HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Aloha! After our cereal and multiple cups of coffee this morning we decided that today we would show Mom and Dad a little of Hanalei. We checked out the shops in the old school house then crossed the road to Ching Young Village for more shops and a little mid morning snack. Jackie and I split a piece of apple cobbler while Mom and Dad each had a slice of carrot cake. We toured a few more shops then drove down to Hanalei Pier. The water is still a little murky from all the runoff but the mountains were awesome! The rain we have had the last couple of days really has the waterfalls going. Seems like there was a waterfall every where you looked. We stayed at the pier long enough to get hungry again so we headed back to a nice little place we like to eat at called Pandas Kitchen. Over our lunch of sweet and sour pork, orange chicken and chicken and vegetables with fried rice we decided that we would check out the sale at the Princeville Hotel. It is almost over now and they had most of the rooms closed off but we were still able to show Mom and Dad some of the hotel. From there we gave them a driving tour of the residential area of Princeville then it was on to Anini beach as dad was wanting to get his feet wet. The water was so nice and warm that they are talking like they may want to try snorkeling so maybe it will be a beach day tomorrow!

WATERFALLS AND SHOPPING

Aloha! Well it's been a very wet day for us here on Kauai. We decided to eat breakfast out this morning so it was down to Eggberts for some wonderful pancakes. It has rained off and on for the entire day so we thought this would be a good time to check out the shopping. We started at the ABC store and then it was a short visit to Opaeka'a Falls. We managed to catch it between rain showers! From there it was a short drive to Wal-mart and on to Hilo Hatties. From there we gave Mom and Dad a tour of Lihue and we stopped at K-mart for a quick look around. We were starting to get a little hungry so we ate at a little mexican resturant in the mall. From here we checked out Nawiliwili Harbor and drove to a beach overlook just past the Marriott. This is a very nice place to check out the harbor with some nice views of the cruise ships. We have two that are visiting at the moment. It was raining when we left there so we decided to head to Princeville to visit Cory. We picked up some groceries and headed for home!

SOMETHING TO CROW ABOUT

Aloha! Sorry about it taking so long for the posts but unfortunely I have found that it is impossible for me to write and talk story at the same time! We have been enjoying talking with Mom and Dad so much that it gets late before I can get anything written so tonight I snuck down to Cory's room and left them all talking story in mine. I just had to crow a little about my newest grandson Evan. Isn't he about the most handsome baby you have ever seen? Brian said he hardly fusses at all. He wasn't real happy about the car seat as you can tell from the photo but he only fussed for about a minute or two. Jaynee has some real nice photos of him on her blog as well. Okay, now I will try to catch you up with Mom and Dad's trip. We started day two in Lihue picking up Mom's wheelchair. After that we drove to Spouting Horn. Mom and Jackie spent a while working their way past the booths selling the nick nacks. Not sure how many of you have shopped with Mom but given the chance she will leave no doodad uninspected and there are a lot of doodads to look at here! The only way we were able to hurry her past the shops was to come and tell her about the great show the spinner dolphins were putting on and they did put on quite a show. They jumped and played for almost an half hour. From there we drove across the road to the Botanical Gardens. We had a real nice time looking at all the plants and talking. From there we drove back to the mall in Lihue for lunch. We decided that McDonalds would be a nice treat as we all love their fries! After we left the mall we headed back towards the house with the thought of stopping at a couple of waterfalls on the way. Well that was a nice thought but mother nature had other ideas. She wanted to show Mom and Dad how it can rain on Kauai. It came down in buckets! The road to Waimea Falls looked more like a stream than it did a road...that is what little of the road you could see as it was raining that hard! We decided that the falls would have to wait for another day and headed on home to a talk a little story and drink a lot of coffee. We hadn't been home more than 20 minutes when we got a bulletin on the tv that the entire island was under a flashflood watch as it had rained more than 4 inches in Lihue and Hanalei with more rain expected so the remainder of day two was spent sitting around in our room talking story. Not a bad way to end the day. Today we decided we would give Mom and Dad the tour of the north shore. We started with a brief stop at Kalihiwai beach and then it was on to Anini. From there we toured Princeville and Hanalei. It was a pretty quick tour as we know we will be coming back as it is not too far from our house. After Hanalei we drove on out to Ke'e beach as that's as far as the road goes to the north so now Mom and Dad have seen both ends of the road! We stopped at Haena beach park for a little while on the way back to watch the waves. The ocean is pretty angry now with waves in the 10 to 12 foot range. We were starting to get a little hungry so we decided we would drive back to the Menehune and pick up some subs and eat them on the beach at Kalihiwai. It was a real nice lunch and watching the surf was a blast. The heavy rains we had yesterday has the water all mucked up but it should clear up in a day or two. From there it was on to the lighthouse to finish off our day. The whales haven't shown themselves yet but we had a nice time anyway. Lots of birds and great views of the waves hitting the shore as you saw in the video.

DAY THREE

More words later

DAY TWO

Will tell you about the day in a little while

EVAN MICHAEL POTEET

Aloha! Jackie and I have wonderful news to pass along this morning. We have a new grandson, Evan Michael. He was born this morning at 8:o5 pst. He weighs 8 pounds 6 ounces and Brian told us he and Kristi are both doing great. Not much else to pass on at the moment but you can bet that Grandma and I will be crowing about our newest grandson in our future post!

DAY ONE OF MOMS VISIT

Aloha! Well it's almost 11:00 here in paradise and Jackie and I have had a very nice day. We started the morning off with a little coffee and a lot of talk story then it was off to Eggberts for breakfast and a little more coffee and a whole lot more talk story! As you might have guessed we have a lot of catching up to do and we are having a whole lot of fun doing it. After we left Eggberts we ran into a little snag. The place where we were going to rent Mom a wheelchair wasn't open. Not sure why they were closed but on Kauai you come to expect those kind of things. It might have just been that the surf was good this morning...who knows? Anyway we had to make do without a wheelchair today but managed just fine as most of today was spent in the car. We do have one reserved for tomorrow and they promised they would be there no matter how good the surf is! We stopped in Waimea at Jo Jo's for shave ice and ate it at a little park by the pier. Then it was off to Polihale State Park. That's as far as the road goes on the south side of the island. From there it was back to Waimea and the 18 mile side trip in to the canyon. If you come to Kauai you need to see Waimea Canyon if at all possible. We stopped at numerous turn outs for stunning views of the canyon and also of the ocean and Niihau along with Lehua Rock. We drove all the way up to Pu'u o Kila lookout. It was misted in so there wasn't much to see from there but the rest of the trip was nice. We ate lunch at Koke'e Lodge and had a very nice chat with a couple visiting from Wenatchee. From there our next stop was the Kauai Coffee Plantation. We stopped this time mainly for the free coffee as we will return later when Mom has her wheelchair for a better look around. From here our next stop was Costco for gas then on to Foodland to pickup steaks to barbeque then it was back to the house for supper and talk story which we did until 10:30! The little slideshow we put together is of our trip into the canyon.

WAITING FOR THE PLANE

Aloha! Jackie and I have been marking time today. Mom and Dad's plane arrives at 7:30 this evening so we have spent the day just watching the clock slowly tick by. Of course I bet Mom and Dad would gladly trade places with us as I doubt they like waiting in lines at the airport and being crammed into those airline seats for their almost 6 hour flight any more than we do! I know for Jackie and I the thought of our friends and family waiting on the other end of our flight makes it a lot more bearable and having Hawaii to return to makes the return trip that much better. Hopefully Mom and Dad feel much the same way! We don't have any plans for them this evening as I imagine they will be pretty much done in. With the time difference it will be 10:30 their time when they arrive so we will see if they want to eat something and try not to talk story too long so they can get some rest. Wasn't sure what to post today so I threw this little clip of the road to Anini together for you. Seems like Jackie and I are always showing you Anini from the fishes perspective...thought you might want to see it from up top!

SMILES FROM HOME

Aloha! Well is been another lovely day here on Kauai. Jackie and I took advantage of the nice weather to get in a short snorkel. The visability was not very good and at times it felt as if we were snorkeling in a dust storm! We did manage to see a few fish though and the exercise was nice so we won't complain too loud! Jackie and I snorkeled for about an hour then sat on the beach drinking coffee for about an hour more so it was a nice relaxing morning. Jackie spent a good share of the afternoon doing a little cleaning while I watched a little tv. We got a nice e-mail from Brian and Kristi with Brent's picture attached. He wanted to show his Grandma and Grandpa his toothless grin along with his new glasses. He looks so cool with his new glasses and smile I just had to pass it along to you guys! The next photo was taken at the overlook just past Princeville and the last photo is of Jackie and Judy taken at the Kauai Coffee Plantation.

RUNNING ERRANDS

Aloha! Well it's beautiful in paradise today...light trades with temps in the mid 80's. Jackie and I have spent the better part of the day running a few last minute errands. We drove into Lihue to pay our insurance with stops at Costco and Walmart thrown in. We did get a pleasant surprise...at Costco gas was down to $3.05 a gallon. It was $3.54 last week and it's still around $3.70 every where else on the island. Cory is working the graveyard shift at the store for the next two nights so he has been talking story with us this afternoon. He seems to be real excited for Grandmas visit. Of course it has been over a year since he has seen them! Bet he will be tired tomorrow as he was up and having coffee at 7 this morning and he will be up all night tonight. He really hates it when they change his shifts around and I can't say that I blame him. For some reason it seems they change his schedule every week with him working days and overnights all in the same week. This week he worked days Wednesday and Thursday and overnight Friday and Saturday. If it was just his schedule I would be a little concerned but they do it to everyone. Guess scheduling for a grocery store must be more involved than what I can see! The first two photos are of a longnose butterflyfish. The way this guy flits around and sticks his nose into the coral to eat you can see why they call them butterfly fish. His little pectoral fins are see thru and the way he moves them it looks like he is flying. The next photo is of a whitemouth moray and the last photo is of a stripebelly puffer asleep on the bottom. This guy just layed there while we took his photo. If it wasn't for his little fins going once in awhile we would have thought he was dead!

MOWING DAY

Aloha! Well Jackie and I have been getting everything ready for Mom's visit. Today we mowed the yard. That was the biggest chore we were looking at. Now we will just need to get to Walmart in the next day or two to get a few more dishes. Jackie wasn't real keen on my idea of us eating in shifts...can't understand why thats not a blue ribbon idea! Guess she figured out I was planning on eating on both shifts! It has been real nice today with a few clouds and temps in the low 80's and the weather guys are predicting more of the same for next week. Jackie and I haven't made it out to the lighthouse for a while so we aren't sure if the whales are here yet. Think we will wait until Mom and Dad get here so we can hopefully see our first one together! We will post a short video we shot on Tuesday as we thought one of us mowing the yard might be boring although you guys did like the one of us going to the store!

A DAY OF REST

Aloha! Well Jackie and I are taking it easy today. We remember now why it had been a while since we had gone to the beach twice in one day...you pay for it the next day! Man, we are whipped! Snorkeling will give you a workout. While you are out there with the fish you feel great. You're excited and want to keep going but once you come home and get a warm shower you come to realize just how old you really are and how long it takes to recover! What once only required a few hours now takes longer...a whole lot longer! We did have a funny thing happen to us on our way in to shore yesterday. We had another snorkeler come up to Jackie and ask her if she had seen the eel that he had spotted a little ways behind us. Jackie said no she hadn't noticed one...was this one big? He said it was huge and before she could say anything else in an attempt to calm him down he took off towards shore swimming like the devil was after his soul! I can kind of relate to how he felt as the first time I saw an eel breathing with his mouth open it did make me feel like he might be out to see what a snorkeler might taste like! At least this guy summoned up enough courage to try and warn us. By the time Jackie and I got to shore with the idea to thank him for the warning he had already packed up and left. Doubt if we will see him in the water again...at least not on this trip! We will post some of the video we shot on Monday and surprise, surprise...its about eels!

EARLY MORNING SWIM

Aloha! Jackie and I have been enjoying a very nice day...temp in the low 80's with light trades and sunny skies. We decided to go to Anini a bit earlier this morning than we have been going the conditions were almost perfect. We didn't see as many fish as yesterday but you can't expect to have that kind of luck everytime. If I can talk Jackie into spending the gas we will probally head back to Anini after I get this posted! It has been awhile since we have gone to the beach twice in one day but heck we're retired...we can do what we want, right? The video I posted was taken yesterday. It shows a longnose butterflyfish. This guy is not real big, about 4 or 5 inches maybe, its kind of hard to tell. This was the first time I was able to get his picture. We had caught a glimpse of him last week but he retreated back into the coral and wouldn't come out! We were also able to capture a moorish idol flaring his fin out. We had seen them do it before but never when I was ready catch it on film!

