Volcano update SOS

Aloha: I am back in "God's country" today. It was a good thing I went Hilo yesterday as I was able to watch my mo'opuna for a couple of hours in the pm.

My header gave you the volcano update. The weather here is the same as it has been for the last week or so. It is now 50 degrees, cloudy (but bright) and no water falling from the sky.

This Saturday is the Red Cross's CPR Saturday at the UH Hilo. My wife is, I think, in charge. She has assigned me to watch the food (lucky me) that the volunteers get to eat for lunch. Different restaurants donate food for the event so we usually have a nice assortment of "goodies" to eat.

The Red Cross here in Hawaii is asking for volunteers to go ND to help at the Red River floods. So far one person from this end of the island has gone. Whoever it is is going to freeze his/her butt off.

God bless and be good. God bless America.

Back in the Saddle Again

Aloha: Well, here I am in Hilo today. I have to go to the drug store to get my "pills", so I will keep Topher and CJ company. I came down with my wife and will not be able to go home till she finishes work this evening. It was misty all the way down this morning, but now it is sunny and getting rather warm. I know, I know; It is cold in Volcano, hot in Hilo, I am just never satisfied!!! That is one of the advantages of being an "old man". (It is a lot of fun watching Topher play with CJ!)

Going back to feeling hot or cold reminds me of an incident that happened to me while in the Navy. In the late 60s I was stationed in Vietnam and worked in the warehouse for the mess hall. We were called into the Chief's office for a meeting and those of us who worked in the warehouse started to complain that the office was so cold. The Chief checked the thermometer and it was 85 degrees in the office. We were comfortable in the warehouse, where it was 125 degrees, because we had gotten used to it. All pau war stories (for now).

As I said, it was (is) wet in volcano this morning. We thought it was going to be real cold this morning because it started to clear up last night. A cloudy day followed by a clear night makes for a very cold morning. However, it started to drizzle about 10p so it only got down to 49 this morning. The volcano report for Kilauea is, again, SOS. The report for Mauna Loa is stable. This year is the 25th anniversary of the last eruption on Mauna Loa. There are "talk story" sessions planned for around the island to answer questions anyone may have about our "Great Mountain".

Talking about the eruption of Mauna Loa reminds me of the "akua lele" we saw. We were going home late one night when both Kilauea and Mauna Loa were erupting. It must have been about 11p when we pasted Hirano store and at the top of the hill ahead there was a flash of light and a fireball. My science mind says it was a meteor, but my "local" mind says it was Pele going from one site to the other.

Wow, this is getting long. God bless and be good to each other. May God bless America.

Charity

Greetings and salutations to all my faithful readers. I just read something interesting. I copied it and it follows in red. "In 2006, the most recent year for which data is available, four million taxpayers had adjusted gross incomes of $200,000 or more. They comprised 3% of the tax returns, made 31% of the income, but donated 44% of all charitable contributions. Together, they provided charity with $81 billion in that year." I wonder what will happen when the IRS cuts the charitable deduction to 80% of the amount donated?

I noticed that ever since I stopped referring to volcano as God's country the weather has not been "nice". It really is always nice but not "walkable". Right now it is 10a and a heavy mist is falling, and the sunny side of the house is 51 degrees. Auwe, I forgot to check the HVO's website so I will guess that everything is SOS.

The kakuma is soaking in the refrigerator and will do so until the water comes out clean and clear. It will take about 5 days with a water change every day. Then we will have, as Alton Brown would say, "good eats".

Right now my wife is watching the SciFi channel. I did not know that they made so many "weird" movies. She really like those kinds of movies.

As Woody Woodpecker would say, "That's all folks". God bless and take care of each other.

Is it cold?

