PK BEACH ALLERTON GARDEN

Aloha! Jackie and I have had a wonderful day. We went with Mike and family to the south shore. Our first stop was at the Allerton Gardens. We only had time to explore the grounds at their visitor center. It is very pretty there...if you are ever in Hawaii and have the time their garden tours are awesome. We just couldn't squeeze one in today. Our next stop was at Spouting Horn which is just across the road from the garden. They have a lot of little souvenir stands there which are filled to the brim with trinkets just begging to be taken home. From here we ventured back to Koloa for lunch. We ate at the snack shop at the Sueoka Store. Our next stop was the highlight of the day for Jackie and I...snorkeling at PK beach! Mike, Jackie and I were the only ones willing to get wet and spend the remainder of the day sitting in our wet swimsuits but wow was the snorkel ever worth it! We saw so many neat fish including two large scrawled filefish. These guys were about 30 inches long and 10 inches wide but only about an inch thick. We also saw our usual assortment of other neat fish as well. Mike's head was swiveling around like a kids does in a candy store as there were so many things he wanted to look at! After our snorkel we headed south again with a stop at the coffee plantation. Then it was on to Kekaha where we turned around and headed towards home. We made stops at the Kukui Grove Mall as well as the ABC store before we decided that it was time to head back to the barn for some well deserved oats and a nice rub down! PS I put a real nice video together of todays snorkel but it was a little to large to post. I will try to trim it down some and try again but I'm just too tired to do it tonight!

FUN AT THE BEACH

Aloha! Jackie and I have enjoyed another awesome day here on Kauai. We went to Mike and Cindi's this morning and in between the visiting we came up with a plan to start the day. TJ, Carol, Cindi and the girls would drive into Hanalei so the girls could get rash guards while Mike, Jackie and I would stay at Anini and snorkel. We had a great snorkel...it started off a little cold but as soon as we saw the eel it got a lot warmer! This buggar swam right towards us! I swear he was a lot closer than the video shows and I know he was much bigger...about ten times bigger or at least thats what it seemed like to me! Not too far from the eel we swam across a large barred file fish. I didn't include any video of him as I had just posted something similar the other day. From here we swam on out past the buoy to the spot where we see a lot of cornetfish. Today was no exception...we saw 10 or 12 at this spot and one of them was swimming so close he was hard to video. Not sure why the fish seemed to be attracted to me today. It might be the fact that they are attracted to our new soap or if you believe Jackie's story it might be that I finally used a little soap! Either way it sure made for an interesting snorkel. While we were sitting on the beach enjoying a nice warming cup of coffee, TJ and the girls came by and we decided that a trip to Kalihiwai was in order so they could try out their new rash guards. We made plans to meet them at the beach after lunch as Jackie and I wanted to run home so we could wash the salt off and change clothes. It was sure a lot of fun talking story with Carol and Cindi and watching the girls play in the water. Jackie and I must have been a little hard on Mike as he said he wanted to stay at home and nap this afternoon. Guess he thinks he is here on vacation or something! I think we are planning a little sightseeing trip to the south shore tomorrow.

LOOKING FOR NEMO

Aloha! Jackie and I went snorkeling this morning with Mike, Cindi, Harlie and Mary Jane. We had a great time...just wish it could have been a little warmer so we could have stayed out longer! We were in the water for maybe 45 minutes which was just about long enough to introduce them to a few of our friends who live close to shore and more than long enough to freeze everyones okole off! After our snorkel Jackie and I returned home for a hot shower, a change of clothes and a quick lunch. I'm sure Mike, Cindi and the girls did the same. We all met up again at Mike and Cindi's and decided that this afternoon would be a good time to see the lighthouse. The birds were out in full force with the redtailed tropics putting on quite the show. There were a lot of whales moving past the lighthouse as well but they weren't being as cooperative as the birds. The only show they were putting on were a lot of blows and quite a few backs but no breaches or tail slaps. Hopefully we will have time to return and the whales will put on a better show. Tomorrow we are hoping to get a little more snorkeling in and maybe some boogie boarding at Kalihiwai.

