Jar full of frogs

It's raining tonight and I noticed tiny frogs all over the driveway and the street. They're fast and despite their small size they can jump a couple feet, which makes them really fun to catch! They look like coquis but I have never heard a coqui frog in the neighborhood which makes me suspect they are greenhouse frogs.

The coqui frog, of course, is a tiny invasive specie from Puerto Rico that has made a big stink on the island because of its loud 80 decibel chirp. Hawaii has tons of plants and animals that were transported here purposely or accidentally that pose a threat to our delicate ecosystem. I haven't come across anything too interesting yet, though I did uncover a blind snake once while planting pineapples. It is a felony to posses a snake in Hawaii because of the harm they could cause to the environment. But blind snakes only get a few inches long and they eat termites (not native birds) so I don't think anyone minds them.

Cowabunga, dude!

One of my childhood fantasies was to ride my skateboard in a half pipe. And when I was a kid in small town Indiana, skateparks and half pipes were few and far between. But I finally got my chance today. It turns out one of my co-workers has a half pipe in her backyard! I don't know any fancy tricks, and my board is probably 15 years old. But after about three turns I started wondering how much it would cost to build one in my own backyard. My dad does have a complete set of tools.

Dory goes exploring

Korben, Ken's son, hunted down his first geocache last week and he took this fish from the cache. Apparently, the toy was originally stashed in the Sierra Nevadas by an 8-year-old girl. Dory was hidden with a tag that said she wanted to live somewhere warm where she could swim with other fish and with people. She got her wish Saturday at Ho`okena when Dory, Jim and I went snorkeling together. Korben re-hid Dory somewhere on the island Sunday.

I am not a geocacher, though it seems like a cool hobby. I found a geocache in my neighborhood per Ken's instructions. In fact, I saw a family from Ohio seeking the treasure earlier today.

Venting

This is probably the closest I'll ever get to the source of Kilauea's lava flow. Jim and I hiked 4.2 miles each way through a lush fern forest in Glenwood. We gazed at the rainforest's canopy above, noticed wild orchids and vines growing up ohia trees, and tossed rocks into a seemingly endless volcanic crack in the earth. But the trek's greatest reward was the view of steam rising from Pu`u O`o vent only one mile away. Temption beckoned me to get closer, but common sense and threatening words on a warning sign prevailed: "Attention: please stay near the forest edge. New lavas can be unstable and dangerous and you are a long way from help. Access prohibited."

Lava has been flowing from the Pu`u O`o vent since 1983. Sometimes you can see lava streaming down the hillside from Chain of Craters Road, othertimes there is a good view of it dumping into the ocean, and occasionally you can walk right up to a surface flow and poke it with a stick. Right now, lava is flowing mostly through underground lava tubes, and you can't get close to the flow into the ocean because the new land being created is unstable and it is expected to collapse into the ocean. But that can change at any time. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park updates their lava hotline daily: (808) 985-6000.

Stop, grow, stop, grow



A bougainvillea bush is growing up the post and out the top of the a sign at Border's.

Fun with fish

The surf is still flat so today was Two Steps revisited. Jim and I snorkeled and Sarah and Justin did some spearfishing. Actually, they did a lot of spearfishing. The two of them were out there for over four hours. Sarah got a goat fish, a kala (onion fish) two uhu (parrotfish) and a Palani (knife fish) She had a whole fan club of tourists gawking at her dead fish and spearguns. I'm gonna have to try spearfishing someday, but for now I am sticking to picture taking. (you don't have to clean and gut pictures)

An Exciting Swim

I decided to go for a swim after work tonight in Kailua Bay. I got past the end of the pier and as I neared the milk carton buouy, a white triangle popped out of the water about 20 feet in front of me. Uh-oh. I scanned the water and after a minute I could see the shadow of a large creature rising to the surface. Two black fins emerged from the ocean and I was immediatly releaved to see it was only a manta ray. What looked like a shark fin must have been the white bottom of the manta's wing. So I watched the manta for a few minutes, and I continued my swim when I discovered another larger manta. His wingspan was probably about 8 feet, though I have read their wingspan can get up to 25 feet across! These alien-like but graceful creatures are filter feeders that use "arms" to push plankten into their huge mouths. Sorry I didn't have my camera with but you can see some manta pics here.

Bang

Fireworks light up Kailua Bay. They sure are beautiful over the ocean, but every 4th I can't help but miss the Midnight Parade in downtown Porter, Indiana, and the weekends spent at Toadstool's cottege in Michigan with my best pals, my old kayak, grilling, ice cold beer and the Metzger's industrial-sized margarita machine. We also had Shelton fireworks. The HUGE warehouse was 1/2 mile from my house and I always wanted to watch the place burn down. (it never did)

I thinkIndependance Day is the same all across America with friends and family, boats and water, parades, meat and beer and fire. We sure are lucky to be in America.

Where's the beef?

I left the house this morning just as my dad threw bacon into the frying pan. I had to get up to Waimea so I didn't have time to wait. On my way to Parker Ranch's rodeo in Waimea I thought of nothing but meat. And why shouldn't I? A rodeo at the nation's largest privately-owned cattle ranch, ya know there's gonna be some grilling going on. Imagine my surprise when I read the concession stand menu: sushi, bentos, pork adobo. Don't they know this is America? Don't they know it's the 4th of July? Where's the meat on a stick? Where's the steak? Where's the shish kabobs, the corn dogs, the sweet corn? I settled for chili served on rice. It DID have beef in it.


I happen to love America. Most folks are well aware of that. I was blessed to get a taste of some great patriotic music this afternoon by Mele O Kona, our local chapter of Sweet Adelines. Jerri and Barbara, fellow WHT comrades, sing in the barbershop chorus. They performed the national anthem under this great big American flag. I love big flags. I love America.

Butterflies of the Sea

Don't they call tuna the chicken of the sea? Above are some Raccoon Butterflyfish we saw in Honaunau this morning at the snorkel spot known as "two steps." We saw Tom Finney down there sitting on his okole, enjoying the first day of retirement. I don't normally see bums at Two Steps, I hope Tom's presence doesn't start a downward trend at the popular snorkel/dive spot.

Here is a puffer fish:


Here's a Yellow Trumpetfish:

A Day in the Sun

Jim and I spent the day at my favorite beach, Makalawena. The water was surprisingly cloudy for snorkeling, but we still checked out a couple of sea arches that lie off the north end of the beach. In the winter, the surf occasionally breaks in the sandy area of the beach. You can catch a right and take it all the way across the bay.

What I really like about Makalawena is its remoteness and natural beauty. (no parking lots, bathrooms or crowds here) Because the clearance on my Liberty just doesn't cut it on the Makalawena road we drove down to Mahai`ulas (Kekaha Kai State Park) and hiked the 15 minute lava trail to Maks. And all you non-4X4-ers will be pleased to know they recently fixed the road to the state park so even rental cars can get down there again. That makes sense to me, I always feel bad for the tourists walking across lava fields in the hot sun to get to a state park. All state parks should be accessible.

We finished off the day with some ice cold Coronas at Jim's house. He made me a Mexican meal of tacos, refried beans and his "world-famous gringo guacamole."

Here's a honu we saw: