Circle Island Tour

I have accumulated extra vacation time at work, requiring me to take 7.5 days off before mid-July. So I took this whole week off and didn't leave the island, which is something I have never done before. I've been getting a lot accomplished around here, but after five straight days of working on the house I decided to take a little holoholo around the island. I've never properly explored Boiling Pots in Hilo, so I spent some time climbing on the rocks and poking around the waterfalls, then it was off to camping in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. I think I put 250 miles on the Jeep in less than two days. No wonder they call it the Big Island.

What a great garage

Judging by the comments on a previous post, there is more interest in reading about our house projects than I thought. Come to think of it, I do like to hear about other people's projects. And it's good timing to realize that because we're moving past the stage of dealing with deferred maintenance and swinging machetes at out-of-control vegetation and into an era of actual improvements that would be more fun to blog about. (Chris just fixed our last water leak yesterday) On our wish list: a complete kitchen remodel, a master bathroom remodel, tiling our car port, building a BBQ gazebo, and lots of landscape improvements.

First and foremost, of course, was the garage. Before we even moved our stuff inside Chris, my dad, and Christoph fixed a boarded up window, completed the framing, hired Duane to do the drywall, painted, built shelves and workbenches, painted those, wired in new light fixtures, applied epoxy and glitter to the floor, overhauled the garage doors right down to the gears inside the electric garage door openers. (Why buy new when you can fix what you have?) Chris has good reason to be proud of his shop and he's open for business if anyone has a motorcycle or other device in need of repair.

BEFORE:


AFTER:

The View is Tremendous

Chris and I have had a couple of memorable hikes to our "red rock canyon" near Oniuka Center at the 9,000 foot level of Mauna Kea. If John Glenn had been on our hike with us he would have said, "the view is tremendous." Instead I shared the day with my two favorite guys, my dad and my sweetheart. The cool, dry mountain air was perfect for hiking. When we finished we stopped by the Onizuka visitor's center where we were treated to a view of the sun through their super fancy telescope. We could make out a couple of solar flares on the edge of the sun. Awesome!

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.

One Man's Trash

Chris and I bought a foreclosed house in February and our recreation time has turned into yard work and house repair time. We've accomplished a lot and for the most part we're having fun, but I haven't been blogging because I didn't want to bore everybody with, "we painted the garage, we cleared weeds," etc.

For some reason, I think this story is worth noting. We have cleared huge areas overrun by monstera by yanking it out with the Jeep and slashing it with machetes. This created massive heaps of yard waste, including one pile about 3 feet deep and almost 200 feet long. Then the daily summer rains came and the discarded monstera began to sprout, threatening to take over our yard once again. So Chris had the genius idea to put an ad on Craig's List for free monstera root and we had at least a dozen customers. They filled trucks, trailers, bags, boxes, and one guy even took a whole dump trailer full. They also raided our ginger and plumeria. I had no idea the world is full of friendly people willing to come take our garbage away. It was great!

Lake Minnetonka Fishing

Lake Minnetonka fishing with Chris' brother Dan Jasper is highly recommended. Dan left his corporate job a couple of years ago to pursue what he really likes to do ... fishing. Dan is now a fishing guide for all kinds of Lake Minnetonka fishing. It is one of those inspiring stories of somebody who decides that life is too long to stay in a line of work that doesn't suit them. So he made the risky move to leave the high paying secure job and charge ahead with his passion for Lake Minnetonka fishing. Dan's wife Jill says, "He is completely different now that he is fishing on Lake minnetonka, he funner to be around." His clients are also glad he made the move to Lake minnetonka Fishing. I think the most important trait of a fishing guide is not just thier skill but how much fun do you have fishing on the lake. That is what fishing is all about having a good time on the lake. Dan has both excellent Lake Minnetonka fishing skills and when he is on the lake he is right where he wants to be. His Lake Minnetonka fishing clients catch fish and have a good time. Last summer on our trip to Minnesota, we got to fish with Dan a lot and he is an excellent host and really knows how to catch big fish. His lake minnetonka fishing website is highly recommended if you are ever in that area and want to catch some fish!

Friends in High Places

We have a friend named Christoph who is here from Germany training to become a helicopter pilot. He will take his test to obtain a commercial license in just a couple of weeks.

He recently had instrumentation training which required a four-seat helicopter so Chris and I were invited to ride around the island for two hours while he practiced flying by instruments only. For the exercise, he wore blinders so that he could not navigate by landmark. So we climbed into a helicopter with our blinded student driver who - no joke - had to ask his instructor how to start the chopper.

All kidding aside, we could see that Christoph is already a skilled pilot and I was completely comfortable flying with him. I've seen our island from the air before, but I was just as stunned as ever by the beauty. Incredible!

