BACK TO THE BEACH

Aloha! Well it's been a typical winter day here on Kauai. Seems the weather has changed at least 4 times between rain and sunshine! We started off with rain, not the soft gentle kind but the straight down under the waterfall looking like a drowned rat in 5 seconds kind of rain. It would do this for 15 or 20 minutes then it would abate somewhat for about the same amount of time only to begin anew. It kept this pattern up until about 10:30. That's when the sun finally came out and it was beautiful...blue skies, patchy clouds. This lasted for about an hour or so then it was back to the rain for an hour or so and then more sunshine for about the same length of time! I think you can see the pattern. It was so nice while the sun was out we decided to head to the beach. The northshore is really pumping now with wave heights of 15 to 20 feet so Jackie and I though it would be best if we stayed where its a little more subdued...Kalihiwai and Anini. It was still pretty rough just not the real big stuff you see at Ha'ena or Ke'e. We shot some video for the blog while we were out and about. The first part of the video was taken at Kalihiwai, the middle was taken at a pull-out on the road to Anini. A lot of times Jackie and I will bring a sandwich and a cup of coffee with us to this pullout as you have a great view here and you don't even have to leave your car. The clips of the rooster were taken at Anini. All in all its been a very enjoyable day here on Kauai and Jackie and I were able to make it back to the car ahead of the rain every time!

LET HIM GO

Aloha! Well Jackie and I have been enjoying a very nice day here on Kauai. The weather has been great, high 70's, light trades, blue skies...you know the kind of day that will even make a hermit leave it's cave! We spent a good share of our day outside of our cave as well. Only problem was I would have liked to have spent it snorkeling or at least at the beach but we had other obligations. We had to drive to Lihue to pick up Cory's car from the shop. He had to replace his starter so instead of swimming with Mr. Honu we were swimming along with all the other cars on our glorious two lane roads here. Of course if you have to be stuck in traffic there are a lot worse places to be stuck! At least here you can have your windows down and you have nice ocean views to look at while waiting for the cars ahead of you to move. Zack e-mailed me this song a few days ago. He says he is going to include it on the ablum he and his friend are putting together. If the rest of the songs are as good as this one think his ablum will be a huge success!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Aloha! Jackie and I have had a real nice Thanksgiving. We are both still stuffed to the gills and the meal was almost 5 hours ago! Of course we have continued to snack thru out the day with second and even third helpings of dessert and more than a few helpings of turkey and stuffing not to mention all the other trimmings so maybe it would be more accurate to say our meal started about 5 hours ago and will end when we go to bed! The weather was very nice today with a few high clouds and temps in the high 70's. The boys took advantage of the nice day to work on Alex's car. Think they are starting to understand what I was trying to tell them...if you are going to drive sport cars you might as well get used to working on them as they are always going to need some tweaking!

SUNNY DAY

Aloha! Well the sun has returned to Kauai! It was so nice to get out of the house for awhile today. Seems the only times we have left in the last week has been to run errands or mow the grass so today we made it to the beach for a little while. We never made it into the water but the stroll along the beach was such a nice change from parking our rears in front of the tv. The relaxing sounds of the ocean and the gentle breeze on our faces was a nice reminder of why we love Kauai so much. It is amazing how much better we feel when we get out and let Kauai and all her natural beauty relieve the stress that can so easily build from watching too many news shows or running from one errand to another. Hopefully the little video I will post will help you capture a little of the peace we found today on the beach.

LAWNMOWING DAY

Aloha! Well after breakfast this morning Jackie and I drove into Princeville to get a little grocery shopping done. We needed to get the stuff for the Thanksgiving feast. We are going to be having it in Cory's room as his is the one with the kitchen and the big screen tv! We are looking foward to a day of food, naps and football with a little talk story thrown in! Our former neighbor Joel will be joining us as well as Alex and Cory. After our trip to the store it was time for lunch then the chore I have been dreading...the lawn! It was almost 1 before the grass was dry enough to start and real close to 6 when we finished. Seems like the grass was extra thick this time. It might have something to do with all the rain we have been having. I will post the slideshow of Mom and the girls visit as we didn't have anything new to post.

