Salvaging Sheep

The state is conducting periodic helicopter sheep shoots on Mauna Kea to control the population. These feral animals are destroying the native Palila bird's habitat. Some see the hunt as a sad and savage event, my husband sees it as an opportunity. Our freezer is now full.

The sheep salvage sounds like an experience I wish I wouldn't have missed. A helicopter herds the animals into one area then someone in the chopper shoots them all. The bodies are then loaded into a sling and flown to a field where trucks of salvagers like my husband eagerly wait. A massive ball or legs, horns and filthy fur is placed in the grass and a free-for-all ensues as the meat lovers charge towards the pile of carcusus.

Meat Grinder

Chris managed to bag two sheep this way. We ended up with about 40 pounds of meat that we divided equally into roasts, steaks and ground sheep. A highlight of the project was using Chris' homemade meat grinder. Yes, homemade. He was at a farm auction years ago in Oregon where he purchased for five bucks some meat grinder attacments. An American made motor salvaged from a broken down GE dryer, a board and some wiring and wa-la! I am told this meat grinder has served him for years and has even processed a bear.

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Camping Couple

We returned to the camp site we scouted out last weekend. It turned out to be a winner- we didn't see anyone else there except for one boat of divers down shore a ways. Stars shone bright last night and whales entertained us all day long. We're also stoked about our brand new tent.

Romping Around in Rocks

Chris and I did a quick after church hike last weekend to scout out a new camp spot. We didn't immediately find a trail to our destination and wandering all the way there across a`a lava seemed hopeless. Then we spotted the trail that made the hike possible. I'll never know how the first Hawaiian settlers could walk in this stuff wearing nothing but banana leaves.

High Surf

Chris and I parked at the end of NELHA road and walked to Pine Trees and back Saturday . Kohanaiki was closed for high surf so there was no traffic on the road. It made for a pretty nice afternoon stroll.

Pine Trees is beautiful with myriads of SUVS locked out of the gate:

Accomplishments

I've been working hard lately and I feel good about it. I am the writer for West Hawaii Today's new real estate magazine, West Hawaii Real Estate "Live Big." We published the first issue Wednesday with Kelly's beautiful design, my articles and enough ads to support a 12-page section. The challege now will be keeping up with deadlines. I'll need copy for a new issue every other week while keeping up with a lot of other duties.

Another accomplishment came Sunday when I played viola with the Kamuela Philharmonic. I have played with similar groups in the past, but this group is the most skilled orchestra I have ever had the pleasure performing with. We rehearsed all day Saturday and held a dress rehearsal Sunday before the concert. It was exhausting, but also exhilarating from the moment our bows hit the strings until we finally peeled our sweaty behinds off the seats to take a bow at the end of the show. We played the Overature to Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss, Ma Vlast (second movement) by Bedrich Smetana, and we accompanied Boris Konovlov, an unbelievably amazing pianist, on Sergi Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto 3, which is one of the most difficult pieces written for piano. It was incredible! What an opportunity!

Thanksgiving again?

Chris and Larry went hunting up Mauna Kea this weekend and Chris brought home two turkeys. He shot one young turkey earlier in the season and we ate it up in one meal. These recent turkeys were more like the 14-pound birds you'd find in the store. We cooked one last night and it will last for several meals. It has pretty good flavor but the meat is lean and dry so gravy is recommended.
Nice white meat:

Country Caving

We usually cave at low elevations in lava fields. But recently Chris' former co-worker, Jeff, arranged for us to check out a cave on a private ranch mauka of Kainaliu at about 2,500 feet elevation. The cool air, grassy fields and mountain views were exciting enough for me, so I wasn't too dissapointed when the cave turned out to be a dud. It only went about 100 yards. On our way back to the car, a woman spotted us and told us about another cave on the property. That one was a winner! It branched off in several places and Chris started marking the turns with dollar bills so we could keep track of where we had come from. Part of it was stand-up, but there was also duck walking and crawling. Roots stretched from the ceiling to the floor, which is something our lower elevation caves do not have. This cave also had the unique feature of a cow skeleton, which was different from the goat skulls we're used to kicking around in. We spent about an hour in the cave exploring every avenue. A good time was had by all in this lava tube we nicknamed, "two dollar cave."