Aloha no! Guess what? Yes, I forgot to change the title of yesterday's blog. Today I have put a title on before I started to write. I got a note from my sister in North Kohala asking if this has been the coldest winter since I moved to Volcano about 30 years ago. She has said that this has been the coldest winter in North Kohala since she moved there, maybe, 40 years ago?. The answer for Volcano is this has not been the coldest winter. The first year I lived here it got down to 28 for 3 mornings in a row. Ice all over the place. The ground "crunched" when you walked around. Since then we have had several years with the temperature in the mid 30s. I think the coldest it has gotten this winter is the mid 40s. This morning it was 48 at about 7a. Now at 10a it is 51 on the "sunny" side of the house. However, I think this winter we have had more days of 50 degree weather than ever before. Usually the temp get above 60 during the day, but not this year. Hey, the sun just poked through the clouds.

I just remembered.... When it got down to 28 I asked my neighbor, a very old time resident of Volcano, about the freezing of the water pipes. He told me that it had gotten a lot colder before and he did not have any trouble as it has to be below freezing for longer that a few hours for the pipes to freeze.

If the sun wins the battle with the clouds we will go pick tree fern shoots, kakuma, as my wife's side of the family likes it cooked with pork. I remember, as a kid, the neighbor across the street trying to get my mom interested in kakuma. We had fern trees in the back yard, but my mom was not very adventurous when it came to food. The first time I ate kakuma was after I got married.

The volcano update is SOS. The lava in the new crater in the floor of Halema'uma'u goes up and down, like a piston. Tremor increases, the lava goes up; tremor decreases, the lava goes down. Today's report does not mention tephra.

Looks like the sun is losing. God bless all of you and God bless America!

Untitled

Good Morning!!!!! I have titled this post "Untitled" until I decide on a title. I did that because I usually forget to put in a title when I finish writing. I put in the title when I am pau because I do not know what I am going to write about when I start.

Today is the same as yesterday, not a good day for a walk. Here it is 10a and it is 50 on the "warm" side of the house.

Not related to anything, but if I lived where the G20 is going to meet I would get out of town quick! All hell is going to break loose. Most of my readers don't want me to go down this road, so I am thinking of starting another blog. Comments?

Kilauea is just doing its thing. A lava lake can be seen, if you are a scientist, in the new crater on the floor on Halema'uma'u. Quakes, tephra, and tremor are the same as yesterday. I remember my dad telling how, when he was a child, there was a lake in Halema'uma'u all the time. Sometimes very low and at other times so deep that it would overflow onto the floor of Kilauea. This may be the start of the same kind of eruption. It could go on for the next 100 years.

My daughter, on her blog today, says that she feel kind on weird as yesterday was a holiday and so today feels like Monday. I know how she feels. Being retired I have enough trouble keeping tract of days of the week and having my wife off yesterday and then going to work today got me all mixed up.

The sun came out for about 10 minutes and now is gone. Guess I will be too. God bless all of you and God bless America.

Mystery Solved

Aloha ia okou: Yesterday's mystery solved itself. She commented on my blog yesterday. I checked out her blog and, "Wow, laulau". Seeing the laulau on her blog reminded me of the time my then girlfriend, now wife, asked me to dinner at her parents house. She told me we were going to have laulau and wanted to know how many I could eat. Thinking of the puny ones I see in the store I told her 3. When I saw the laulau her mother had made; lets just say one was more than enough. My future mother-in-law thought that was very funny.

It was wet all last night, and although it is not raining now, it is still too wet for us to go for a walk. It is now 52 on the "sunny" side of the house, overcast and a good day to just chill out, in more ways than one, in the house.

In today posting on the HVO's website they called the vent, in the crater, in the caldera, a crater. So now we have an unnamed crater within Halema'uma'u crater within Kilauea. The volcano update is SOS. Tephra is way up because of a rockfall in the "vent".

God bless all of you and may God bless America.

Mystery

Aloha: I have a mystery on my blog. I have a new follower. I have no idea who it is. I am guessing that it is a she, so will refer to her as such. I will try to look at her blog to see if I can figure it out.

