She Might Be Cold

It was a Frosty morning.
Is much Frost on Truck.
Dancer is not from around here.
I think she must be cold.

Dancer came from that Tropical Paradise.
She is not dressed for this weather.
But heater in truck works fine.
She will be OK.

About that Mystery Pix, this actually was an unsuccessful attempt at shooting though one of those "peepholes" in a door. Sometimes The Fuzz gets a little bored. Since the pix was useless as it was, he decided to play with it and this was what came out.

Tropical Skills

We've been staying pretty busy getting a place ready for our future home.
Last week, Agile Son and Daughter in Law came out to help out. This tree had to come down, but had the potential to take out the electrical power for the neighborhood. We deemed it best to tie it off to make certain there would be no unpleasant circumstances as a result of our efforts.
Here you can see that Agile Son applying a skill he picked up getting coconuts on a visit to that Tropical Paradise.
Apparently, the trick is to tie the ankles for a better grip.
I am happy to report that our efforts were successful, and the tree came down with no damage to the power grid.

Another One Bites The Dust

Yes, literally bites the dust.

This one had been around for a while, but was beginning to act a little funny. It still sucked, but that is what is desired in these cases. However it had been getting louder and louder lately, and that is not desirable.

Then, the other day, as Young Daughter was cleaning her room (finally), it refused to respond.

And so, The Fuzz and His Sweetie went over to the Home Improvement Store. (It seems they can't stay away from that place these days.) There they found all kinds of High Dollar Machines but none that seemed to fill the requirements at a realistic price. They have a definite preference for these "canister" models, which I guess aren't real popular with the Home Improvement Crowd.

This left them with the unpleasant option of a trip to Wally World. But His Sweetie reminded The Fuzz, that the K-mart was still there, right across the street from Wally World.

And that's where they found this fine little machine.

In other news, the "Young'uns" made it back from that Tropical Paradise. Unfortunately, their *luggage didn't.
The Fuzz and His Sweetie picked them up at the Airport in the Big City, and took them and that Barkley Dog home. I "Borrowed" this shot from one of them just for this blog, so we all could enjoy a bit of that Tropical Paradise.

*Just for the record, the luggage arrived today.

The Bark Is Back

With so many off to that Tropical Paradise, it was time for that Barkley Dog to make another visit. He does seem to miss His People, but he is coping. He is used to taking frequent runs with his Master, but unfortunately for him, The Fuzz is not up to that. They have made it out for a few walks though.

They missed a couple of days there, when The Fuzz was laid up, but he and Young Daughter took that Barkley and their own Stupid, Disobedient Dog for a nice long walk up the road to the grocery store this morning.

Along the way they saw a pile of "Deer Corn" someone had dropped off of their truck. I don't even know why I mentioned that here, but it was one of those "Little Things" you don't see every day. On the way home, they noticed that someone had scooped up what they could. I suppose the squirrels will try and eat the rest, and probably end up as more Roadkill.
Here you can see Barkley with one of his Favorite Toys,"Squeezzel". I don't know if that's it's real name, but The Fuzz calls it "Squeezzel" so I will too. Barkley loves you to throw Squeezzel and he's pretty good at catching it, so The Fuzz usually throws it a few times as he passes though the yard on his way to bigger and better things.

Black Sand and Stranger Stuff

This spring, we made a visit to the Tropical Paradise and avoided our local Easter Freeze. Before we left, we heard about this "Black Sand Beach". The World Traveler Daughter stopped off in Iceland, and viewed this phenomenon there, and word was, it existed in the Tropical Paradise too. But, unfortunately, we were unable to see this wonder ourselves. (Limited time, limited funds etc.) But recently, Military Daughter and friends, made it to the Big Island, the home of this phenomenon. So here is actual, photographical proof, of the Black Sand Beach, courtesy of said Daughter
Apparently this has something to do with Volcanos or something. There are Volcanoes in the Tropical Paradise, and there are Volcanoes in Iceland. We do not have Volcanos here, and we do not have Black Sand Beaches.
[By the way, why does this spell checker not care how "Volcanos" is spelled ? When The Fuzz was in school the teachers always cared how he spelled words. They never liked his way of doing it. Now it doesn't matter. Volcanos, volcanoes... How about "volkaneohs", or would that be "Volkaneohes" or "Valkainohs ?.... Ooooo, it doesn't like those.]
But I digress.
Now here is the new thing, at least to me. While Military Daughter and Companions were turing the Big Island, there were many fine sights to see. The saw the Steam Vents, the Lava Flows and of course, the Black Sand Beach.
Here, we have Sand, and there are Beaches as well. But they are merely "sandy" colored, nothing more. I know that there are places with White Sand Beaches, but I'd never heard of Green Sand. But here, right on this page, is the proof. This is not some Photoshop trick, but real Green Sand. And here is the Green Sand Beach.Which is wondrous, but strange.