Christoph works his way through his preflight checklist before we leave Kona.

Christoph prepares to land in Hilo with his blinders removed.

The entire flight offered views like this one of the Kohala Coast with Hualalai peaking up through the clouds.

Feeling Blessed

I was going to title this post "our acre in paradise" to show off the new home that Chris and I recently purchased that, in my opinion, really sits on one acre of paradise. But I decided the real story is in how blessed I feel and how apparent it is that we're really being taken care of.

On moving day, lots of church friends and some co-workers came to help us with the big project. We started at 8 a.m. and by 10:30 we were all moved out of the old house and all our belongings had been placed in the new house. Amazing!

Our new home met all our criteria: close to work (less than 15 minutes), big garage, big yard, and as a bonus, it has a pretty nice view of the ocean and coastline. We've been working hard, and we have a long way to go, but it feels like we really scored.

Living room is all set up but we still have a lot of boxes to contend with.

Our new house after hours and hours of weed clearing.



Moving day: with all the help we had, the garage emptied out fast.

An Unfortunate Disaster


After looking at photos of Japan I am grateful we only sustained a little damage by comparison in a small tsunami that struck Friday morning. I forget how powerful nature can be until something this catastrophic happens- it's hard to even comprehend the destruction in Japan.
That's why I thought West Hawaii Today's headline, "It's Total Devastation," was a bit overstated even if it was a quote from a cop. Besides being kept awake by tsunami sirens all night I was not even inconvenienced by the waves that hit our coastline. However, I sure feel bad for the businesses and homeowners that have a lot of cleaning up to do, or lost their homes entirely. If the waves had been much bigger I'm afraid my workplace would have been swamped, so I'm grateful it was spared and we even got a newspaper out on time. Read today's local tsunami coverage and see photos or post your own on our newspaper's website.

An amazing You Tube video someone took at Kailua Bay.


A shopkeeper cleans up his store in the King Kam hotel after wave action cleaned him out.


King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel just finished a two-year renovation. Now their beautiful restaurant is filled with rubble.

A bulldozer cleans up busted concrete by the Kailua Pier seawall on Alii Drive. The ground was littered with debris from stores and restaurants: bags of Kona coffee, tables, bathing suits. etc.

Party Night

The Jaspers organize a big family trip every year to be sure all 28 of us get to spend some time together. The trips include nightly gatherings for drinking beer and wine, plenty of poker playing, story telling and games. On Dan's birthday we played a "how well do you know Dan?" game in the movie theatre at Tuscana where we stayed. It was a nice little theatre with a pretty darn big screen and quite the sound system. The theatre can be reserved by anyone staying at the resort. Plenty of good times were had just visiting with the family that's spread out between Hawaii, Alaska and Minnesota. We don't get to see them enough.

Let's Go Racin'

For anyone heading to Orlando, I highly recommend riding the fast go karts at Orlando Kart Center. We were told they get up to 45 mph, I didn't think it felt like we were going that fast until we got the lap times from our first session and saw we were averaging over 30 mph, so we must have been hitting 40 or more in the straightaways. For a dollar we bought a print out of our lap times to see who was fastest and and see how our times changed depending on which driving techniques we tried. It was just us family members racing against eachother which really made it a lot of fun. No kiddie, touristy go-carts here, these were the real deal.

Family Hike

A person could spend a week's vacation in Orlando without having any idea what the natural environment is like. Luckily, Chris found some natural spots for us to check out, like this hiking trail in the Green Swamp wildlife refuge. We chased an armadillo, observed the local fauna and even spotted an alligator in a pond.

Busch Gardens


Another highlight on the trip to Orlando was a day to Busch Gardens near Tampa. My parents raised me right- they took me on the American Eagle at Six Flags when I was 3 and took us to King's Island every summer. As a teen, I always got a season pass to Six Flags Great America and treasured my trips to "American's Roller Coast" Cedar Point. I have grown to understand engineers cannot build a roller coaster big enough or fast enough. And Chris has never ridden one, so it was fun to share that with him for the first time. Busch Gardens didn't have any record breakers, but they had several pretty good coasters, including our favorite, Shakra, that featured a 90 degree drop and speeds up to 80 mph. We also enjoyed Manta at Seaworld, which positions riders in a laying-face-down, feels-like-you're-superman position.

Busch Gardens is beautiful and definitely a step up from the roller coaster in the parking lot look of Six Flags. I recommend it over Disney World any day. It's just as pretty and much more fun! The Jasper clan loved it. To add icing to the cake, there weren't any lines and we ate delicious meat for lunch.