STRIPEBELLY PUFFER AND MR. HONU

Aloha! Jackie and I had an awesome snorkel today and to think we almost talked ourselves out of going! It was after lunch when I asked Jackie if she wanted to get in the water. She had been working in the garden all morning. That is, she was in the garden when it would quit raining long enough for her to be out there! It never did rain very hard but enough to force her inside a few times and enough to keep me away all together. I don't mind being in the garden...its the working part that I have a problem with! Anyway, we kicked the idea of going to the beach around some and decided we would give it a shot. Here on Kauai you can't tell what the weather will be like on another part of the island just by what it is like where you are. It can and will change a lot in just a few miles. After we got to Anini we could see where it had been raining some and the sky was still overcast but the water was prime...as flat as a lake with good visbility so Jackie and I snorkeled out and found the fish to be very cooperative. We saw 4 eels, ran into a honu in 3 different spots, caught a brief glimpse of a longspine porcupinefish and captured some nice video along with some good pics of a longnosed butterflyfish! This little guy is awesome as you will see tomorrow as we had too much other video we wanted to post today. We also had a real nice swim with a stripebelly puffer. This guy wasn't as large as some of the others we have seen. I would guess him to be about 8 or 9 inches where as some of the others would be in the 14 to 15 inch range. The color on this one was mostly brown and the larger ones were mostly green but our book says the colors can vary. We also saw a lot of idols and got some good clips of them. We were even able to get a video of one with its fin flared out! We will post it tomorrow as well.

A WEEK TO GO

Aloha! Well it's been a very quiet day here on Kauai. Cory went to work at 8:oo this morning so he was down for coffee around 7:oo. We talked story and watched Meet The Press with him until he had to leave for work. Jackie and I continued watching only missing the last 10 minutes or so when I changed the channel to catch the race. The race finished about 11:30 so that left us the entire afternoon to enjoy. We started it off with a trip to the Menehune for subs then we flipped a coin to decide if we wanted to eat our subs at the beach or at an overlook looking for whales. The whales won so it was back to the overlook by our house to enjoy our lunch. We spent an hour or two there but no whales were to be seen. We left the overlook around two as I wanted to get back to the house in time to catch the Seahawks. Don't know why I bothered! What's up with the teams from Washington this year? The Mariners and Hawks both stink and the Cougs and the Dogs aren't either one playing like we have come to expect! OK maybe Jerry and Zack will tell you that the Cougs are playing just like they expected them to play but think even they will admit the Cougs have had better years! The first photo is of the overlook just down from our house. The second is of a puakenekene tree that's in our yard. The blossoms smell nice and are also used to make leis. The last photo is of our jalapeno pepper plant.

TRIP TO THE STORE

Aloha! Well as you can tell from our little video Jackie and I have been enjoying another laid back day here on Kauai. The weather has been a little overcast with temps in the low 80's. So far, that trip to town has been the highlite of our day! We did watch the truck race from Martinsville and caught the Cougs and USC during the commercials. I guess I should feel guilty for not watching more of the game but when it's that lopsided its no fun for anybody, especially Coug fans! We shot the video using underwater mode on our little camera. We didn't want the sound from the wind blowing in the windows to interfere. I'm sure there is a way to turn the sound off in the other mode but neither Jackie or I could find it. Maybe when we visit in January we will have Brent or Ty show us old folks how to do it!