RAIN RAIN GO AWAY

Aloha! Things are a little damp on Kauai at the moment. The rain has continued falling but not as heavy as predicted...at least not here in Kilauea! We have gotten a total of about 3 inches so far with the biggest share coming last night. We even had blue skies for about 20 minutes this morning but other than that brief reprieve its been gray sky and rain. Jackie and I have had a very enjoyable day anyway. We watched the Cougs win the Apple Cup, drank numerous pots of coffee, snacked on Almond Roca, chips, popcorn and any and everything else that didn't run away or hide!

WAY TO GO KINZI

Aloha! Well it's been a very wet day here on Kauai. It started raining at about 9 this morning and the weathermen say it might slow down some by next Tuesday! They have the entire state under a flood watch with Kauai and Oahu getting the worst of it at the moment.We haven't had the real heavy stuff yet just a constant rain of about a 1/2 inch or so, so far. Later on tonight and into Saturday is when the heavy stuff is predicted to hit with rains of 2 or 3 inches an hour possible. Jackie and I were hoping for a little better weather today as we wanted to give our new toy a try-out. We bought a Mino Flip video camera yesterday at Costco. Our friends Dave and Lori have a Flip video and the video that they post on their blog is always so good we thought we would give one a shot. Our little camera is great for underwater but the non water video is not as good as we would like. Also Lori has posted where their tech support people are good to work with and they stand behind their poduct so as soon as the weather will allow us out of the house we will be trying it out. I will give you guys another rerun today as Jackie said a video of us playing dominos might be a little boring and thats about as exciting as we got today! PS Kinzi and the rest of her team our doing great at the 2a state volleyball tournament. They won their first game and will play again at 8 tonight so keep it going girls! This is your year to win it all!

a test

lets see what happens

PURE LAZINESS

Aloha! Well it's been a very laid back day here on Kauai. After all the running of the last couple of days Jackie and I took the day off. Of course anybody who has read my blog knows that we take about 90% of the days off so I guess you could call this a normal day for us! We started the day with a bowl of cereal at around 9 than talked story with Cory and Alex until Cory had to leave for work at 12. Now comes the closest thing to work that we did today...we walked out to the garden and picked a hand full of okra. You know the Napa commercial were Ron Capps turns to Michael Waltrip and says how he is pooped after 15 seconds of work? Jackie and I both know how he felt! We were so pooped that we decided instead of fixing lunch we would pick-up something from Subway and take it to the beach. We ate our sandwich at Kalihiwai and watched the boogie boarders. We watched for about an hour or so then headed over to Anini to check the conditions there. They looked great! The water was a little choppy but not bad and it looked real clear. We sat on the beach for another hour or so kicking ourselves for not wearing or swimsuits or putting the snorkel gear in the car but we had a nice time watching the other snorkelers have fun anyway! Jackie and I were both too lazy to take any pictures today so I will post some video of Mr. Honu again.

ANOTHER DAY OF RUNNING

Aloha! Well it's been another day of running errands. Seems like all we have done today is run! Yesterday in the mail we received the paperwork to renew the tabs on our car. Of course if we had checked the mail a little earlier we could have done this at the same time as we changed the title on Cory's car and saved us a trip to Lihue today but it just didn't work-out so today we headed back to town to get this little chore out of the way. We also needed a few more things and as luck would have it each item was located in a different store so once again it was go go go! The video I put together for you was taken on two different days. It's of the same fish and he is in the same area but I wanted to show you how much the water can change.

