Maxed Out

You may remember in a previous post, (Home At Last, April 22) a mention of transmission trouble. Well, this was not a new development. It had been an ongoing problem for over a year. We were expecting it. Not looking forward to, but expecting. Next comes the dilemma, is it worth spending a bunch of money on a fairly wore-out vehicle. We are looking toward a few road trips in the future, and an undependable vehicle doesn't seem like a real good approach to this.
The time had finally come to take drastic action. Having this wonderful electronic cyberworld at my command, it only made sense to let the electrons do the walking. Some Family Members had had good luck with these Max People, so I figured it might be worth a shot. We had a pretty good idea what we wanted, and actually saw a couple candidates.
Aparently, this game is very time sensitive. The next day I was going to call about these automobiles, but when I fired up the old Mac, they had "unavailable" slashed across the little pictures. So I widened my search area. It seemed that someone out there was very interested in exactly what we had set our minds on. But I found one in another city, and they claimed they would send it to the Big City near us. This time I wasted no time, called, and made the arrangements. Now we had to wait.
At last came the call. Now we had to make the trip to the Big City. Unfortunately, "we" turned out to be "me", My Sweetie had other commitments and so, not wanting to miss out again, it was me, to the Big City, by myself. I believe I've mentioned that My Sweetie is the Big City Person, I don't do cities very well. Armed only with my "google" map, I set forth. When the traffic on the freeway ground to a halt, my little truck began to get hotter and hotter. As I watched the temperature hand climbing, I did the only thing I could (besides cry) and cut on the heater. The heater in my truck works real well, and I was quite warm. After getting lost twice, I finally found the Max Place. There was a wreck right in front of it, and car parts in the street.
Well I found the guy with the funny accent on the phone, he let me drive the car on some less busy streets, and one thing led to another. A couple hours later I was driving home in this Luxurious Vehicle. Now we have to pay for it.

It's Da' Bomb

Once again it was Burrito Night. The beans were mashed, the tortillas ready, all the little bits prepared. The table was set out on the porch for outdoor dining. Yet when I reached for the Tabasco, it was gone. This was not good. How can one eat a burrito without something hot to tickle the taste buds ? Somehow we had run out of Tabasco. Burritos without Tabasco are still nutritious, but lack that certain something, you might say they're not so hot.
But then I remembered, there, covered with dust was "Da' Bomb". Oldest Daughter is a world traveler. She visited The Big Easy long ago before Katrina worked the place over and brought me this little bottle of "Da' Bomb". I suppose, since I consider "Texas Pete" to be little more than Fortified Ketchup, she decided to fix my wagon, as they say. I was told to carefully take a speck of this stuff on the tip of a toothpick, and touch it to my tongue. Fortunately, I resisted my macho impulses and followed her direction. It was a good thing. This stuff makes Pepper Spray seem harmless. I once used some in a bowl of Pintos, and foolishly used almost a whole drop.
But this was an emergency, so I blew the dust off, and took a chance. The secret is to use very little, just a touch stirred in with a toothpick is plenty. And it worked. My Burrito was muy sabroso.
And this morning I was reminded again of that wonderful meal, several times.

The H1 Zipper

Been home for a few days now, kids are back in school, back to work, things are more or less normal.
This thing is back in Honolulu, but it was something differant, at least to me. Maybe they have one somewhere else, but it was a first for me. This is a gigantic "zipper". To deal with the morning, and evening commute, they use this to isolate one lane on the freeway so it can be used in the most needed direction. This is not uncommon, I know, the even do something like this in the Big City near here. But I'd never heard of this system. After the morning rush, they come along with some kind of contraption, ( unfortunately I never got to see it in action ) and move this zipper looking thing to the other side of the lane, and then it is used in the opposite direction. It ends up as a lane between 2 cement barriers. You can only get out in a couple of places. I don't know what happens when someone breaks down. Maybe in a Tropical Paradise those kind of things don't happen.
By the way, how can they have an "Interstate" on an Island ?

Home At Last

Alas, it was time to leave this Tropical Paradise. Off to the airport for that Homeward Bounder. This was one of those Night Flights. There at the Island Airport the USDA people ripped us off for our fruit snacks. Of course after security you could buy more fruit, they would sell you 3 pineapples for $23. We just let that one go.

Here is the Big Airplane we rode in all the way to Phoenix. I had hoped to sleep on this one, but not much luck there. Phoenix is where we had to change planes, airlines, and terminals. So it's back though security, where they strip search your feet. Phoenix is also where our luck began to change. After we all got onto, and into, the airplane, and even backed out of the gate, something went wrong with the airplane. The pilot said we must return to the gate. So we rode around in the airplane on the ground to the mechanic's privet work area. I think it was a good thing to fix the airplane before we were up in the air, even if it made us a hour late. It doesn't seem like a good idea to try to fly around in a broken airplane. But while we were waiting they gave us all free headphones so we could watch the TV and listen to the radio while we had to wait and worry about our connections. This was good 'cause now we could watch the in-flight movie for free. It was about Beatrix Potter, but I don't think she ever had to ride an airplane. Of course we missed our connection, but the airplane people took care of every thing and gave us tickets for the next one. And so after a short hop over the mountains, we landed in the Big City. Our bags even made it with us.
Now there was just a shuttle bus ride to our own vehicle. We found the car, and loaded the bags, and cranked it up, almost. The key fit OK, and even turned, but there was no reaction, zip, nada. Even as we were enjoying that Tropical Paradise, our battery was slowly dying there at the airport parking lot. We were stranded in a sea of parked automobiles. Finally a lady in an airport truck gave us a jump off. I got the impression that this is not uncommon. Then, there was the transmission problem on the way home. But I won't go into that now.
Apparently there was some cold weather while we were enjoying the sun and surf. This is what happened to the tender leaves on our fig bush while we were gone. But they'll come back.
It was a great trip, but of course, it's good to be home.

North Shore

We rode over to the North Shore of the island. This is the surfing mecca of the world I guess. My Sweetie knows all about this sort of thing, having grown up on the California coast. But the legendary surf was not cooperating, and we missed those 20ft. waves. We did enjoy a dip in what surf there was. The water is so clear you can see the bottom even when you're out deep, and the waves were still quite powerful, but fun. Here you can see how some folks live on this Tropical Paradise amid the palm trees overlooking the best surfing beaches. Looks rough, doesn't it.
After a nice swim, we hit the tourist places for a bite to eat. Couldn't pass up this shot of this Surfmobile here. Pretty flashy. My Sweetie and I took in a couple Art Galleries, where Young Daughter bought a couple small prints to hang on the wall at home. I got me a Conch Shell, now I have to learn how to blow it.
Well, as they say, all good things must come to an end. It's been great, but it's time to leave this Island Paradise, and head back to reality, work, and school. The airport thing is a drag, but in truth, it will be good to be home.

Aloha.

Beach Camp

We've been camping on the beach for a couple nights. This is a view from our camp. The small island to the left of the tree seemed to look like a dragon's head to us. There even seemed to be an eyeball in the appropriate place when the light was right. The headland visible though the tree is where the Makapu'u lighthouse is located, but you can't really see it in this shot. It was visible when the sun hit it though. Our camp was right on the beach, which was nice, but quite breezy. Actually very breezy. What with the wind and the sand, (which doesn't hold a stake very well) we had a time getting the tents set up. We finally had to move a vehicle, and tie the tent to it.
That worked OK. These guys were taking advantage of the wind though, riding around behind these kite things. We spent a day chilling on the beach, riding the surf and drinking beer. I made sure to use that sun blocking stuff, but unfortunately forgot about the old bald spot.
This campsite was at Bellows AFB. It seems that at the time of the Dec. 7 attack, a Japanese midget sub ran aground here. In the picture it was right where we were camped. But it's not here now.
This last one is of the waves crashing onto the rocks. If you look close, you should be able to see the water shooting up out of the "blowhole" in the rock. It was pretty impressive.

Polynesian Cultural Stuff

Here is this cool canoe we saw at the Polynesian Cultural Place. Air Force Daughter got us all tickets to see this place, eat the Luau, and watch the Extravaganza later. This place was kinda like a theme park, but still interesting in it's way. We saw the Maori exhibit, and having watched and enjoyed "Whale Rider" it was nice to see the exhibit. There were "villages" from various island cultures.
We avoided the "canoe" ride on the little pond though. Then it was time for the Luau. This was held in a big pavilion, and served cafeteria style. I don't know if that is traditional or not, but the food was OK, and not what we would eat at home, especially the purple bread. They also put on a show there that was supposed to show what was traditionally done at this sort of thing. This is some of the dancing.
After the feast, we stoped in at the IMAX movie. This may have been an unwise thing, since sitting close to that gigantical screen, with a full tummy, was somewhat more exciting than I would have prefered at the time. But we all survived the aerial photography and learned a bunch of stuff about coral reefs. We finished the evening with the Big Extravaganza. It was actually pretty good with all the dancing and playing with fire and all. Playing with fire is always cool. I'll just say that those dancers got quite a work out there.
We don't often go in for these kind of things, but every now and then it's good for a change. We even went to Stone Mt. by Atlanta once to see the light show. We got to see some really different country in crossing the island though the mountains. This area is a lot different than by Honolulu.

Makapuu Lighthouse

This is the Makapuu Lighthouse. We took a hike up the mountain to see it and admire the view. This is supposed to be a good place to see whales also, and we did get a glimpse of a few flippers. There is a plaque up there in memorial of an air crew who after a long patrol in lousy weather, mistook the light for another, and flew into the side of the mountain. This thing is really high above the water. You can see the waves crashing against the rocks far below. On the way up the trail, we had a good look at this old volcanical crater. There are a bunch of cacti and other desert looking plants out there, not what I
really expected from a Tropical Paradise. But I guess there is such a thing as a Desert Island. But this isn't one of them. We hope to camp out on the beach tonight, surrounded by the sand and the surf.

Chinatown

After the Botanical Garden, we slid on into Chinatown, Honolulu style. My Sweetie, being from California, is more familiar with these sort of things, I guess I'm a bit provincial in comparison. That's why she usually drives in the Big City. And Honolulu is the Big City. Any way, We had some Chopstickie lunch and walked around a bit, and poked around in some shops. She picked up some tropical type produce, and then we slipped out of town.

Gardens

Yesterday, My Sweetie and I went up to the Botanical Garden. It was pretty impressive. Unfortunately, the pictures don't do it justice. The flora here is a lot different than at home, big surprise, right ? Sometimes what looks like something you recognize isn't what you thought when you take a good look. Different sights, different smells, but that's one reason we travel.
There is a lot of difference in the climate between Honolulu and the mountains ( where this garden is ). It was much wetter up there, like a rain forest or something.
Well, I gotta go, Bye bye.

Arizona Memorial

Today ( actually, yesterday now ) was the day for our Pearl Harbor tour. As guests of the Air Force we were set up with the special military tour, much cozier and personal. This is not the boat we rode, it is the Admral's "Barge".In my youth I lived for a time near the Erie Cannal, And I saw plenty of barges. None of them looked like this one. Aparently, things are diferent for admrals.This vessel, however, is in diferant condithion. This is what is left of the Utah. It seems that before our friends the japanise were sending us Toyotas, they were seending bombs. The Utah was a recipreant of a few. Here is a look at the Arazona, the finaal resting place of many of our sailors. This happened like, over 65 years ago and the oil is still seeping from the hulk. In the memorial the smell of fuel oil is still strong. You can see the rainbow paterns floating on the surface as you study the ship below.