The Bad and the Good

This is a Garbage Truck. If it seems a little bit, some how, not exactly "right", it's not your eyes, don't worry, it's not you. There seems to be some problem with the horizontal-vertical stuff. I tried to fix this, but something's still not right.

It seems there was a mishap on the way to the dump. Somehow this truck lost it's footing, if trucks have "footing". Maybe it's not that, maybe it "capsized". But can something capsize if it's not at sea ?

Well now it seems to be stuck on the wall. But, that's not really a wall, it looks more like the ground. Maybe there is a big magnetical field here.

First, fear not, The Fuzz was not involved in this. And I'm happy to report that the driver of this vehicle was not seriously damaged.
The truck was righted and the road cleared.
The oily dirt dug up and replaced, grass re-seeded.

But it was not a good day for our department.

Still don't know how bad the damage is, but needless to say, this vehicle will be down for a while.



And here is the Happy Couple.

Here we see Happy Son and Happy Daughter in Law, in the Tropical Paradise.
They took a long trip for a Tropical Wedding. They did make it home safe, and we hope to get to the partying soon.

Can we say, Mazel tov !

The Tropical Paradise Revisited

We heard from Older Son and Fiancée. They have arrived in the Tropical Paradise. They have "Big and Evil Plans". Well maybe not really "evil", but "big" enough. It is convenient having Air Force Daughter for a sister. I guess she is also, Air Force Sister.
We have the doggie here. Yes the barkin' Barkley is back. At home he gets lots of attention, I think he misses this. But he'll make it.

Sunshine State

This is the place where I went to visit my Sister. It is a Hospital, she is quite ill I'm sorry to say. But I'm not going into that right now.
There are some visual clues that this is not North Carolina. I think the trees will give it away. She lives in a Tropical Paradise Place. Not the Tropical Paradise we visited earlier this year, but tropical enough.
This looks like a new hospital. Everything here looks new. The whole town looks new. There are new streets and new sidewalks, new building everywhere. Even the grass and trees are new. The trees just look un-new. I wondered how they could find all these un-new trees in just the right places.

But then I saw this. Apparently this tree did not grow here. It must have been tree-napped from some other place. Trees can not move very fast, so it probably could not escape. It seems to have been tied up, and pulled up, and then propped up here. But this is a nice place, kinda like a park or something.
You may notice on the roof, a glassed in place, where one could enjoy the view. That would be very nice, but unfortunately, it's only there for looks. We walked all around the place looking for a way up, but there was none. After we gave up sneaking around, we even asked about it. I think it's not a real place.
But before I give the wrong impression, the people here are very nice and are taking good care of my Sister.
You may also notice the dark and cloudy sky. I am beginning to wonder about this "Sunshine State" thing. It seems to mostly rain here. We need some of that at home, but it seems to want to stay here. There are little ponds everywhere with water in them.
There doesn't seem to be a lot of people here, at least for the size of the facilities. I was told things would change latter in the year. I guess for now all the people are in the mountains back home.
But My Sister does not live in this place. Here is a view of her neighborhood.
My Sister is not really from the Tropical Paradise, but her husband is. And everything in the Tropical Paradise is not new. But it seems like everywhere things are changing. New roads, new houses, new everything, pushing the old things away.
This is the "Driveway" to their home. It is a very beautiful place. Not "New", not like a park, but like a "real" place. I suppose those other places are "real" enough, but sometimes one needs to dig one's toes down into the dirt, get off the transplanted sod, and smell the fresh earth. And maybe to look up at the real trees and the sky.
So, to those of you who do believe, and who pray, remember My Sister and her family. And appreciate Life while you have it.

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.