Chris enjoyed his many rides on Shakra.

Fishing with Bassmaster Dan

Chris' brother, Dan, is a bass pro who gives Lake Minnetonka fishing guide trips for a living. We had the opportunity to fish with him in Orlando during the recent Jasper family trip. Even though Dan enjoys catching crappie from his super fancy ice house in the winter, the chance to catch a big bass on a warm Florida day brought him joy. The group caught several nice bass and fishing was one of many highlights of the trip.

Getting the Band Together

I had the incredible pleasure of performing Holst's The Planets with an 82-piece orchestra (plus chorus) last night at Kahilu Theatre in Waimea. It was the largest and most talented group of musicians I have ever played with, I am so grateful to Dr. Madeline Schatz and to the Kamuela Philharmonic for putting together such a huge undertaking. Many musicians were flown in from Oahu and even the mainland to pull it off.

Our next gig is March 20, we'll be playing Beethoven's 6th Symphony and a Tchaikovsky violin concerto. Yeah!

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.

Christmas on the Beach

Our employee Christmas party this year was a breakfast buffet on the beach beside the Orchid at Mauna Lani Hotel. It's always nice to visit with the work gang when we're not in a work setting, and it was also a great last hurrah for our publisher, Rick, who is retiring this year after more than 37 years with the company.

Besides being entertained by my friends, I was mesmerized by the nearby koi pond. After the party cleared out I put on my swim suit and goggles and took a quick dip in the pond to get a better look. There wasn't a 'no swimming' sign to be found anywhere and the curious and colorful fish were absolutely delightful. The gorgeous beach setting at Mauna Lani did not disappoint, I had a nice long ocean swim and took time to read a book.

An Elegant Evening

Our little community orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Kona, is growing and Saturday we held our most impressive performance yet. We performed our Christmas concert on the luau stage at Kona Village Resort where rates range from $555 to $1,380 per night to stay in a thatched hut near the beach.

We performed selections from the Nutcracker with dancers from West Hawaii Dance Academy who dressed in stunning costumes. For a bunch of volunteer musicians and dancers I felt we put something together that we could be proud of. The feel of old Hawaii blended with traditional wintertime carols as the full moon rose between the coconut palms, reflected on the lagoon, and as the ocean's waves gave their applause.

Afterwards, several of us gathered in one of the hales to snack, tell stories and dance hula. What a great evening!

December 5, 1993

Seventeen years ago today I gave my life to Christ and was baptised. I was riding in the car the other day when it occurred to me that I have now been a Christian for half my life because I was 17 at the time and now I am 34. I'm not sure why that thought popped into my head because I don't think it is particularly significant. However, I can say this was by far the best decision I have ever made or will ever make.

When December rolls around I find myself reflecting on what it felt like the first time I realized not only that God is real but also that he loves me and forgives me. It is just as true today as it was then, and taking time over the past 17 years to seek God has really been incredible.

Besides worshiping a God of mercy, ours is also a God of justice who demands payment for wrongdoing. As a sinner, there was no way I could pay the debt I owed. That's why Christ gave his life on the cross. Instead of sending me to hell, Jesus paid my penalty. One of the most familiar passages in the Bible promises this forgiveness to all who believe:

For God so loved the world he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Underwater Photos

Here are a couple of pictures taken near Honokohau Harbor last weekend.

Get Outta Town

Chris particularly wanted to get out of town this weekend, so we packed up our dirt bikes and headed to Mana Road. Our last three trips to this spot have been thwarted by rain, wind and mist as we rode through the clouds. Yesterday was picture perfect. We started in Waimea and rode through rolling pastureland with views of Mauna Kea. As we progressed and began to climb the mountain we gained elevation and saw plenty of tall and twisted Koa trees and a forest of Redwoods and Douglas Firs. The Hamakua side provided summit to sea views with white caps visible on the ocean and towering cinder cones above us. A fresh, cool breeze blew and the trees gave off the fragrance of Christmas. We were definitely out of town. Fifty-five miles later we were refreshed though a bit tired and just a little chilly. We dusted off our pants and hit up the Chinese restaurant in Waimea for some hot soup and stir-fry.

The One That Didn't Get Away

I lost a good fish last week, but that's not today's story. God blessed us with a great catch this morning, it is the biggest fish Chris has ever shot.

First, I shot a tiny Tiape (bluefin snapper) and that seemed to catch the interest of two sharks who came in to check out the sounds and fish blood in the water. Chris swam close to me to protect me from the sharks while they investigated. Then, a giant Ulua swam by; we think the Ulua was hunting with the two sharks because we don't usually see Ulua free swimming and not timid of divers. Chris got within range of the Ulua and shot it, causing the sharks to bolt.