I was able to get in my walk this morning. A beautiful, glorious day here in the village. It is now noon and has gotten cloudy. It is almost 60 on the sunny side of the house. My paragraphs are rather disconnected, just like my head.

Our volcano is doing its thing. I was able to see it for myself this morning. I will now get static from my great daughters because I did not call and let them know I was going for a walk. Those girls are really special. I will try a new paragraph that deals with only one subject. Maybe the third time is the charm.

Volcano update for today is SOS. Tremor is up, tephra is down, quakes are below background and SO2 is up.

I just got an e-mail from my wife, and she has a holiday tomorrow. It it is a nice day maybe she will go for a walk with me. I hope this afternoon is nice enough for me to go the the PO to get the mail.

Well, the time has come for me to close. May God bless and look out for each other.

Aloha kakahiaka ia 'okou. Well my wish did not come true. It was raining this morning at 7a so I did not go for my walk. I think I will have to get some good rain gear so I will be able to meander in the rain. The owner of "Apapane Lodge" must be off for the week as her car has been in the driveway of her house for the last few days.

As I said it is wet in volcano today. Right now it is 51 on the "sunny" side of the house. I do not expect it to get past 55 today. The Halema'uma'u vent is producing more tephra and noise, but other than that all is SOS.

I am thinking of starting another blog. I have been told not to get into religion, politics,or anything on the news in this blog. Whenever I sit down to write something I will have the news on and something will be being discussed and auwe......They just had Phil Donahue on and that man does not even register on the stupid scale!!! Why is it that these Hollywood people seem to think that just because they are famous they know all about everything.

Hey, the sun has broken through so I will close. God bless all of you and take care.

Aloha: I was too lazy to write anything yesterday. Today is much the same as yesterday. Partly cloudy with passing showers. It was sunny about 2 hours ago so I went to the Post Office and got caught in a shower just as I got home. While I was on my walk Anakam called. The 3 of them were at the zoo and she told me that the water buffalo had died. The buffalo was very old and had lost one of its horns a long time ago. The last few times I saw it I was surprised that the powers that be had not taken care of it. Perhaps they did the humane thing after all.

The eruption report is as follows: Activity Summary for past 24 hours: There were no significant changes. The report also tells us that RB2S2BL quakes are now below background levels. I wish they would give a number rather than this background level thing.

I was not able to get the tank fixed so when Chief came to walk his dogs he tried and had no luck. KAR does not want to do that kind of work on Fords so we might have to take it to the dealer. The dealer here has the highest prices for the lowest competence.

I will not be sitting for the next two weeks so am hoping to get to do some walking. As I said above no luck today. Yesterday was sunny till about 8:30a and I was hoping that would be the case this morning. When the alarm went off at 5a I could hear the water coming down so knew that I would not be able to walk today.

Take care and be good to each other. May God bless you all and may He bless America.

Aloha: This is the size of the type that I can use. I find it easier to read the large. I got a reminder to make an appointment for my yearly eye exam so I guess I should get on the stick. If you want to know just what Kilauea is doing see the red part of yesterday's post.

It is a cool day here in the village. The sun is trying to poke through but I do not think the sun will win.

I will be staying up here all next week as Topher is off and I will not be needed to sit my mo'opuna. If, by chance, Anakam and Topher want to go to the beach or a movie or a motel I would be more than happy to sit with CJ. In a few weeks my wife has a user conference in Kona and she wants me to share the room with her. Our mo'opuna would have to come along because A&T would not have a sitter for that week. We would leave on Tuesday and come back Friday night.

God bless and keep you all.

Snow in Hawaii.

Activity Summary for past 24 hours: There were no significant changes. Aloha: That (in red) is the volcano update this morning. It is a very nice day in Hawaii nei today. On the way down to Hilo we could see the summit of Mauna Kea and when in Hilo the summit of Mauna Loa. Both covered with snow. What a glorious sight!!!

