A bizarre blessing

Chis came across an unusual find while doing yard work yesterday. A poor turkey had run into a little trouble while flying through or roosting in our banana trees and it hanged itself. It was hard for me to believe, but there I was staring at this turkey hanging from the tree. It was pretty injured but still alive, so Chris cleaned it and we had a nice turkey dinner with mashed potatoes and fresh green beans from our garden. Money doesn't grow on trees, but apparently, sometimes, free groceries do. I was also struck by how colorful the features were up close.

I never realized how gorgeous turkey feathers are.

Miscellaneous Stuffs

Chris, Christoph and I camped on the beach at Kiholo Bay a few weeks ago, and my parents joined us for part of the evening by the campfire. We ate s'mores, had good company and burned a bunch of scrap lumber that was piling up in the back yard. Later in the evening, the stars were incredible and it was so peaceful to lay in the tent and listen to the waves. I have to say I am impressed by the changes the state has implemented at Kiholo - limiting the number of campers and keeping trucks off the beach. It's not remote camping by any means, but it's such a better experience than it was before when hundreds of people were bootleg camping and trashing the place.

We pulled a hand of bananas down the other day. I'll bet it weight 60 pounds.

 

I got a new tire for my dirt bike, but not before I used up the little bit of rubber that was left on the old one.

Random Photos

I haven't had much time to put into the blog lately so I'll throw a couple of random photos up here to give folks something new to look at.

On a recent hike neark Kealakekua Bay.

Homemade blueberry muffins for breakfast. My mom's are still better.

Driving home on Saddle Road Saturday after dirt biking Mauna Kea.

Tennis Ball Cannon

Good things big and small

We have planted 77 pineapples in the past 8 months or so. Normally, it takes two years to get a ripe pineapple from a plant, but for some reason, one of our plants flowered and produced a pineapple almost immediately. It is smaller than a softball, but we'll take it!

What's more interesting is the humongous hand of bananas our dwarf banana tree produced. We propped the stalk up with a board and finally, the stalk bent over from the weight of the bananas anyway. We don't have a scale but the hand weighs at least 50 pounds.

A cute, premature pineapple from our patch.

I could barely lift this hand of bananas for the photo.

These boots were made for walkin'

In 2006 I hiked the Grand Canyon in inferior hiking boots and I lost my two big toenails as a result. One still has not grown back properly. As soon as I returned from that trip I went down to see Jim the French horn player at Jim's shoes and he sold me the best pair of boots I have ever owned. They made it through rivers and lava tubes, over mountains and to the bottom of valleys and canyons. They have performed hours of yard work and travelled to several states, two continents and even Japan. They kept up with Chris through our courtship and through almost four years of marriage, while Chris burned through many pairs of combat boots. There is no way to replace a pair of boots like these, so when the day came, I went down to see Jim and purchased another pair just like the last. I wonder where these new boots will take me?

Irish Washerwoman

Here's a fiddle tune for St. Patrick's Day. Be sure to notice the beautiful Celtic sweater my mom knitted for me as a Christmas present. I am so proud of her handiwork, it's the most gorgeous sweater I have ever seen.

Giving is fun

We planted a tomato bush from seed and the plant just keeps on giving. The funny part of this is I do not like tomatoes and Chris has determined he is allergic to them. So we've been giving them away right and left. It's really rewarding to watch folks enjoy these tomatoes. I gave some away at orchestra and people were waving them around, eating them onsite and yelling across the parking lot about how delicious they were. Many have told me they are the best tomatoes they have ever eaten. In case you want to try some for yourself, they are called Better Boy Hybrid. Find the seeds today at a store near you.

My Friends on Rainy Street Like Steak, Too

Chris, Christoph, Ben and I attended the Parker Ranch rodeo in Waimea on Labor Day weekend. It felt so good to be surrounded by mountains, cheering fans and dust as we watched barrel racing, roping and bull riding. I have always been amazed by cows, the magnificent creatures that turn grass into steaks.