A lava drip ceiling hides the top half of Chris:

Hau`oli la Hanau

Happy Birthday Andi's blog, who turned three yesterday. We celebrated with one of my favorite desserts- yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Mahalo to everyone who logs on to enjoy this silly little website. I hope it brings joy for years to come.

White Mountain

Chris and I visited the 13,796 foot summit of Mauna Kea today for a frolick in the snow. I got four runs on my snowboard, Chris driving our trusty Jeep was my ski lift back to the top. The snow was the mountain's best I've ever ridden in, but it was practically white-out conditions. The summit area was socked in with clouds and it was snowing. I couldn't see lumps in the snow and I couldn't see more than maybe 15 feet in front of me. It was a bit creepy but still pretty fun.

We also played with a saucer sled, threw snowballs and people watched. We saw all sorts of people- local folks riding boogie boards and anything else that would slide and some pretty creative winter clothing. Our favorite was a long teri cloth bath robe, which is very likely the warmest garment that person owns. The other type of person on the mountian is the transplant to Hawaii who is well versed in winter weather-snowboarders with all the gear and even some skilled telemark skiiers. It amazes me how much winter gear resides on the island for such an opportuinty as this.

Hau`oli Makahiki Hou, Hawaiian style

We welcomed 2009 with plenty of smoke and fireworks. Duane and Michelle had their annual New Year's party. Since Duane is a fisherman, the food never dissapoints. Last night's meal included Duane's ahi and mahimahi as well as sheep sausage (locally hunted) kalua pig (also locally hunted) and buffalo- obviously NOT shot locally!

Chris and Duane prepare a string of firecrackers for Midnight:

Rich Man shows displays his tae kwan do skills with this makeshif bow staff:

Happy Couple

Chris' dad draws a picture every year for the family Christmas card. This year he created a card with an image of our wedding day. Pretty neat, huh?

More Hunting


Chris and I hunted game birds at Puhakuloa Training Area last weekend. The hunting was pretty slow, but Chris did manage to bag a Japanese Quail. The highlights were the view and finding strange Army debris on the ground. I am a bit surprised they open an Army base when they're not using it so civilians can wander around with guns and shoot at animals. We had an amazing view of snow covered Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, as well as the bright blue ocean, Hualalai and Haleakala on Maui. That alone was worth the price of admission (or the waking at 4:30 a.m. on a Saturday)

Taking a break and taking in the view, here's me with snow covered Mauna Kea behind.

Tags Should Come On Gifts, Not on Trees

We put up our Christmas tree Sunday evening. Assembling the brand new tree in our new house preparing for our first Christmas together was a pretty jolly time. Except for one ridiculous inconvenience. The tags! Eight huge tags just on one electrical cord alone. Do not drive over cord, do not immerse in water, do not use for more then 90 consecutive days, and the list continued. In case we didn't get the warnings in English, Spanish tags were also attached. Each light string on the tree also had several smaller tags attached. What kind of sue happy society do we live in?

Yummy Meat and Festive Farewells

Saturday was a full day. We left the house at 4AM for Mauna Kea and we were in place at 10,000 feet elevation before dawn- waiting for legal hunting hours. The air was dry and fresh and the frost-covered leaves crunched beneath our feet. It really felt like fall. The sun cleared the mountain revealing an amazing view of Mauna Loa, Hualalai and Haleakala on Maui. It was a slow day for hunting, we only saw two game birds all day. I never even had a shot at one, but Chris managed to bag an Urkel's Franklin. We grilled it later in the week along with a quail and a chucker he shot last time.