The title of today's post, Snow in Hawaii, came to mind on the way into Hilo for obvious reasons. It brought to mind something I read a long time ago. It may have been John Papa 'I'i, or Kamakau, I do not remember. It was about snow in old Hawaii, way before contact. The snow went from the top on Mauna Kea to the sea at Laupahoehoe. It must have been just snow fall with no accumulation.

In the 70's a police officer, that I went to school with, was cruising the Saddle Road and he got stuck in a snow bank. That made the headlines in the local paper.

I think we will go to the zoo today. That is, if CJ stops crying. We have a white tiger. It was given to the county by Sigfried and Roy a few years ago. The last time we went to the zoo the peacocks were all proud of their tails. Oh, guess who stopped crying. Looks like it is just about zoo time. God bless you all and may God bless America. Heaven help us.

Cats and Tonga

Aloha: Well, things just might get exciting here in Hilo today. We have a tsunami bulletin for Hilo. I am guessing that is because of the eruption in Tonga. I have included a picture, sorry Manuel. The eruption has been going on since Monday. The vent is underwater and near a bunch of islands in the chain. Close enough to the capital city that it can be seen from there.

If any of you are following the blog "my crazy world" you know that my oldest daughter has a cat that loves her so much she brings her presents. Do you know that cats have a special meow when they want to give you something that they caught? If you have an outdoor cat learn that meow or else. Story: When my oldest was born my wife was on maternity leave and we has a cat. My wife is a dog person and did not know that meow. She opened the door and the cat gave her a bird. The bird was alive and flew around the house with the cat chasing after it. Ever try to catch a cat chasing a bird? She finally got the cat trapped in the bathroom, opened the front door and the bird flew out. As I said, learn that meow or else.

Those of you who know me know that I do not like to sleep in the moonlight. Well, the moonlight wake me up last night. At least it was a clear night. The trades have come back, abet light, therefore the air should be clean at the village today. The volcano update is SOS.

My mo'opuna, like all little children, loves to be tickled. He is at the age when he want to return the favor but does not know that the secret is a light touch. He tries to stick his fingers into my ears. As an old chess player I know the best defence is an offence which forces him to save himself. Great fun!!!!

Time to find spiders. God bless you and may God bless America.

Peacocks

Aloha ia kakou. Yesterday I was reading about a book that is to be published next year. This book has been in the works for many years now. It is a "dictionary" of regional differences in what people call things. Which brings me to the title of today's post. Did you know that the "peacock" is a very different kind of bird? The "peacock" does not lay eggs. You may ask how do you get baby "peacocks" then? Well, the "peahen" lays the eggs! Together they are "peafowl". That is because "cock" is the word for a male. When I was in the Navy there were "sailors" who used "cock" for the female gender. When questioned they said "That's what we call it where I come from". I wonder if that will be in the book?

We were supposed to have heavy rain yesterday with the possibility of flash floods. Well the rain never came and the warning was extended for today. The sky is clear and now at 9:30a it is getting hot in Hilo. There is very little wind to cool things down so it just might get rather warm this afternoon. With no wind the air quality will not be very good up at the village. Volcano update is SOS.

A few comments were e-mailed to me about the B&B by our house. That house has been used as a B&B for about 25 years now. At first it was very bad as people would be drinking at the Volcano House in the park then try to find their B&B in the dark. They would drive into our driveway and the dogs would go crazy. Then they would honk the car horn and ask us for directions. Auwe!!!!! Lucky for us a call to the owner of the house got that all fixed up. He had rented the house out and the renter had turned it into a B&B. Stay tuned for "next week's chapter"

Time to close for today. God bless you all.

St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all of my faithful readers. I hope you are all wearing green today. When I was in high school a long, long time ago we did not have the lunches planned from the "state lunch headquarters". Rather each school had a manager and she (at that time cafeteria workers were women) had the job of planning each day's meal. Each St. Patrick's Day, Hilo High School would have curry stew that was colored green. Lunches were only 25 cents and it was a full plate lunch. You could get a double portion of the day befores left overs for 40 cents, while supply lasts. The teachers could buy leftovers for $1 an gallon. I guess I am showing my age by talking about the "good old days".