SHORT AND SWEET

Aloha! Well Jackie and I enjoyed a very nice snorkel this morning. We saw a lot of fish in a short amount of time. We arrived at Anini around 9:30 and you could see the weather was looking a little threatening in the distance. We thought it might be best if we checked out the place where we saw the porcupinefish first as it not to far off shore. While we were heading out we ran across a cornetfish. We see a lot of these fish and I have taken a ton of pictures along with video but not too many that I like. These guys blend in real well and a lot of times they will just hang in the water like they are asleep but this morning we got a short clip that I think turned out pretty good. We also came across a school of fish that was fairly large for Anini. It had lot of different kinds of fish in it including an ornate butterflyfish, the first one we have seen at Anini. Most of the fish in this school were small, almost juvenile. We swam on out and found the porcupinefish hiding under the same coral he was hiding under last time. He did come a little further out this time but I was only able to catch a short clip of him. Not far from there, about 10 yards, we saw a whitemouth moray. This one was a little larger than most of the eels we run across but not nearly as big as the one we saw last week! I would say this one was about 3 feet long with a head about 3 or 4 inches wide. In this same area we ran into a large school of fish, mostly convict tangs and threadfins, with a few others mixed in. These fish were a lot larger than the other school. As a matter of fact the threadfins and convict tangs we see at Anini are quite a bit bigger than any we have seen any where else. While we were checking this school out we noticed the water was getting a little rough so Jackie and I headed back to shore. We were swimming in white caps by the time we got to shore! Our snorkel this morning was pretty short, about 45 minutes, but very sweet as we saw a ton of fish.

5-STAR HONU

Aloha! It's been a very nice day for Jackie and I. We needed to go back to Lihue to pick-up a few things we forgot the other day so after a nice breakfast and a few cups of coffee we packed the cooler in the car and headed to Costco. On the way home we picked up lunch at Taco Bell and took it to a nice ocean overlook to enjoy while we kept our eyes peeled for humpbacks. No luck on the whales but the tacos tasted good and the view from there is always worth the stop. We might make it out to the lighthouse in the next day or two as I am curious if they have spotted any whales yet. Seems like thats where the first ones are always spotted from.

LOOKING BACK

Aloha! Well its been another beautiful day here in paradise. The trades returned at around 10 and with them our great weather. Jackie and I stayed close to home today as we had a few projects that we have been avoiding that we felt needed our attention. I worked on making our car a little more presentable and felt that our little grill could use a good going over also. Jackie worked on a bit of deep cleaning inside. Whenever Jackie is doing this type of cleaning I have found it wise to make myself scarce! If I happen to come with in ear shot of her she is more than happy to remind me of what a mess I can make and of how she is the one who always has to clean it up! Of course I have no comeback as she is absolutely right and my best defense is a fast exit! After we finished our chores and while we were waiting for the debate to start we put together a short slideshow of some of our older photos. Hope you like it! I know Jackie and I sure got a kick out of looking back at the great times we were having when these photos were taken.

TRIP TO LIHUE

Aloha! Well it's overcast with a few rain showers here on Kauai. It was cold enough last night that we had to sleep with a blanket. We normally sleep with just a sheet but the blanket felt good last night! Jackie and I needed a few things from Costco so we drove into Lihue this morning with stops at Walmart, Sears and Costco. Jackie was in very charitable mood this morning and allowed me to accompany her into the stores. It might have something to do with my birthdays fast approach! At any case I spent the majority of my freedom wandering the isles in the electronic section trying to decide which tv I would buy if I was in the market for a new one. I think a 32 inch lCD would look real nice in our little studio but have to agree with Jackie that right now is probably not the best time to spend money that you don't have to spend as the tv we have now works just fine! The first two photos were taken at Queens Bath during Chad and Denises visit. The surf was in the 2 to 4 foot range then. The surf on Sunday when the 2 ladies were washed out was in the 12 to 14 foot range. The next photo was taken during Mom's visit. The last photo was taken at Charles and Judy's just before the trip.

NINA, PINTA, SANTA MARIA

Aloha! Jackie and I have been enjoying a very uneventful Columbus Day. Jackie has been working in the garden while I have been relaxing inside. I have been feeling a little off the last few days. The way my stomach and joints feel I wonder if it's not a touch of the flu. So far Jackie hasn't complained about feeling bad but of course she wouldn't as she is not a wussy like I am! It was overcast most of the morning and its raining now so Jackie is fixing homemade soup for supper. We don't have many days here in paradise where a bowl of hot soup sounds good but today is most definitely a good day for soup. We had a real sad story in our paper this morning. We had two women drown at Queens Bath yesterday. They were both washed out by the high surf. Can't imagine the anguish their husbands are going thru today. One of the husbands jumped into the water but was unable to get to his wife or his sister-in-law. The other one called 911 but all the rescue crew was able to do was retrieve the bodies. We also had another visitor drown swimming at the beach in front of the Kauai Sands Hotel. He was 74 years old and visiting from Japan. That beach is very unsafe for swimming even when the water is flat which I'm sure it wasn't yesterday. They put signs out but most people don't pay them any attention. The best advice Jackie and I have heard is if there is any doubt don't go out!