CORY'S NEW CAR

Aloha! Well Jackie and I have spent this day running here and there getting everything settled on Cory's car. First it was a trip to Princeville to get the money from the bank, then it was into Kapaa to pickup the car. After that it was back to the house for little snack and a much needed cup of coffee! We talked story with Cory for a little while but only for a little while as he needed to get ready for work and we needed to get the rest of our running done. We headed to Lihue so we could get the title changed, then it was a stop at Allstate so we could add the car to our insurance. From there we made a short stop at Walmart and then on to Princeville to give Cory his registration and put the updated tags on his car. All of this running around took us the better part of the day. I'm really glad that we don't have to run like this every day as I much prefer snorkeling or sitting on the beach to shuffling papers from one office to another! I will try to post a few pictures of his car along with a short video we shot on the 15th, the last time we were in the water. It shows a longspine porcupinefish along with a lot of cornets.

RAINY SATURDAY

Aloha! Today is a very special day for Jackie and I...it's our 35th aniversary. We started the day off with a nice breakfast of ham and eggs then decided that instead of watching tv, which is our normal weekend activity, we would take advantage of the beautiful weather and go snorkeling. The conditions were perfect! We got a real nice snorkel in and saw a ton of fish. As we were getting out of the water we noticed that Cory had come to the beach and was sitting in one of our chairs. He had come down to see if we would run into Kapaa with him to look at a car he is thinking about buying. We said sure so we headed back to the house for a quick shower then it was off to Kapaa. The car he is looking at is a '92 Camaro Z28. It looks like it is in real nice shape. It sounds and drives good so Cory is going to buy it. I think it is a good decision as his little car is going to need some mechanical work real soon and with the body damage it got when it got stolen Cory had a real hard decision to make. Do I put a lot of money into a car I really like but with the body damage will never be worth what it will cost to keep it running or do I start over with a different car? Lucky for him Allstate gave him enough money for his little car that he can buy this one. It started to rain while we were looking at this car and it hasn't stopped yet so I guess it was lucky for us that we got the snorkel in when we did!

I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW

Aloha! Jackie and I had a nice snorkel this morning. The conditions were once again all most perfect...very little wind with just a very slight current. The skies are not as overcast as they were yesterday which makes it easier to warm up after your snorkel but a little harder to video the fish. The water clarity was much improved over yesterday. It always surprises me how much the clarity can change from day to day. It can even change quite a bit while you are out there. To me it always seems to be easier to see if the skies are overcast or if you are in a cloud shadow. Jackie and I snorkeled out beyond the buoy today and once again saw a lot of fish. I was even able to capture a cornetfish with about a foot of its tail missing. It doesn't look like there is a lot of meat on a cornet's tail. I would say about the same as on a rats as that's what they remind me of but the cornets tail looks a little stiffer. Who knows maybe a shark had a little honu stuck in its teeth and needed a toothpick! While we were relaxing on the beach after our snorkel Jackie and I were talking with a very nice lady from Arizona. She and her husband have a veterinary practice in Phoenix and have visited Kauai for the last 12 years. Dana is a technician so she and Jackie had a lot of things in common. She told us that she and her husband love Kauai so much that they are looking at maybe starting a practice here. They discussed buying Craig Nishimotos practice on the south shore but thought it might be a better idea to start a smaller practice on the north shore as I don't believe there is one here now.

A SHORT SNORKEL

Aloha! Well Jackie and I thought we would get back in the water this morning so we made the short trip to Anini beach. The weather was great...overcast skies, temp in the low 80's, very little wind so the water was almost glassy. In other words the conditions looked ideal. Only problem was once we got out in the water we saw that the swell has gotten the water all stirred up and the visibility was very poor. We thought that if we got away from the edge of the reef it might improve but no such luck. We swam out as far as turtle rock before we gave it up for a lost cause and returned to shore. It was really kind of disappointing as all the other conditions were so perfect. It was still a nice morning though as we enjoyed a few cups of coffee and watched the waves breaking on the outer reef before we headed back home to wash the saltwater off. After our shower we enjoyed a late breakfast and talked story with Cory. The video I will post today is some that I shot on Tuesday. It has two new fish on it for you to enjoy. The first is a goldring surgeonfish. He was about 5 or 6 inches long and has these nice little gold rings around his eyes. I guess that might be where he got his name! The second fish is called a potters angelfish. I guess these guys are fairly common and scuba divers see them all the time. Our book says that snorkelers rarely encounter them as they like to hangout in water thats about 30 feet deep that has coral with a lot of small holes for them to hide themselves in. This guy was about 3 or 4 inches long with a lined red front half and a royal blue back half. He was very hard to capture on video as he would dart into the coral at the slightest provocation.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TYLER