More Beachin'

So here's the view from the beach. Probably recognizable to a lot of folks. It's funny just how much of other places we've all seen in pictures, movies, or even on the tube. But there was a nice view of this Diamond Head place from the beach. Since we are guests of the Air Force here, we can go to the military places that are not so crowded. This one was not the home of the big surf, but there were some surfers out. I sent this one to the guys at work for their enjoyment. They did ask for some pix, so I'm not just being mean.

Life's a Beach

Went to a huge swap meet this morning, but you can do that any where, can't you. But latter we reverted to more traditional activities, and went to the beach. That's always appropriate at times like this. I know many folks have this opportunity all the time, but the beach is a long pull from our little home town. So we took the plunge literally.
After a pleasant swim in the surf, my Sweetie and me, kicked back on the sand and just enjoyed the view. I'll try to get some more on latter, but for now it's time to party.

Aloha, Y"all

Airborne at last. Liftoff early (very early) monday morning. First stop, Atlanta. They say yoou always haveto go though here, but, personally, this is the first time I've been here. Been to stone Mt. to see the light show, but not the airport.
After a brief stop, and some grub, in Phoenix, on to Hawaii. We are visiting family here at Hickam AF Base located on this Tropical Paridise.This mornig as we were dealing with the Jetlag, we took a brief walking tour. This is the famous Watertower that survived that "Day of Infamy" we all remember even if we weren't born at the time. Doesn't really look like a water tower to me, but that's what it was at the time.We also walked out along the chanel to the harbor and saw this cool ship leaving port. Who knows what new advetures await us on the marrow !
I won't bore you with the weather details, let me just say it's been much nicer than North Carolina this past week. So, for now Aloha.

Bootism

So, what happened to Spring ? Temps. in 20's, feather comforter at night. The heater fired up again.
Smoke in the sky. No snow though. Those peaches had actually made it though the last cold snap. It hit before the fruit was set and there were actually tiny BB sized peaches beginning to grow. But this probably finished those tender young things off for good. Or maybe that's "for bad". Cold in the mornings, and I had to break out my booties. My Sweetie and I both got a pair of these super warm "Booties" (we call them) just for these occasions of the cold tootsies. Of course, we thought they were already on summer break, but that shows how much we know. I guess they'll have to wait a bit longer for their chance to air out now.
When Young Daughter saw me come to supper with 'em on me feet, she asked if I was becoming a Bootist . Bootism seems to be a cold weather religion. So for now, I'm a practicing "Bootist".
Tonight, they're calling for 26.
But in Hawaii- This Afternoon: Mostly sunny, with a high near 81. East wind around 14 mph.
Monday: Mostly sunny, with a
high near 81. East wind around 13 mph. Sounds Good.

Blessed

This poor beat-up Motorcycle is resting here in it's lair. No this is not one of those high dollar jobs you can watch them build on the TV. This is just my little Honda Motorcycle. It may not look impressive, but it is a real Motorcycle. It may not be real fast, but it is fast enough to hurt someone, like me.
But this is not just a poor old Motorcycle, it is a Blessed Motorcycle. It is really true. My Sweetie found in the local "Shopper" paper, that a church in a nearby town was having the "First Annual Blessing of the Bikes". This seemed like a good thing. All kinds of bad things can happen to you out there, blowouts, break downs, wrecks, once I even hit a deer.
So I did it. I rode up there last week and ate hot dogs and stuff and got me and the bike blessed. But I guess I'll still have to change the oil.

Burrito Nite

Wendsday is Burrito Nite at our house. The Burritos are a family tradition. These are simple Bean Burritos, but with our own little special touch. It is necessary to use home made Tortillas of course. This is a shot of the Tortillas in progress. As is evident we substitute the old fashioned rolling pin for a high tech Tortilla press. Crude, but effective. My Sweetie rolls the
Tortillas, whilst I mash the beans. We've experimented a little, but pintos are traditional. The beer is optional but does make a nice complement to the operation as well as the meal. Of course there are other elements besides the beans and Tortillas.There's the onions, and olives. Today, some mashed up avocado. Some home grown cilantro, and of course the cheese. The sour cream makes them "deluxe" and all that. But there is still that one thing, that special touch that makes our Burritos unique, the slaw. I like to add a bit of tabasco for a bit of zing.
I suppose these are not really "authentic" and all, but they are our own family tradition, and have quite a following here. And of course, they are loaded with vitamin "F".

