December 4, 2015
A friend has visited my property to take photos of the tortoise free, cleared 0.85 acres.
I see now that it's been a full year since my most recent photos.

Bottlebrush Road has been hit by 10 inches of rain in previous few days.  I understand that it has become so muddy that my friends had to park in a neighbor's driveway.	Here's another view looking south on Bottlebrush.	The waterpipe feeding other houses (and soon mine) was exposed during the clearing.	It's nice to see that although Bottlebrush road is covered with mud, what appears to be the beginnings of my driveway is dry.
I didn't understand what kind of fencing would preclude a tortoise digging its way back.  Now I understand.  I see this plastic dug around the clared land.	Here it is - cleared land.  I have to say I'm happy to see the pine trees.  The ones in this image aren't the most attractive on the property, but at least they're there. With a couple years of water during the dry season and pest control they may fill in too.	The next step as I understand it will be to bring in water, electricity and a septic system.  Assuming no new barriers, there should be some beginnings of construction here shortly.	Ceremoniously, I'll be planting a few items on both sides of the surrounding plastic on my visit 12/14/15.  Bromeliads and succulents should easily survive whatever dry season happens before I get down there and I expect to be there once every few weeks from now on anyway. The first tree to plant is my Puerto Rican coconut