Aloha! It has been a glorious day here on Kauai...temps in the low 80's, light trades and overcast skies. It was so nice Jackie and I decided to get the lawnmowers out and tackle the yard. It has only been a week since we last mowed but with the beautiful days and rainy nights the yard has really grown. In the summer we can get by mowing the yard every 2 or 3 weeks but our yard seems to like the slightly cooler days and the extra rain we get in the winter so for the next 4 or 5 months it will need to be mowed every week or 10 days. After we got the yard done and cleaned ourselves up a little we were both pooped so we thought we would splurge a little and eat dinner out so it was off to McDonalds for our usual meal of burgers and fries. Probably not the healthiest meal on the island but there aren't many places two people can eat for less than 7 bucks! After our wonderful meal we decided to swing by the Coconut Marketplace and catch their hula show. They have one every Wednesday. We had a few minutes to kill so we stopped at a little shop and got 2 ice cream cones...just single scoop mind you...$8.64! Next time I will check the price before I order! We took our ice cream over by the stage and found a nice spot to watch the show. The little girls put on a very nice show and they come around afterwards and sell leis for 5 dollars a piece. These leis are handmade and smell really nice so of course we couldn't turn the little keikis down and bought 2. Counting the couple of bucks we put in the donation jar our trip to McDonalds came to almost 30 dollars! Not too bad I guess for an evening out in Hawaii but a little more than the 7 bucks I usually spend!

A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OUR VETERANS

Aloha! Jackie and I have been enjoying a very nice Veterans Day. The weather has been great...low 80's with light trades and just enough rain to make our snorkel interesting. If you have never snorkeled in the rain you should try it. The water falling on you back gives you a very peculiar feeling. Guess if you wanted to see what it feels like you could always lay down in a bathtub full of water and turn on the shower. You could even wear a snorkel mask if you like but if you do I wouldn't wear the fins as that would just be too weird! The water at Anini was really nice today. We had real good visibility and not a lot of current. We weren't expecting the conditions to be so great as there is a moderate swell coming thru now and usually that stirs the water up some. We saw a lot of fish today and at one spot out by the buoy we were swimming with a large school of cornetfish. There must have been at least 20 of them. We have noticed them in this spot before...they just seem to hang there about half way between the top and bottom almost like they are asleep. In the video I posted today I was trying to give you a glimpse of what it feels like to snorkel. How most of the fish just kind of accept the fact that you are not a threat and how there are so many neat ledges and holes in the coral. It really is beautiful and always reminds me of what I think an alien landscape must look like.

THE GARDEN

Aloha! Well Jackie and I have had a very nice day. We have spent the biggest share of it weeding the garden. The work is kind of monotonous but as long as you have someone to talk story with it's not too bad! We still have a few more weeds to pull but if the weather is nice I'm thinking that we will try to get back in the water tomorrow...at least for a little while. We might also check out the lighthouse. We still haven't seen any whales this year and we saw some in October last year. The first two photos are of some orchids we saw at Allerton Gardens during Mom and Dad's visit. The last photo is of a longnose butterflyfish and a moorish idol taken at Anini. I'm sure I have posted this photo before but I like it so we get to post it again!

A LAZY WEEKEND

Aloha! Well Jackie and I have turned this weekend into a total veg-out...watching tv, napping and eating...that's about what we have accomplished! I guess a person needs to slow down once in awhile but for the last two days we haven't hardly moved! Think our biggest adventure was when we walked down by the fence to see if we had any bananas ready to cut. The real sad part is we have things we should be doing. The garden needs weeded, the car needs washed and there are a lot of pretty girls at the beach that need someone to look at them! Think next week I will dedicate myself to get a few of these things accomplished. Will probally turf the first two things to Jackie but will try and give the third task my fullest attention!

