know.

But at least telling them is the first step. Then it's only 2 more weeks and I actually have to make the decision for real. Was looking at flights just today actually. Still seems to be cheapest to go back to LA via Puerto Rico, and could be cool to see a bit of it. Otherwise, it's just other US cities and I'm not really that excited to do that again. Was inspired to go live in Canada for a while today, speaking to all these Canadians. And they say work is plentiful, and my boy's sister lives there in a really horsey area... signs maybe??

The bosses have started locking Polly up in the day, maybe to stop her coming to the farm? Bless her, she was having such a good time chilling out there. She still loves me, I know it. They can't keep us apart.