On somewhat of a related topic, I made a major accomplishment today: I watched the final episodes of King of the Hill. It's my all time favorite TV show that went off the air a few years ago. I've been watching the episodes mostly in sequence on Netflix so I could catch the ones I missed on TV, and I can now say I have watched every single one. I saved episode 20 from season 13 for my grand finale because of the great topic: it was all about Bobby's skills of judging cuts of meat. He and his dad, Hank, finally found something in common, a love for steak. It couldn't have ended better as the sun set over Rainy Street in Arlen, Texas, Bobby and Hank grilled side by side, and all the neighbors came to enjoy the sumptuous steaks. All was right with Texas and America that day, I tell you what. But I did feel a little sad, as if I was saying goodbye to a group of close friends. We're cancelling the watch now portion of Netflix now that it costs extra, so I'll have to go back to watching the first six seasons on DVD, the rest were never released.





After attending the rodeo, I wished I was a cowgirl.

Blowing Up Some Cheap Chinese Junk

Americans are terrible consumers. With all the practice we have at shopping you'd think we'd be good at it (my mom sure is!) but too many of us make purchase decisions based on price alone and we completely ignore quality. This has made airplane travel miserable because airlines provide minimum service so they can compete on price. It has also resulted in stores packed with cheap junk that we insist on filling our houses with.

The fridge in our old house only lasted seven years. My parents' water heater lasted about that long. Chris installed a brand new Chinese piston into a 50cc scooter, and it wore out after one week. Next, the windings in the motor of our Shop Vac melted after less than two years of ownership. So to get full enjoyment out of our Shop Vac, we sucked up some gasoline into the machine and watched it explode.

Safety tip: If you want to vacuum up gasoline with a Shop Vac, take a few steps back.

All eyes on the sky

Kona had its first air show over Memorial Day weekend, and since Kona doesn't really have any events to speak of, this was a big deal. Several military planes were on display as well as some old Army Jeeps, the first airplane flown by Hawaiian Airlines, and more. The show included Melissa and Rex Pemberton, who jumped out of an airplane and "flew around" in bat suits, an F-16 demonstration, a WWII plane that sounded just like the movies and other cool stuff. I am sure the show was small compared to those on the mainland, but there was enough to keep us entertained for most of the day and I have to hand it to the organizer of Hawaii Airshow Invitational for putting so much work into bringing something like this to our area. I hope they do it again.


Chris lays in the back of the KC-136 Stratotanker while he figures out the controls used for refueling planes in mid air.


A B-1 Bomber provides refuge from the hot sun.

Hau`oli Makahiki Hou and Hau`oli La Hanau

Today I am celebrating a new year as well as a birthday- Andi's blog turns 5 today. We went to a fantastic party last night to mark the occasion. Well, the party was about the new year and not so much about the blog. Hours of fireworks, visiting and eating ensued. We ate bratwurst, Italian sausage, pizza, sheep sausage, fillet mignon, ono, smoked salmon, Korean chicken, chilli, and well, you get the idea.

New for this year's fireworks display was a contraption Chris put together using a 2X4 and a motor taken out of an old movie projector that he powered by a car battery. We had endless joy spinning piccolo peats, fountains and crackle strings from his device. It was such a hit, I am sure this creation will make appear again in July 4th.

Love Seat

My dad made us a totally awesome glider swing for Christmas. It was my mom's idea. Now we can sit on the lanai, tell stories, hold hands and watch the sunset. It's such a cool present! I guess I've always liked swings.

Christmas Comes to Kona

The Nazarene Church held a walk-through nativity where travelers witnessed an angel announcing some big news to Mary, angels proclaimed the birth of the Messiah to shepherds while they watched their flocks, and finally Mary, Joseph and wise men worshipped a baby in a manger. They did a great job of putting it all together, the sheep were hilarious, and it was a welcomed break from all the Santa Clauses, snowmen and "happy holidays" greetings that try their best to compete with the true meaning of Christmas.