My wife and I came down to Hilo very early this morning as Anakam had to be at work at 6:30a. It is cloudy in Hilo this morning. The weather report is for rain and a warning about flash floods from 8a to 8p. The Halema'uma'u webcam shows the summit area all socked in with fog. The air quality was very bad when we got home last night, but no so bad this morning. Volcano update is SOS.

I just realized that the enter key on the keyboard is different from the enter key on the keypad. If I use the keypad "enter" this blog will post. When I use the keyboard "enter" I just go down one line.

CJ wants me to find spiders on the computer so will close. God bless all of you and may God bless America.

Truck?

Aloha: I am down in Hilo this morning with my mo'opuna. He keeps asking me where is his dump truck. Sorry kid, but I do not know where the dump truck is. I do not even know if it is in the house or not.

Anakan's mouse sure is touchy. It kinda clicks whenever it wants. Funny kine no?

I checked the halema'uma'u webcam a short time ago and the fog has the area socked in. Can't see a thing. The winds are still from the SE so air quality is "not so good". It was dry all night but getting ready to rain as we left this morning. Tomorrow we will have to leave an hour early as Anakam starts work at 6:30a. She was to start at 7a but people do change their minds. It was suggested that we take CJ with us this evening, but that means he will have to get up early tomorrow so I think it is better for us to come just come down an hour early.

The quake report noted that yesterday the RB2S2BL quakes were at 3 times "background" levels, by this morning they have gone back down to the "background" levels. With the winds coming out of the SE the village had some ash fall. I did not notice but that is what the report said. Everything else is SOS.

There is a B&B by our house and this morning there were 4 cars at that house. I did not hear them come in last night but my hearing is not as good as it used to be. The house is owned by the sister of the politician Ed Case.

Take care and may god bless and keep you all.

Aloha a nui loa: It is a very pleasant day in Volcano. My wife and I just got back from a quick trip into the park. I used my special "elemakule" pass to get in for free. We checked out the Park Headquarters as my wife wanted to get a poster for the wall in her office. We then went to the old "Volcano House", which is now an art gallery, to see what they have. I noticed one thing; those artists sure are proud of their work. Yikes!!!! I have noticed a trend that I consider rather disturbing. The use of certain words in a odd fashion. IE: Portuguese as a brand rather than an ethnic group. At the art center I saw a "koa" bowl made from "various woods". Koa is a special wood, not a style of woodworking! I saw on "Antique Roadshow" once, a bowl described as a "koa" bowl made out of monkeypod. What gives?????

It is now 4p and the temperature is 60, on the sunny side of the house. The air is CCC. The sky is cloudy and there is a SW breeze. The vog is being blown south of the village. I hope the vog is not going into Hilo as I will be sitting this week. We will be going to Hilo early on Tuesday as Anakam has to work early that day.

I keep getting stuff in the mail about Medicare. I wonder if HMSA has a plan for medicare. I hope they have a mental health plan as I am going to need it after trying to figure all this out!

God bless all of you and my God bless America!

Aloha kakahiaka: Hey, today is a great day. The air is CCC. Kilauea is SOS. My wife is home for the day. Although she is doing paperwork for her class. I guess something is better than nothing.

How does that song go. "Oh what a beautiful morning; oh what a beautiful day. I have a beautiful feeling; all of my bills have been paid." As I said today is sunny, the sky is blue, the air is clear. The temperature "on the sunny side" is 55.

Lucky for all of you I have nothing more to say. May God bless all of you, and may He bless America.

Aloha: I am down in Hilo today. I had to come down for my doctor's appointment. Everything is as it should be. I talked to him about the AT3 thing and I will have the test to see if I got it. If I do then the kids will have to be tested and if Anakam has it then my mo'opuna will have to be tested. This may be the source of the family "curse".