They're still calling for frost here this weekend. But for Honolulu- Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 77. Calm wind becoming southwest between 4 and 7 mph. Sounds good.

The Benders

Meet the Benders, Joe and Wendy. When my Sweetie made a visit to the west coast some time ago, she met the Benders. It seems that they hit it off, and these Bender folks followed her home. They've been here for a while now. Mostly they hang around in the kitchen, I guess the know where the action is. So now we are stuck with them it seems. But it's not so bad, they have such magnetic personalities, and they do know how to keep quiet in situations.
Last year we took a trip to the east coast and while there ran into some kinfolks of theirs. These were the artsy type. In fact, we saw them in the gift shop of an art museum. But nice as they were and all, we did manage to slip off without them.
You can probably tell which is Joe, and which is Wendy in the picture. She is not realy kicking him, they really get along quite well.
The weather's been pretty good here today, but they're calling for maybe frost this weekend.
The weather in Hawaii is-
Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 79. Northeast wind around 7 mph becoming southwest.
Just so you know.

Lawndale Dummy

Back in March I mentioned the Lawndale Railway & Industrial Co. ( Pumped Up, 3/3/07 ) At the time, I didn't want to go into that fascinating little RR. But now, for no particular reason, here goes.

This is one of the original freight-cars, I believe, #314. I believe that because that is what is painted on it. As you might have noticed, the track does not appear to go anywhere. This is, alas, the case today, but it was not so in the early 1900's, in it's days of glory.
Back in that era of the rise of our late lamented textile industry, it seems there was a booming mill and mill-town about a dozen miles from here. Now this metropolis was served by not one, but two modern rail-lines, whereas said mill-town was served by only muddy wagon roads. The Great Industrialist who's mill was lacking this modern transport, was determined to remedy this. When no "real" railroaders could be induced to assist in this endeavor, this Industrialist took matters into his own hands and built his own rail-line. The narrow gage was already largely considered obsolete, but it suited his purposes in that second hand equipment could be had economically, and actually gave some technical advantages in this case. The Railroad operated until WWII when the track was taken up for scrap in those desperate times. But the old LRR had served it's purpose by then, and trucks had taken over from the little "Lawndale Dummy" as it was know.
I think it's kinda cool though. The photo doesn't give a very good idea of the scale of things. Sorry about that. It is a lot smaller than the box cars we usually see. Dig the cool wooden trucks.

Pancake Morning

We had some rice with buckwheat the other day for dinner. It made me think of Buckwheat Pancakes. The weekend is so nice. One can sleep in and have a real breakfast. My Sweetie does not like much to cook the Pancakes, but she doesn't mind fixing the batter. I don't really understand this, as cooking them doesn't bother me, but I don't care much for mixing the fixings. I suppose she wouldn't understand that. But it should be evident that this works out to our advantage. You see, when God puts people together, He has a plan, and in our situation, there is an allowance for Pancakes. And so, here is a delicious Buckwheat Pancake in the pan, hence the term, "Pancake". I would think that if one were to cook such as this on a griddle, it would be a "Griddlecake". Yet, the term "Hotcake" could apply to either. But we don't eat "Hotcakes" here, only Pancakes. So, I made a pot of coffee, and cooked the pancakes, and we ate 'em.

The weather report for Honolulu is- Monday: Isolated showers. Partly cloudy, with a high near 80. North wind between 10 and 14 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
Here, it just tried to rain, but not too cold. I think it's going to get rather dark soon.