MORE SNORKELING VIDEO

Aloha! Jackie and I have been enjoying another lovely day here in paradise. We went to the beach this morning with the hopes of spotting a whale but didn't have any luck. It's still a little early in the season as the humpbacks don't generally show up enmasse until the middle of November but we have seen the occasional one or 2 around this time of year. The ocean is very angry at the moment with our first advisory level swell of the season arriving this afternoon. They are predicting wave heights of better than 15 feet so needless to say Jackie and I will spend our time on the beach and will leave the water for more daring fools than us! The video we put together today was shot at PK's. Some of it was taken with my old camera as you can tell by the sound.

15 DAYS BUT WHOS COUNTING

Aloha! Well Jackie and I have had a real nice day. We went back to the liquidation sale at the Princeville Hotel and spent a few hours just snooping around. We don't really need anything and we would have to get rid of something in order to make room for anything we bought anyway so we just browsed around. We watched a little tv when we got home. The Cougs were at Oregon State and playing their normal game. It was 21-zip in the first quarter and it wasn't the Cougs doing the cheering so we changed the channel and watched the Nascar race. It was a good race...Biff finished 7th but still lost a few points to Jimmy Johnson. We were glad that Jeff Burton won the race even if he did pass Biff in points. There are still 6 races to go so don't count anyone out yet! Mom and Dad are coming in about 2 weeks and we are really looking foward to their visit. We have so many things we want to show them but mainly we just want them to enjoy their time here and hope they can feel the aloha that this island brings to us. Jackie liked the mannequin in the first photo. The next photo is of the main lobby. They are doing a lot of work on it now and you have to use the loading area to come into the hotel for the sale. The next photo was taken on the lanai just off the lobby. The last photo was taken from one of the suites. It's of two standup paddle boarders. Think this sport is getting more and more popular.

RAINY FRIDAY

Aloha! Well Jackie and I have spent the better part of the day inside watching it rain. Not much to watch on tv but I spent the day watching anyway. Wish I had the will power to turn it off. I know my stomach would be a lot better if I had spent the day reading or if we had ignored the rain and went snorkeling! All the b.s. being thrown around on the campaign trail and all the news from wall street makes a body long for a good 3 Stooges marathon so we can relate to how intelligent people handle a crisis and not to the boobs handling this one! Jackie has already told me that tomorrow the only tv I can watch is the race. Guess she is going to commandere the remote for awhile or at least until my attitude improves! We went thru our photos and found some I hope you will like. The first one is Mr. Honu at turtle rock. This is the small honu. The second photo was taken at Tunnels. It shows the teardrop butterflies along with the dropoff. The 3rd photo was taken at Prince Kuhio beach. It is of a barred filefish. The last photo was taken in front of our garden.

A LARGE MALE HONU

Aloha! Well Jackie and I enjoyed a great snorkel this morning. The weather and the ocean were both great! We arrived at Anini around 9:30 and found the beach mostly deserted and the water pretty smooth. We ran into the honu not too far into our snorkel and this one was huge! We did a little research and found out that males have a long fat tail. They grow it when they reach maturity at about 25 years of age. Females and immature male have a much smaller tail. We got some pretty good video showing this guys tail and also some of him enjoying his breakfast. He just kept munching away and was not the least bit worried that we were watching! We swam on out to our spot near the buoy where we saw 2 barred filefish along with the usual cast out there. We get the biggest kick out of watching the cleaner wrasses. They set up shop and the fish come to them for cleaning. We have noticed they are almost always in the same spot and we saw 2 of them fighting over it this morning. On the way back in we checked out a spot where we normally find the unicorns but did not see them today. We did see 2 large uluas along with a giant porcupinefish though.