The whole time I was fumbling just trying to reload my gun so I could A. put a second shot into the Ulua if required or B. Defend against the sharks in case they came back for a bite of Ulua. Neither was necessary as Chris wrestled that giant fish like a pro and strung him up on the kui. His spear shaft was bent and I wasn't prepared to risk losing this prized catch to the sharks, so we swam to shore and celebrated the catch of a fish that looked even bigger out of the water. 42.6 pounds, which became 24 meal sized packages now in the freezer!

The One That Got Away

I shot the best fish I have ever hit with a spear, but it got away. It was a large Mu, the big eye emperor that is coveted by divers because they are very difficult to hunt and they are delicious. At least I have heard they're delicious, I've never actually eaten one because they're so hard to get. I've never even had one in range before. My spear went right through the fish but the flapper must not have opened and the fish slid off the spear before I could get to it. I grabbed the fish tightly once it was off the spear and I wrapped my legs around it. Yes, this was a decent sized fish. I tried to get my finger into the gill so I could grip it better but before I could it wriggled loose and swam into a crevice. By the time I caught my breath, reloaded my gun, and went down to try to recover it, it was gone. My heart is broken! Who knows if I will ever get a chance to shoot another one.

We Found Mud

Living in Kona, I rarely get to play in the mud because the ground is entirely composed of rock and cinders. Recently, Chris took me up to the Kohala forest reserve above Waimea where the ground was completely saturated with water. Walking on the soaked dirt and moss was exactly like stepping on a sopping wet sponge. Hiking with Chris is like having my own nature guide because he knows soils and plants so well I always gain appreciation for the ecosystem.

To get there we drove through ranchland above the Kohala Mountain Road, then hiked to the top of the ridge where the weather changed and the Hilo wind was gusting. The forest was too thick to allow for much of a view, but the view of cinder cones, pastureland and the coastline from the edge of the forest was beautiful.

The view from just inside the forest reserve.

Fun times.

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.

Lobster Season


Hawaiian Spiny Lobster came back into season September 1 so I had lobsters on my mind when Chris, Larry and I went diving today. Because lobsters tend to come out only after dark and because I have never actually seen a spiny lobster, I really didn't expect that Chris and I would get one today. But about an hour into our dive I spotted the bug crawling around on the reef. We had a little tussle and he lost a couple of his legs but I got a good grip on it and swam it over to Chris. Only male lobsters are game so I was hoping Chris could determine gender, and also, I didn't know what to do with it next. It was spiny and his strong tail was fwap, fwap, fwapping, his legs were scrathcing me right through my gloves and I could barely hang on to it. Finally, I caught up to Chris and held the lobster out of the water to get his attention. At that moment, the darn thing slipped out of my hand and swam to the bottom. I was too out of breath to retrieve it, so Chris dove down and saved the day. The lobster turned out to be male, and he turned out to be quite delicious.

Underwater Pictures Return


I've been without an underwater camera for more than a year since my old camera finally went kaput. I really missed it a lot until Chris recently surprised me with an underwater case for our current camera. It's a soft plastic case which is required because our camera is the touch screen Sony that won't work with the traditional hard case underwater housing. The soft case really keeps out the water, but beyond 25 feet in depth the touch screen is not usable because the pressure pushes against the back of the camera. But it's perfect for snorkeling and shallow dives.

Here are some photos from Scuba diving Saturday with the work gang. We decided to stay shallow on our second dive so I brought the camera along. It worked great and we had an amazing day at Keei. The water was unbelievably calm and clear.

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!

It's Huge!

After discovering a gigantic cave while dirt biking Mauna Loa several weeks ago, Chris and I returned with flashlights, food and anticipation. And this cave didn't disappoint- it's the best one we've found in more than two years of searching. The cave was full of interesting geologic features that captivated my scientist husband who enjoyed figuring out how the formations occurred. He pointed out the lava was so hot it cut through several layers of old lava as it passed, which was something we have not seen before. We've never found a cave that is taller than it is wide, now we know this cave got its shape by eating away the old a`a layers underneath it.

The cave was often a double decker, with smaller caves running under the floor beneath us. Occasional holes in the floor revealed the lower caves that were often tall enough to stand up in, but we didn't explore them.

After more than two miles of caving, the ceiling slanted downward and lava filled the hole to the point that we couldn't crawl through. Game over. We turned around and walked for 1.5 hours to get back outside, thrilled with our great find.

These squiggly stalagtite things are are just one of the unusual lava formations we found inside.

Mauna Kea towers over the island's lava landscape while the entrance to our cave leads to the dark and rocky world underneath it.