OIL CHANGE

Aloha! Well Jackie and I have spent the day catching up on all the little things we have been putting off. First stop was at Super Cuts so Jackie could get her hair cut. She was able to get right in with no wait so that little chore went smoothly. The next stop was the Speedy Lube to get the oil changed. We left the car and walked the 2 blocks to McDonalds for breakfast. Enjoyed a nice breakfast burrito with a cup of steaming hot coffee and we got back to Speedy Lube just as they were backing the car out of the bay. So far the morning was moving along with no hitches and most unusual for Kauai...no waits! We only had a few more stops to make and our chores would be done. We needed to go to Costco for a few supplies and to fill up on gas which had gone down 11 cents since our last fill-up...more good news! The next stop was at Walmart. Cory wanted us to pick him up a new watch as he broke the old one last night. Jackie was in and out of Walmart in record time. The next stop was at the post office to mail Mom and Dad their camera. Then it was on to Princeville to pick up a few groceries and from there it was back to the house with all of our chores done. Oh yeah one more thing...while I was typing in my blog one of my cfl bulbs in our fan that has been out for more than a month decided to start working again! Now some of you will say all of these things going so smoothly today is pure coincidence or maybe karma but I think it must have something to do with Barack Obama being elected to president. Always knew he could make things run smooth! PS That one was for you Mom needed to get in one more dig!

BACK IN THE WATER

Aloha! Well Jackie and I have some new pictures of our grandsons to share with you. In the last photo Brent and Ty are really studying their little brother...bet they are wondering how long it will be until he is ready to play with them! It has been a great day here on Kauai...sunny skies with light trades. We finished the yard yesterday and decided we would put off working in the garden so we could take advantage of this wonderful weather and get in the water. It was great! We snorkeled out past the buoy saying hello to most of our friends on the way. On the way back to shore we thought we would swim by turtle rock to say hello to Mr. Honu. Well Mr. Honu must have been anxious to see us as he was waiting for us about 30 yards from his home. We swam with him for awhile then left him to make our way into shore. As we neared turtle rock we came across another honu...this one a little larger. He wanted to swim with us as well so we were more than willing to oblige! As you will see in the video the rock he swam around in the video is the one Jackie and I call turtle rock.

MOWING DAY

Aloha! Well Jackie and I are getting back into our normal day to day routine here in paradise. We enjoyed a late breakfast and talked story with Cory this morning waiting for the lawn to dry out enough to mow. It was noon before we could start which worked out ok as thats when Cory had to leave to go to work. We were getting a lot of encouragement from our friends the lawnmower birds as they love to eat all the bugs that are disturbed by us mowing the grass. It is really quite amazing how fast you can get a flock of them. All you have to do is start a lawnmower and they start flying in from everywhere! We must have had 30 or 40 of the white egrets here helping us out today. Jackie was able to get capture a few clips of them while I was spreading the clippings around some.