We took a nap in the dirt, then headed into Waimea town to get cleaned up and ready for the big party. Some of Chris' co-workers took us out to dinner and to hear the Olliephonic Horns at the Blue Dragon. The occasion: Chris' graduation from government service. After a successful 18-year career with the Department of Agriculture, Chris has resigned. It was his first step down a new career path. I am excited to see what he comes up with next, but I hope he takes some time off before jumping into something new. For one thing, I am enjoying eating all sorts of different kinds of meat lately. If he starts working again he'll be too busy to hunt and we'll have to go back to eating food that comes in plastic packages at the store.

The Olliephonic Horns rock the Blue Dragon in Kawaihae:

Tako Tangle

Chris went spearfishing last week and he brought home a huge octupus and a cooler full of fish. He first shot the tako with a spear but it got loose, so Chris dove down and grabbed unto it and tried to pull it to the surface. I wish he was telling this story instead of me. I also wish I could have been there to see the spectacle. The octupus attached itself to Chris and covered most of his body. Chris fought the creature all the way to the surface while tentacles crept down his snorkel, across his neck and back and around his arms. Chris couldn't even stab the animal with the knife he keeps strapped to his arm because the octupus had hold of it. Finally, Chris won the battle and we now have five baggies of frozen octupus in the freezer.

Hunting for a hole

Chris and I have spent two afternoons hunting around a lava field for a hole in the ground. We found it Saturday.

We had heard about a lava tube filled with fresh water from a spring and that sounded like something we'd like to check out. Boards cover the hole and a homemade ladder extends down inside. Without the ladder, there would be no way out. You'd be treading water until someone brought you a rope- and I have a feeling you'd be waiting a while for that to happen.

The water is cold and clear, and very little light enters the cave from the tiny entrance. The darkness inside the swimming hole seemed to swallow up the beams from our flashlights. We checked out all of the walls in the cave to see if it continued on and it did not. It was just one big, cold, dark, wet, fun room.


We poked around for a while before we found this hole in the woods.

Here's me, climbing up the ladder, out of the darkness and into the light.

Chris enjoys the refreshing water inside the cave.

A Fond Farewell

WHT employees and ex-staffers came out to the Kona Brew Pub in droves Friday night to celebrate Baron's "graduation" from West Hawaii Today and North Hawaii News. He faithfully served the company for 18 years and he will surely be missed. I sure am glad he'll be sticking around the island so I can see him in real life, and I'll continue to follow his blog as well. In fact, I started this blog with encouragement from Baron back in 2005. Thanks for the great idea, Baron.

Baron has an almost identical photo posted on his blog, but I am posting this anyway because I like it a lot.

We counted over 30 in attendance:

Resort Retreat

Chris and I spent the night at a fancy resort on the Kohala Coast. Our room had an amazing view and we enjoyed our own private beach. But we didn't actually pay to stay at the hotel. Instead, we backpacked from Spencer Beach into the Mauna Kea Beach Resort and camped at this beautiful spot. The moon was directly overhead and we watched it set over the ocean and then thousands of stars emerged. The evening was calm, but the wind picked up late at night and blew sand and dirt all over us. That's what you get for being too lazy to set up the tent. It sounds stupid to camp at a resort, but it felt somewhat remote. We only saw one other person. That may change now that the resort has reopened. (It has been closed due to 2006 earthquake damage and it just opened this week)

The next morning we had a hot breakfast on the beach and we tried a little fishing. Later on, we frolicked on Maumae beach. Chris took a strap from my backpack and the shoe laces from his combat boots and made a rope so he could pull me in the water while I layed on my camping mat. Cheap entertainment. There was one other family on that beach and I am pretty sure we scared them away.

A view from our breakfast spot:

So close to the resort, yet this beach was all ours:

Oh, yeah!

I'm pretty stoked with the election results. All of my candidates won. I'm not expecting any miracles, but I know we'll benefit from new leadership for the country and for Hawaii County.

77 days to go

Here's a patriotic photo just for election day. Tracey dressed these dogs up for Halloween.

Has this election season been the longest ever? I'm excited and relieved the big day has finally arrived. There's only one countdown left as far as I'm concerned, that's to inauguration day, January 20, 2009. It's been a long time coming!