EEL ON THE MOVE

Aloha! Jackie and I shot this video Wednesday morning at Anini. It shows a whitemouth moray out in the open. He was about 5 feet long and as big around as a roll of paper towels. We had seen them out like this before but this was the first time I was able to catch it on video. We also got a pretty good clip of a unicorn fish...notice the bright blue tail spines. We also saw a small stripebelly puffer. This guy was only 5 or 6 inches long where as the ones we normally see are 15 to 20 inches long. Mike and Cindi arrived Wednesday afternoon and we have had the best time talking story with them. Today Jackie and I gave my sister Carol a tour of Hanalei and the north shore while Mike and Cindi took the kids to Snorkel Bobs so they could get set up with the proper gear. Everyone met back at their place and Harlie fixed everyone a nice enchilada dinner. After that scrumptious dinner we had another session of talk story and made plans for a day of snorkeling tomorrow.

SOUTH SHORE

Aloha! Last night I dreamed that my pillow had come to life and for some unknown reason the only place it wanted to be was across my face! I kept pushing it off and it kept creeping back. At one point it felt like it weighed about a hundred pounds which is kind of funny as that's exactly what Jackie weighs! Anyway, after what felt like hours, my pillow finally stopped its struggles to get across my face and went to sleep so I was able to get a little rest as well. This morning after I woke up the first words out of my mouth were 'Honey, I love you and let's not worry about breakfast. Why don't we just pick something up on our way to the south shore? It's been ages since we have gone there and you know what...let's plan on spending the whole day. It will be fun!' We did have a lot of fun today. The weather was nice and sunny with temps in the 80's. We went to Waimea and had lunch at a place called Da Booze Shop. It was much nicer than the name implies. It was nice and clean on the inside and they put out a pretty good plate lunch. We took ours to the small park across the street and enjoyed it there. Our next stop was at Kekaha. They have this old sugar mill there and we wanted to get a picture of it for Brent and Ty. They have a video game where you can race your trucks thru an old mill real similar to this one. From there we went back to Waimea and walked out on the pier. Then we drove to Poipu so we could enjoy the beach. It is spring break so the beach was as crowded as Jackie and I have ever seen it. We stayed for awhile anyway and were even lucky enough to see a pod of whales. They were putting on a good show and we saw numerous breachings. After we left Poipu we decided to stop at Costco to pick up a pizza for dinner. All in all, a very good day and one filled with enough excitement to keep my pillow at bay...at least thats my hope!

ERRANDS

Aloha! Jackie and I had a very relaxing weekend and we spent the majority of it being potatoes of the couch variety. I was hoping that Jackie would change her variety to sweet but she was quick to inform me if I intended to sit on my butt all weekend she had no intentions of being sweet about it! I must admit that she was a little sweet though as I awoke each morning and she hadn't strangled me in my sleep like she had promised to do! Not wanting to spend another night wondering if I would see the morning I decided that today we needed to get outside a little so after Cory left for work Jackie and I drove into Kapa'a so Jackie could get her hair cut. From there we went to McDonalds for lunch, even treating ourselves to sundaes afterward. We went to the post office next and finally back home. I know this doesn't sound like a real exciting day but compared to this weekend it was a real humdinger!

MOWING DAY

Aloha! Jackie and I have spent the better part of today mowing our lawn. Seeing as today is the first day of spring I'm sure a lot of you will be mowing soon also if you haven't already started. The weather has been really nice today with blue skies and temps in the low 80's and moderate trades. When Jackie and I were first thinking of moving to Kauai we subscribed to the local paper so we could get a feel for the island. We wanted to check out the weather, try and get an idea on the amount of crime and see if there was some areas we should shy away from. Everything looked ok to us as there wasn't much crime to speak of and what there was seemed to be spread out over most of the island so the thing Jackie and I stressed out the most over was the wind. We would see in the papers where the wind would blow 15 to 20 miles an hour almost every day. We knew from experience what it felt like to have winds like that on a daily basis, having gone through more spring times in the Yakima Valley than we wanted to admit to but once we arrived here we learned real quick that the wind here is a whole lot different than it is in the Valley. First off it is much warmer, second there is not nearly as much dirt and third when it doesn't blow things get very hot and humid. So the thing we were dreading the most turned out to be a blessing!

MARCH MADNESS

Aloha! Jackie and I have enjoyed a very laid back day. Our only trip out of the house was a short jaunt to the post office with two stops at the beach along the way. The first was a quick run to Kalihiwai to check on the waves, then a stop at Anini to check on conditions there. There wasn't much going on at either place today so Jackie and I returned home to watch a little basketball and maybe scan a few more pics in. We are really looking foward to Mike and Cindi's visit and can't wait to get them into the water. If Tootsie, our weather guy, is correct they should have nice weather for their visit. Jackie and I have been debating our plans for tommorow. So far we have narrowed it down to either snorkeling or mowing the yard. I'm sure you can all guess what I'm pulling for! Since we haven't been out to shoot any new pictures I thought you might enjoy a few from the past!

1982 TRIP TO YELLOWSTONE

Aloha here is the slideshow I promised

A DAY IN THE GARDEN

Aloha! Jackie and I have had an enjoyable day working in our garden. Seems there is always something to do there from pulling weeds to harvesting a few veggies. Today the weather was perfect for this task as it was overcast most of the morning and we have had a few rain showers this afternoon. When we haven't been toiling away in the garden Jackie has been busy scanning pictures in to our computer. She scanned the ones from our trip to Yellowstone yesterday and was able to scan some others in today. We have been putting them in our web ablums if you are interested. I will try to post a slideshow of our Yellowstone pictures today but I may not be able to as Blogger is going really slow at the moment.

BACK IN THE WATER

Aloha! Jackie and I have enjoyed another great day at the beach. We went to Anini and ran into our old friend Mr. Honu. He was out about midway to the buoy in a spot we haven't seen him in before. We also ran into a pretty good sized ulua, along with a niced sized unicorn. The water was nice and clear today and there wasn't much of a current so Jackie and I stayed out for about 2 hours. We didn't see the large numbers of fish that we have seen in the past and are thinking that the huge swell we had a few days ago might have something to do with it. I know the buoy was moved about about 20 yards so the water must have been pretty rough! Not sure if a lot of the fish got washed out or if they just relocated to a more protected area of the reef. It will be interesting to see if they come back or not. We still have plenty of fish to look at and Anini remains a great place to snorkel, especially for us old duffers!

MORE BEACH WEATHER

Aloha! We have had another beautiful day here on Kauai. Jackie and I took full advantage of this great weather by going to Anini and snorkeling. The water conditions were nice with the clarity being a little better than normal. We went to the same places on the reef that we always visit but for some reason today we didn't see as many fish as we normally do. While we were out snorkeling I shot a short clip of a girl and her dog on a standup paddle board. They were out a couple of hundred yards from shore. We have had a few dogs that would have loved to be out in the water like this, Katie in particular, but I doubt we could have gotten her to stay as still as this dog was sitting. Jackie and I are going to barbeque hambugers for dinner and will probably watch a little tv after that so like I said at the start this has been another beautiful day on Kauai.

BETTER WEATHER

Aloha! The weather has improved a bunch for Jackie and I...so much so that we ventured to the beach twice today! This morning after breakfast we went to Anini. It was still a little cold so we decided that we would just stay on the shore and enjoy our coffee from there. It felt so nice to be out of the house and we sat there enjoying the sun for most of the morning. We did have a brief rain shower come thru just about lunch time so Jackie and I packed everything up and headed back to the house for lunch. After our sandwich we watched a little tv but soon lost interest with what was playing and decided to head back to the beach and check out the waves. We went to Kalihiwai and had a real nice time. The waves are rolling pretty good at the moment and there were a few surfers out enjoying the waves. I put a few video clips and photos of a waterfall at the end of my little video for you to enjoy. This waterfall is on the right side of the road as you head towards Kalihiwai. Jackie and I have driven past these falls hundreds of times but had never taken the time to stop and look before. Guess a person never realizes what he is missing until he takes the time to look!

RAINY WINDY AND COLD

Aloha! Yesterday when I mentioned that the weather men were predicating unstable weather for today I never realized they would nail it so well. If you could look past the fact that we have a bunch of bananas hanging on our lanai or that you can see palm trees when you look out our sliding door today you could have pictured yourself in Seattle! I mean one minute you look out and you see gloomy skies and rain, look out 5 minutes later and see beautiful blue skies and then 5 minutes later have the rain return. But I think the worst part today has been the wind. It has blown all day and it is a cold biting wind, not the warm trades we are accustomed to. I really hope the forecasters are correct when they say our beautiful weather will be returning soon. Jackie and I were looking at some of the pictures from our trip so we thought we would share some with you.

COLD AND WINDY

Aloha! It has been a very lazy day for Jackie and I. We have spent most of it going over our old photos and scanning them into the computer. A lot of the photos we scanned today were from the trip we took to Oklahoma with Mom and Dad in 1983. That trip was very special for Jackie and I. We had the best time listening to Mom and Dad tell us about their early years and taking us to some of the places where they used to live. It was a good thing that Jackie and I went to the beach yesterday because today it is cold! We have stayed inside with the door closed most of the day. Jackie even went as far as putting long pants on...something that she is very seldom forced to do! I think the weather forecasters are saying that we can expect unsettled weather for the next day or two but things are supposed to improve next week and get back to a more normal weather pattern.

THE BEACH AND COSTCO

Aloha! Jackie and I have enjoyed a marvelous day here on Kauai. The trades were light and the skies were mostly sunny. It was the kind of day that makes a beach trip a necessity so after breakfast this morning thats where Jackie and I headed. We had a great snorkel and the water clarity was much better than we had anticipated. When we were there yesterday we noticed that the runoff from all the rain we have been having had the water mucked up some, especially close to shore, but this morning it was all gone and the ocean looked great! We swam all the way out past the buoy and even gutted up and swam into the crevasse that always gives us chicken skin. It wasn't as spooky this morning because the water was nice and clear. Once we got into it a ways it opened up some and didn't feel nearly as claustrophobic as it does at its mouth. The video we shot of the turtle was taken up this crevasse. This turtle was a lot darker than most of them and also fairly small. We were on our way back in when we swam over the gurnard. We got a good clip of him spreading out his wings. There were 4 cornetfish swimming with this gurnard. Guess they were hoping he would scare them up some breakfast! After we came home we washed the salt off, ate lunch and headed to Costco. Seemed the traffic was moving a lot better than normal both going and headed home so that made that little chore enjoyable as well. We are barbequing tonight so I will sign off so I can start the hotdogs.

THERE AND BACK AGAIN

Aloha! Jackie and I thought that the title of Mr. Bilbo Baggins book would be an apt description for what we have been up to for the last few days. We have been busy running Cory's car from one mechanic to another. Monday we picked his car up from Kevins Automotive Repair. They had to replace the rear brakes and also an idler arm in the front suspension. They did a real nice job on his car, only problem, they don't have an alignment machine. So today we had to take his car to Sears so they could do that for us. Between the two of them they have Cory's car driving like a new one and that was why it was so hard to give Cory his keys back! Today I tried to convince him that since I put gas in his car I should be able to keep his car at least until that gas is gone. He was very quick to point out that he had given me the money for the gas and that logic had never worked for him when our roles were reversed so Jackie and I were forced to hand over the keys so he could go to work! We decided that since Cory had ruined our plans of cruising we would go to the beach instead.