It was very voggy in the village this morning. There is no wind so the vog stays around rather than going to Kona. The Kilauea update is SOS.

I was able to get the fuses for the "tank" after the doctor's visit this morning. I will have to go through the fuse box one at a time tomorrow and replace all the burned out ones. I just hope I got the right fuses.

Anakam told me I will be sitting next week. I will have to get here early on Tuesday as she will be going to work early. My wife and I just might take him home with us on Monday and bring him back on Tuesday. We have the weekend to work out the details.

Not much else going on so I will close. Pray for each other and our Nation.

Two in a Row

Aloha: It is a very nice day up here in the village. Not as nice as it was yesterday, but very, very nice. Maybe I should amend that. Yesterday was beautiful till abut noon. At that time the fog rolled in and it got dark. Right now it is doing the same. The sun is hiding and I think this will be dark for the rest of the day. When I finish this I will go to Post Office, if it is not raining.

The update for Kilauea is SOS. The wind is very still so the plume is going straight up and then settling back down so it is not really a good time to visit the overlook.

One of the blogs I am following played a cute trick yesterday. After about a month of nothing there were 5 postings. With pictures of shoes no less. I did not have to sign in so I think she changed the blog to open it up to everyone. I made a comment but it is not posted. She may have decided to review comments before they are posted.

I have not heard if I will be sitting my mo'opuna next week. I have my quarterly doctors appointment tomorrow so I will get to spend some time with him. I will find out tonight if we will be coming home early tomorrow. Last night, my wife said that her class went very well so it looks like a go for tomorrow.

May God bless you all.

Aloha: It is a glorious, beautiful, fantastic day here in Volcano Village. The sky is blue and clear. The air is crisp, cool and clean. (Air update: CCC) Hey, what would be the difference between crisp and cool? I got up a little too late to do my long walk into the National Park, but I will go to the Post Office later and will take the long way.

Nabru is writing the story of his life and has sent us excerpts. Some stories are tear jerkers, others are funny and all are good reading. Keep up the good work.

The volcano update is SOS. The RB2S2BL quakes are higher today than yesterday, "but less today than tomorrow". I think that was a song. The website says the quakes are still within "background" levels. If they go higher every day just how large is the "background".

My wife's class did not go too well last night. The students did real well on the written test, but when it came to "practical factors" all chocking children and heart attack victims died. Auwe. I hope they do better tonight. This is a class to teach instructors. Tonight is supposed to be "teach backs", where the students teach the class and are graded. I hope they do well because if they do not that means school will be on for Friday.

Take care and may God bless.

E Kala Mai I'au

Aloha: Auwe! I have been thinking that I had forgotten something I was supposed to do and for the life of me I could not think of what it was. Have you ever had that feeling? Well, I finally figured it out! I forgot to do my blog this morning! All you poor readers, going to the computer and not finding these pearls of wisdom. E kala mai i'au.

It is another cool, damp day up here in the village. The Volcano update is SOS, except for RB2S2BL quakes. The quakes are now at the higher end of the "background" levels.

Those of you who live in Hawaii or have lived here for any length of time know that we do not go on Daylight Saving Time. Usually, when I am home alone I have the TV on the news channels. These news programs are live so when there is a time change on the mainland the times are all mixed up over here in the glorious state of Hawaii.

The class that my wife is teaching only has 3 students. If it had been her class she would have canceled it. One good thing is that the class does not take as long. She may be able to finish in 4 days rather than the 5 it would have taken with a larger group. That means I will not have to stay late on Friday.

Our dogs are not yet used to having people next door. Every time somebody passes gas over there the dogs start to bark. It looks like a husband, wife and teen son have moved in and it appears to be a long term thing. They really did a nice job on the driveway.

May God bless and keep you safe and sound.