Abundance

My parents joined forces with Chris and I and we had a big garage sale last weekend. The garage is full, our closets are full and we felt it was time to get rid of some of this junk. It's funny because neither Chris or I like to shop- how do we end up with all this stuff in our house? It's a funny problem to have too much. It seems strange to complain about having abundance.

Chris has a theory that time and possessions are inversely proportional. Po sessions take time. Time to use, time to store, time to fix. When we go camping all we have is a little camp stove and some food, and the amount of free time we have is astounding. Meaningful conversation, listening to crickets, finding God's beauty in shimmering cottonwood leaves...that sure beats spending the evening sorting out plastic junk from Walmart. So, we're happy to clear out the closets.

Chris makes excellent garage sale signs.

My dad decided to part with Rudolph and his sleigh.

The Circle of Life

Chris prefers to hike in combat boots and he buys them by the box full. On August 23 of last year, Chris pulled a shiny, new pair out of the box and headed on a hiking adventure up the mountain. The boots had a great life, but after a year, the lava has worn the soles smooth. It's time to retire them and reach into that box for a fresh pair. Good times ahead, new boots!

Lucky, lucky girl


I am reaping the benefits of the labor Chris and my dad put into a special wood project. A while back, Chris started going to my parent's house once a week to work in my dad's wood shop while I was at orchestra practice. The result is a beautiful and comfortable, one-of-a-kind massage table. My mom even helped with the upholstery.

The table is contoured like a body so the back is in a comfortable position, arm rests fold in for easy storage, not to mention it has style! After we finished it, Chris organized a couple's massage class at our house. Lora had some great instruction for us, and now when I come home from work with tired shoulders and a stiff neck I am ready to receive a treat!

Dunk the Editor

West Hawaii Today's own editor, Reed Flickinger, and publisher, Rick Asbach, and other WHT staff, just agreed to be in the dunk tank 5:00 p.m. Friday in the Safeway parking lot to raise money for West Hawaii Special Olympics. It's a great cause...AND...I know a few community members who would enjoy this opportunity. See you there.

Chile

Our prayers are with the people of Chile today. I can't even imagine what an 8.8 magnitude earthquake feels like and I know we're going to be hearing a lot of bad news from that area in the days to come.

We're under a tsunami warning here in Hawaii. The sirens sounded at 6 a.m. this morning and it may be the first time I have heard them in the past ten years other than the monthly tests. Our house, and my parent's house, are above the tsunami zone and we aren't expecting excitement here on the west side of the island. The Hilo side (east side) has had significant damage from tsunamis generated in Chile before, so we'll see what happens. We're just hanging around the house now and maybe we'll find a place with a view so we can watch if any waves hit.

The tsunami sirens been sounding every hour since 6 a.m. today.

Relief From the Torturous Office Chair

Chris and I both felt particularly stale after sitting through another work week so we hiked a couple of miles above the highway in search of lava tubes. We're about ready to give up on the Kiholo flow because its lava tubes have too many cave-ins, making the caves too short. The hike helped get the blood flowing through our legs again, but crawling around in caves was a bit uncomfortable for my sore, stiff, office neck. Does anyone else's body object to sitting in a chair for 8+ hours per day? I made my very first visit to a chiropractor today because my neck has been stiff for the past two weeks and I said, "nuff, aready." Our bodies just weren't made to sit at a desk- and that mainly explains why I haven't been updating the blog as often as I would like. Don't worry, I haven't gotten sucked into social networking sites or reality TV.

I don't want to sound like a complainer because I like my job and I am still finding fun in life pretty much anywhere I look. On a recent Saturday I saw four endangered species- a Hawaiian Monk Seal sleeping on the beach, several Humpback Whales breaching and spouting, a Green Sea Turtle swimming and a pod of Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins gliding right by me. Wouldn't you know it, I left my camera at home that day! Didn't they teach me anything in journalism school?

One of many caves we explored on our last caving day. Notice Puu Waa Waa in the background.