CONGRATS TO BOISE STATE

Aloha! Jackie and I have great news to share with you. As of 6pm this evening Kinzi is officially a Bronco! She will be going to Boise State this fall and playing womens basketball. Jackie and I are so excited for her. I know she has been really worried about where she was going to go to school and that decision was one both she and Jerry and Jaynee have thought long and hard on. Neither Jackie or I know too much about the school but we have driven by their campus a few times. The main thing is Kinzi liked it and said she really felt at home there. She was able to talk with her academic advisor and she was very impressed with the classes they had to offer. Of course Jackie and I think the best thing about the school is that they play in the same conference as Hawaii so we will be able to go see her play on Oahu maybe a couple of times a year if she decides to play volleyball as well. Jaynee was saying that they will be doing the official NCAA signing some time in April and that Boise State will be coming to Grandview for that. Not much happening on Kauai at the moment. The weather has improved some so Jackie and I were able to make it to the beach but as luck would have it we still were unable to make it in the water. We watched the race this morning then decided that we would take advantage of the sunshine and go to the beach. After we arrived at the beach and were getting settled we had a gentlemen tell us we had left the lights on in the car. I walked back to the car and discovered that my brake lights were on. There was nothing short of pulling the fuse that was going to make them go off so Jackie and I cut our beach trip short so I could go home and cuss at my stupid car! I know I probably should have tried to work on it a little as I am pretty sure it is the brake light switch that is more than likely just a little out of adjustment from when they replaced my master cylinder but as I was laying there with my head crammed under the dash, sweat pouring in my eyes, which only made the fact that I couldn't see because of my stupid bifocals worse! I decided that the best thing for me to do would be to pull the fuse so the battery doesn't run down and take the car back to the mechanic
and let him fix it. Of course Jackie had to remind me that we could have accomplished the same thing at the beach and we would not have had to forego our snorkel if we would have done that there like she suggested. But like I told her if I had I wouldn't have had a chance to use my sailor vocabulary and it gets crusty if you don't exercise it!

WAY TO GO BRENT

Aloha! Jackie and I got some great news from home this afternoon. Our oldest grandson Brent was in a speech contest in Spokane today. He was representing his school, Liberty Christian, where he is in the first grade. There were a lot of schools represented at this contest and each class was separated in to smaller groups where the students gave their speeches and were judged. Each student was given a ribbon depending on how well their presentation went with a blue ribbon being the best. Brent not only won a blue ribbon, he was also asked to be among a handful of other students to repeat their speeches before the entire assembly! Kristi said there must have at least 500 people there and Brent marched right up there and gave his speech like the beautiful little statesman that he is...never missing a beat! I know his Mom and Dad were sure proud of him and when Grandpa heard about it his chest swelled so big he popped three buttons! Grandma was real proud also but she told me I had best leave her chest out of the story! Jackie and I also have other news to share. Jerry, Jaynee and Kinzi are in Boise. Boise State wanted Kinzi to come visit their campus and check out their basketball program. Tonight is their last home game and it is also senior night so the university flew them to Boise so Jerry and Jaynee could visit with the other parents and see for themselves what the other parents think of the program. We didn't have a chance to talk with them much as they were just getting ready to head into a restaurant. All Jaynee could say was that she was definitely impressed so far and she would try to give us a call later tonight with more details. You probably guessed from the pictures I posted that mother nature kept us from the beach for another day. Tootsie, our weather guy reported that we should see better weather by the first of next week. Hopefully he is right as we are anxious to see our little friends at Anini again! Jackie has been staying busy in the mean time scanning more photos. I have put most of them in our web albums if you are interested.