MORE OF MR HONU

Aloha! Well today Jackie and I have been catching up on all the little piddly things we have been putting off. First up was a trip to the post office to renew our p.o. box. In the past that was no problem...you just go to the post office, pay them for the rent and go home. Not any more! Now you have to fill out a questionaire, show them 2 pieces of i.d. for everyone using the box and one of them must show your street address. So Jackie and I took our apartment lease along with our drivers license to the window and that still wasn't enough! They wanted the registration or proof of insurance from the car to boot! Not real sure why they needed all this info just to renew a p.o. box. We didn't need that much when we registered to vote! After we finished up at the post office we headed to Walmart to pick up a few items there and we stopped at a little shop next to Walmart on the way home to make sure they have wheelchairs to rent in case Mom wants one to help her get around during her visit.

WHITEMOUTH MORAY

Aloha! Well we are having are normal weather here in paradise...low 80's with light trades. As we finished our chores yesterday we were able to play today so it was off to Anini to snorkel. The water was a little choppy but it can't be perfect every time! We swam out to our spot by the buoy and we were rewarded with a glimpse of the longspine porcupinefish. He seems to be a little leary of us and refuses to hang around but we did manage to get a short clip of him anyway. On the way in we ran across a whitemouth moray. This one was huge! I would guess him to be 4 or 5 feet long with a head that was at least 6 or 8 inches thick! These guys are a little more flat than they are round and a lot scarier in person than they are on video. The current kept pushing us closer to him and it was real hard not to get closer than we wanted. I got within 3 or 4 feet of him a couple of times and had to stop filming and use my hands to maneuver away. He really was a lot more intimidating in person! We also ran into Mr. Honu at his usual spot and will post some more video of him along with the video of the porcupinefish in the future.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM

Aloha! Well its been a day of chores for us here on Kauai. Jackie and I mowed the lawn. It takes us the better part of the day to get it all done but we feel our efforts are well justified as it always looks so much better after we get finished. Today is also a very special day for two reasons. First, it's Mom's birthday. Hope she is having a super day as there is no one that deserves one more and second today is the day Jackie and I got engaged! I have made some decisions in my life...some good-some not so good...but the best decision I ever made was 35 years ago when I asked Jackie to marry me. Still can't believe she said yes! Jackie and I haven't been able to check for any humpbacks yet this year. It's a little early for them but we did spot one last year at about this time so we are going to have to drag ourselves out to the lighthouse and check it out. We posted a short video of the fish at PK's beach. Hope you enjoy it!

THE BEAV

Aloha! Well it's been a real nice day...the temperature in the low 80s with light trades. We started the day off watching the race. It wasn't a bad race and even though my driver got taken out by his team mate it was still fun to watch! Just wish Nascar would consider shortening these races...4 hours is a bit long. If they would cut them in half you would have a much better race in my opinion and think more people would watch. We went to the beach after the race. Decided that we would try Kalihiwai as we haven't been there for a while. The waves were small but still a lot of fun to play in. Not a lot of people there especially for a Sunday afternoon but a few more trickled in as the afternoon progressed. We stayed until about 3 playing in the waves and talking story. All in all not a bad way to spend a Sunday! Jackie is fixing swiss steak for supper and it does smell good! Not sure whats on the agenda for this evening but I have the feeling if we sit too still we will be asleep before it gets dark! Guess that's what the water will do for you...tire you out so you sleep like a baby! The photos of the beaver were taken in 2003. Jackie said a dog or something had chewed up this little guy pretty good. Some people found it along the side of the road by Jen's Java Juice there in Prosser and brought it in to the clinic for Mary to fix. They thought it might have been hit by a car and it wasn't until they were able to clean it up some that you could see the bite marks. Jackie said she dulled all of the clipper blades clipping this guys coat because his hair was so dense. Guess that's why their coats were so valuable and they were almost trapped to extinction. He was at the clinic for about 6 weeks before they were able to get him healthy enough to let go. They set him free down by the boat ramp next to Twin City Foods. Hope he was able to find his family again!