LAST DAY OF A WONDERFULL VISIT

Aloha! Well last night was the end of a great visit. We knew it had to come just wish it could have taken a little longer to get here. Mom and Dad had a red eye flight home so we tried to make their last day on Kauai as relaxing as possible. We started the day with a late breakfast here at the apartment. While we were eating and watching the election coverage Jackie and Dad got all of Mom and Dad's washing caught up. After the last of the clothes were dried and folded we thought it was time to show them a bit more of our island so we headed towards Lihue. On the way thru Anahola it occured to me that we had forgotten to take them to Duanes Ono Char Burger. Now I need to tell you a little bit about Duanes. It's just a little hole in the wall hambuger joint with a nicely shaded eating area with concrete tables and chairs. They serve pretty good burgers...not nearly as good as the 10-4 but real good by Kauai standards! It always takes a while to get your order so if you are in a hurry you will want to eat elsewhere. Now I bet you are wondering why we wanted to make sure that we showed Mom and Dad Duanes and the only way I can explain it is that it is kind of like the 10-4 in that its an institution here on Kauai and someplace that you enjoy going but like the 10-4 you can't really explain why! After we left Duanes we made a little detour to Anahola beach park, another of Kauai's lovely beaches and then it was on to Kilohana. Kilohana is an old plantation house they have converted into a restaurant and a lot of little doodad shops. There is a little railroad station with a train ride that tours the grounds and a carriage ride pulled by draft horses if you are interested. They are also building a rum distillery and have a nice pavillion where they put on a luau. We enjoyed Kilohana for a good share of the afternoon but needed to return Mom's wheelchair so it was back into town to do that then back to the apartment for naps and to check on the election. After what I'm sure were very fitfull naps...Mom and Dad's were more than likely interrupted by nightmares as they were not nearly as pleased as Jackie and I were about how the election was going we decided to take them to Kauai Pasta for a late dinner. We enjoyed a nice dinner although Mom did have a bit of trouble with her reflux disease. She had to have surgery a while back and sometimes she has trouble getting her throat relaxed enough to eat. After we ate we still had some time to kill so we went to about the only place that was still open...Walmart! We walked around looking at a few more things but unfortunately it was soon time to make that much dreaded drive to the airport. We gave them one last look at Nawiliwili Harbor before saying our last goodbyes at the airport.

BACK TO THE LIGHTHOUSE

Aloha! Well Jackie and I have enjoyed another beautiful day with Mom and Dad. We started the day off with breakfast at Eggberts then we browsed the shops in the Coconut Marketplace. There are a lot of little stores in this mall and we visited them all! Mom gets the biggest kick out of looking at jewelry especially bracelets and she had a lot of them to look at today. The ocean is a lot calmer today than it has been so we decided that it would be nice to visit the lighthouse. The conditions were perfect...sunny skies, soft breeze...only thing missing were the whales! We did see two monk seals along with the usual assortment of birds though and the ocean was stunning. It is really amazing how the water can change colors so easily and how intense the colors are. We stayed out there talking story and watching the ocean for the better part of the afternoon only leaving when we got too hungry to stay!

NASCAR,FOOTBALL,NAPS

Aloha! Well it's been a day for tv and talk story along with a few meals thrown in! Seems everybody was ready for a little break. We have been hitting it pretty hard and decided that today we would just relax and soak up the nice Hawaii sun right here from the house. I mean the beachs are nice and all but the couch is a lot more comfortable to nap on! We still have a lot of things we want Mom and Dad to see but if we can't get to everything we're not going to stress over that...we're going to just try to enjoy what we can get to to the fullest! The first photo was taken at the coffee plantation. The second photo was taken at Anini and the next photo was taken at the beach overlook behind the Marriott. The last photo was taken at the lighthouse.

DAY SIX FUN IN THE SUN

Aloha! Well we started the day at Anini beach with a brief snorkel. Mom wasn't up for getting wet but Papa did great! He got ready and got into the water like a pro and even spotted a small moray eel not to far into the snorkel. After our swim we sat on the beach and talked story for a bit. Mom said she wanted to see the coffee plantation again as our last visit was a short one so we headed back to the house to wash the saltwater off before heading out. We stopped in Kapaa for a bit of lunch and also made a side trip to see Wailua Falls on the way. It was really rolling today because of the rain we have been having. From there our next stop was the coffee plantation and Mom got the full tour this time. We watched the video they show about the coffee, examined everything in the gift shop at least twice, worked our way around the 1/8 mile of the worlds largest coffee maze and even found the time to enjoy a dish of ice cream to boot! From here we drove to the Red Dirt Shirt factory to shop for a few more souvenirs. Next we headed back to Kalaheo and the Kukuiolono Golf Course...the only one you can play in Hawaii for 11 bucks! We have never played the course as we are not golfers but the views of the ocean from the parking lot are great! From here we headed to Koloa then to Poipu. It was after 4 when we left Poipu so we decided to stop at Costco to get a couple of pizzas to bake for supper as no one wanted to cook! We are planning a beach day tomorrow...probably on the south shore.