LAZY LAZY DAY

Aloha! It has been a very lazy day for Jackie and I. As a matter of fact I have spent most of the afternoon napping while Jackie worked on getting some more of our photos scanned and fixing a roast for dinner tonight. We had hoped that we would be able to get in the water today but mother nature had other plans. It rained most of the night last night and continued raining thru out most of the morning. It did clear up this afternoon and was pretty nice. At least thats what Jackie told me as I was asleep for most of the time. Tootsie, our weatherman, was just full of great news tonight...that is great news for ducks as he was saying we can expect rain and thunderstorms for the entire weekend! Our only hope now is that we can get all of this nasty weather out of the way so it can be beautiful for Mike and Cindi's visit.

A SHORT TRIP TO THE BEACH

Aloha! Jackie and I enjoyed a nice little trip to the beach this morning. It is still a little too cold for us to get in the water but it was nice just to get out of the house for awhile. Our first stop was at Anini. We had the beach almost to ourselves. We walked around there a little bit but the trades soon had us heading back to the car in search of a place out of the wind. We thought we would drive on down and check out the beach in front of the place Mike and Cindi will be renting in a few weeks. It was much nicer there as that stretch of beach is shielded from the winds but it was still a little too cold to snorkel so we decided that we would check Kalihiwai out. The surf has created a sandy ledge that almost encircles the entire beach. Most of the time there is a ledge there but it is not nearly as pronounced as it was today. It will be interesting to see how long it takes the ocean to return the beach back to normal. The weathermen are predicting better weather for the end of the week and I think they might just be right as the winds have abated some this afternoon and aside from the occasional rain shower things are looking much better.

MOWING DAY

Aloha! Thought you might enjoy a few more pictures from the past. The first one was taken at Eastside Park in Grandview...believe it was 1979. We had gone to the park for a picnic and also a game of softball. This picture is of 6 of my 8 sisters. The next photo was taken in 1980 at Curt and Susan's house on Division. We had taken Chris fishing with us at Pothole Lake in Goldendale. The boys had a blast! They actually got tired of catching fish at one point and put their poles down so they could catch waterdogs. Jackie and I got the biggest kick out of listening to them argue on the way home about whose Grandma made the best biscuits! The next photo was taken in 1981 at our trailer on County Line. Think Cory was about a week old. The last photo was taken at Jerry and Jaynee's trailer in 1981. It shows Dad and Jackie and Jaynee's Grandma Freda. Jackie and I mowed the lawn today. It could have waited for another day or two but we wanted to get it out of the way just in case the weather men are correct in their forecast of lighter trades and more sun by the end of the week. We would both feel very let down if we had to use a nice beach day to mow. Its hard to imagine that Carol and Cindi will be here in 3 weeks. We have so many things we want to do it is going to be hard to decide what we want to do first! PS not sure how many of you have seen the show High School Reunion. It is on TV Land network on Wednesdays. It is about the Chandler Arizona class of 1988 and their reunion here on Kauai. The show is pretty lame but the scenery is nice and we share the driveway with the house where it was filmed. When you turn off the hiway you need to take a left to come to our house and if you keep going straight you run into the compound where this show was filmed.

WAY TO GO KYLE

Aloha! Have I mentioned that Jackie and I have been going thru our old photos and scanning them on to our computer? Well we are and with that being said I must tell every one that the photo I posted today is not a picture I found of my sisters!!! I know I was fooled at first also but I racked my brain and could not remember any time any of my sisters ever had that shade of red hair so I'm not really sure just who these four gals are or how their photo got mixed in with ours. You don't suppose this could be a picture of the hotties that Hal was always bragging about dating? I have always heard that a uniform is a babe magnet and his old Roadrunner was about 4 inches lower on the passenger side so I guess that could be a possibility! Other than going over our old photos and watching the race it has been pretty laid back day for Jackie and I. The weather has not been warm enough to entice us to the beach all though Cory did go fishing today with Joel. They went to Rock Quarries and caught a small barracuda.