SATURDAY

Aloha! Well Jackie and I have been taking it pretty easy today. We have made it out to the garden and thats about as far as we have gotten from our chairs. We will need to pull a few weeds soon and the grass is going to need mowing but those chores can wait for another day. Jackie has a mess of okra from the garden and we will fry that for supper. We just need to think of something to go with it! Seems like lately we have been having a bit of a problem coming up with ideas. Seems like we get in a funk and nothing sounds good! Of course if we were at home we would just go to the 10-4, order a cheeseburger and fries and the problem would be solved! As we didn't get out much today we will post some more of the video we shot yesterday.

LONGSPINE PORCUPINEFISH

Aloha! Well it's been a very nice day here on Kauai. We have had a few brief rain showers but nothing that was long enough to keep us away from the beach. As a matter of fact we have really enjoyed the overcast skies and cooler temps as the trades have lightened some what and without the trades it can become pretty hot and sticky especially if you have clear skies. Jackie and I left for the beach at about 8:30 this morning and when we got to Anini we were about the only ones there. I think there may have been a few locals fishing down by the boat ramp and Barr was there setting up his fish taco wagon but the only visitors we saw were a nice couple from Colorado who were killing time waiting for the lighthouse to open. They said they had gotten an early start this morning as they wanted to beat the crowds to the lighthouse which they did by about an hour and a half as the lighthouse opens at 10. The water was a little better this morning than it was on our last visit. Not nearly as much current and it was a bit clearer also. We ran in to Mr. Honu again this morning but I will save the video for a later post as you are probably getting tired of seeing him anyway. We did video a new fish for you though. It is called a longspine porcupinefish. This fish can puff up like a basketball if it feels really frightened and the spines stick out like a pin cushion! He was not real social and swam off when he saw us. It might be that we woke him up as these fish are more active at night and hang around on the bottom or under a ledge during the day. I swam with him as long as I could but he soon left me in the dust sucking on my snorkel like a drunk sucks on a straw! We encountered this fish out by the buoy in about the same area were we saw the giant porcupinefish and the stripebelly puffers. This has been a very productive spot for us as we have seen a lot of unusual fish there. The outer reef is a short swim from here and there is a crevasse there that is pretty interesting but always gives me chicken skin when I swim by it. Today was no exeption. We had just swam past it when we ran into a honu heading in the opposite direction at a high rate of speed. As honu is a sharks favorite snack it makes your pulse rate go up when you see one behave in a unusual manner like this. We had not gone more than about 25 yards further when a second honu swam past in much the same manner. That was enough for me! I turned to Jackie and said I was getting cold and thought we should head back to shore. I think my being cold excuse worked fairly well as it gave me a good cover story to explain why I was shaking! Not so sure it worked to explain the brown trail I was leaving behind though!

THE GREAT DEBATE

Aloha! Well Jackie and I have enjoyed a rather lazy day here on Kauai. we have had rain off and on for a good share of the day so lawn mowing has been put on hold for a bit. We did manage to make it out to the lanai to enjoy the gentle breeze and the sound of the rain rushing thru the gutters. I even found the time to squeeze in a nap! Our big excitement for the day was our trip to the post office and to the Menehune so we could pick up Subway sandwiches! The first photo was taken from the Princeville Hotel looking back at the mountains behind Hanalei Bay. The next photo was taken in our yard of some papaya trees Vasil has started just on the outside of our fence. He started these from seeds and they are about 4 months old. The last two photos are of Jackie and I taken at Queens Bath.

CLOSE UP WITH MR. HONU

Aloha! Well Jackie and I have enjoyed another awesome day here on Kauai. We went to Anini snorkeling this morning and found the beach almost deserted. In the parking area where you would normally find 25 or 30 cars there were 3! September and October along with February, March and April are the slowest months for visitors but we have never seen it this slow here. The ocean is fairly angry at the moment with waves in the 8 to 10 foot range. At Anini you don't have to worry about the waves but you need to be aware of the currents. They can be a little strong and I guess they could wash you out thru the opening in the reef if you were really not paying any attention but you would need to have your head somewhere that smells really bad for that to happen! We shot some more video of a honu this morning. This one we would consider to be large. I tried to get a little different angle on this one. I wanted to show you more of its head and face. The honu was being very cooperative but I still found it hard to do. At least I got a nice close up of the back of its head!