Here comes Halloween...

The fun is just getting started. Carolyn threw a fun Halloween bash at her place last night. We showed Korben no mercy during a water fight in the pool, ate junk food and carved pumpkins. Ken gets my vote for creepiest pumpkin, see above.

Sargent Slaughter and Miss Indiana

Exploring Puuanahulu

Saturday brought another hiking adventure. We parked Chris's truck on the lower road above Keawaiki and entered the point in the GPS. We parked my car off the upper road at Puuanahulu and began our seven mile journey. This uncertain hike worked out a bit better than the one in Pahala two weeks ago. The Jeep road we started on went farther than the map showed so we didn't have to traverse any a`a, and the last three miles brought easy hiking across a 1959 pahoehoe flow. My favorite terrain was the deep, fluffy dirt at the base of the hillside. It felt like walking through powder snow.

We saw some wicked wiliwili trees and tasted the fruit from a lama tree. The entire Kona landscape would have been covered with these native trees at one time, yet in seven years this is the first one I remember seeing. Another highlight was exploring a lava tube by the light of the GPS unit and a digital camera. They provided just enough light to keep us from hitting our head on the ceiling or stepping on goat skulls.

Inside the lava tube- note brown goat skull with horns in center:

Perils of Paradise

Living in the tropics has its disadvantages. I've never considered ants to be more than a nuisance. That's before the power windows broke in my Jeep. While troubleshooting the intermittent problem, I suspected a loose wire in the fuse box. When the windows became stuck open I broke down and took the car into the dealership. The cause of the problem? Ants ate the relay for the windows.

I had been fighting ants in the Jeep for a few weeks prior. The neighbors were probably growing concerned by my singing of Metallica's Creeping Death (Die by my hand...)every evening while I smashed ants and sprayed poison in the car. I never connected the broken windows and the ants. Apparently, ants eating the electronic components in cars is not uncommon in Hawaii. I've been told to leave a perimeter between my vehicle and any bushes, and not to park under the fountain trees at work.

Ant powder on the fuse box in the engine compartment:

The shortest distance between two points...

...is a straight line.

But the shortest isn't always the best, as evidenced by Saturday's hiking adventure. Chris spotted ancient ruins on a map in a remote area below Pahala town more than six years ago and he's been aching to get down there ever since. He attempted the trek once with a guy who turned back because he wasn't prepared for the amount of "hardship" he'd have to endure on this particular hike.

We started on a road at the edge of a mac nut farm, but the road didn't go the direction we wanted to head so we bushwhacked for three miles through six-foot tall grass, thorn bushes, weeds that conceal cracks in the lava, rough a`a lava, and finally my favorite, the weed covered a`a field. According to the GPS, we kept a very straight line all the way to our destination. No wasted effort; that made us proud.

We were disappointed when we found the spot, however. The coastline was beautiful but ordinary. The ruins consisted of a few rock walls littered with old beer bottles, an interesting rock table and piles of opihi shells- nothing we haven't seen before. Chris was expecting a canoe launch site, fresh water, trees, something "magical." To add insult to injury, a boat load of fishermen and all their junk littered the cliff. So much for going "where no man has gone before."

We were relieved to find a road and decided to hike that out, even if it meant going five miles out of the way. Instead, it lead right back to the orchard and nut farm. It was the very road we started out on! Why did we ever stray from that path? All I could do was laugh.

Don't let this dismal report fool you. We both had fun...good times, good company. It gives new meaning to the phrase, "the joy in in the journey."

Making use of a stone table and chairs

This is where we decided to stray from the road and head through the woods. Why did I decide to wear a tank top and shorts?

I'm not a prophet

Chicago Cubs just lost to the Diamondbacks. They won't be going to the World Series this year even though I insisted with absolute certainty they would go and they would win.

I believed so strongly that this was the year. I'm not a huge sports fan, but Wrigley Field often beckons me. I even have dreams about it. When I stepped foot into that stadium this July after years of yearning to arrive at the address of 1060 West Addison I was overwhelmed with emotion. I believed with every bone in my body the curse had been broken and the Cubs would win the World Series this year. Isn't 99 years long enough to wait?

My soul is in anguish. How long, O Lord, how long? (Psalm 6:3)

Mauka Makai Makes Triumphant Return

It was a Friday like any other. 100% Kona Coffee cooled in my cup while I answered phone calls and sketched out ad layouts. I took pleasure in the Friday jeans I was wearing, a promise of the weekend to come.

Then, unexpectedly, a familiar toot, toot, toot, rang out. It wasn't the honk, honk, honk, honk of the new Kosher Taco wagon. Instead, it was Mauka Makai Catering wagon's unmistakable call to breakfast. Mark has successfully sold the business! Pictured above is Melissa, the new proprietor. The legend continues. My first meal was spaghetti Alfredo with chicken breast.

Ocean Fun

manta ray
I rarely snorkel without a camera- that's my shark insurance. I figure, as long as I'm carrying one, I'll never get a good face-to-face encounter. Chris and I went snorkeling in Keauhou Bay Saturday and when he commented that I didn't have my camera I knew we'd see something good. Off the Sheraton in about 50 feet of water was a manta ray swimming along the reef. We free-dived down to get a better look at the creature. It was bigger than I am and it struck me that an animal so odd could be so graceful. I can't decide if it reminds me of a space ship or of something prehistoric. Just when we decided to hele on we spotted another manta, more than twice the size of the first. I swam down to within about 15 feet of it and I estimate it had a 15 foot wing span. It was HUGE!

broken stuff
Why wasn't I carrying a camera, you may wonder? It's broken. After being dropped down a flight of stairs during last year's superbowl, soaked in a flood in my tent in Waimanu Valley, and carted through the Grand Canyon, my trusty Canon Powershot went kaput. I purchased one on ebay, and it's broken, too. I also broke my ipod on the same day as my camera. Apparently, ipods don't like to be operated above 10,000 feet. I knew that, why didn't I listen? I grieved the loss for three weeks, then I ordered the new 80-gig ipod classic. It'll be here Wednesday.

jelly fish
In other news, I had my first jelly fish sting today. I went for a swim in Kailua Bay after work. I had just turned around at the 3/4 mile buoy when the thing stuck to my face. I splashed water on myself to make sure it wasn't stuck on me anymore and enjoyed a tingly, stinging sensation the rest of the way back. It wasn't any worse than a bee sting, it just covered a bigger area. You can see red marks where one tentacle got my forehead, one got me across my chin, and the last one went from my shoulder down into my arm pit. Chris has good advice on such matters. If you're gonna be stupid, you've gotta to be tough. But in all honesty, it wasn't that bad.