Aloha kakahiaka: Today is a wet, dark and cool day up here in Volcano, Hawaii. One advantage of having a wet day is that as the clouds release water, heat is also released. So rather than having temperatures in the 40s we have higher temperatures. Right now it is 55 on the sunny (?) side of the house. Our volcano is just puffing along, doing its thing. SOS. When I checked the Halema'uma'u webcam I could not make out the plume through the fog.

Anakam and Topher came up last night to get CJ. We had a very pleasant evening. CJ had to show his mom how he can operate "grandma's" computer. I was a little sad that Anakan's sister and Burida were not able to come up. However I was relieved that they did not have to drive in the rain. The roads in their subdivision do not handle water very well. We have a family gathering planned for Kona coming up and I am looking forward to that. I always have a great time as that is my idea of a camping trip. Hot water showers and a bed to sleep in. Great stuff.

Guess what! I have been talking about my doctor's appointment on Thursday, but it is on Friday. I hope for a good day to be able to check out the "tank" so it will be running by then. No garage and I am like the police, do not want to get wet. You have to be doing something real bad to get the police to chase you in the rain, and when they get you, you will get as many tickets as they can write, they do not like to get wet!

Topher is off this week so I will be spending time here at home. Oh, oh. Anakam just called and I am not that good on the computer so I will sign off and check on the earthquake at Pepe'ekeo. God bless and take care.

SunDay...Not!

Aloha: Today is Sunday, the first day of the week. But it is not SunDay; it is cloudy and, while not raining right now, has been wet all night and looks like it will be all day. I checked the usual websites and the volcano update is SOS. The Halema'uma'u webcam shows that the crater is fogged in. You can just make out the plume at the far side of the crater.

Right now the mo'opuna is sitting with grandma playing a game on her computer building a fish tank. About an hour ago he was playing "fetch" with our little house dog. "Poopee" loves to chase after her squeaky toys. I will admit she is fun to play with.

Anakam told me that Topher will be off this coming week so I will staying home again. I have to go to Hilo on Thursday for my quarterly appointment. As the "tank" is not running I will have to go down early and stay late. My wife will be teaching a Red Cross class till 10 every night this week. It was not even supposed to be her class but the person who was to teach the class is in the National Guard and for reason unknown can not make it. I think he is getting ready to fight in Obama's war.

CJ's parents will be coming up this evening to pick him up. My oldest called and I invited them up for dinner. It is raining where she lives, has been for a few days, so I am kind of concerned about all of them driving that far in the rain. I really do enjoy when the bunch of us are all together though.

I do not know what my wife has on the TV, but that actress sure is getting her moneys worth from the screaming lessons. Must be something on the SciFi channel. That's her favorite. Personally I like something more sedate.

Take care and be good. May God bless you and may he bless America.

Aloha: I reread yesterdays post and I realized that I did not mention who I had the long breakfast with. It was with a guy I worked with for about 30 years. He is 5 years older than I and retired a few years before me. He is enjoying his retirement so much that he overslept and a 9a breakfast turned into a 9:30 breakfast. Almost missed the breakfast menu at McD's.

Today's update states that the vent in the vent in the crater in the caldera is making "huffing" noises. I wonder if this is like a train chugging. Everything else is SOS. It is now raining here in the village. The temperature is a balmy 56.

Last night my wife was on her way home with our visitor and her wipers stopped working. She had put that thing on the windshield so the water just beaded off. When she got home the interior lights did not come on and she had put the "tank" in "park". When we tried to switch the cars around she could not get the "tank" out of "park". Auwe, she had to teach an early class in Hilo this morning. A bunch on fuses had blown and so her brother "Chief" came up at about 10p with some fuses and we were able to get the "tank" out of "park" and switch the cars so she was able to give her class this morning. We are going to have to go through all the fuses and replace all those that are burned out. What will happen to the "tank" depends on whether or not I sit this coming week and the weather. It may be next Saturday before we get it running again.

Poor CJ. Last night he went to sleep late as, I think, he expected his dad to pick him up. He kept saying he wanted to go to "daddy's" house. He usually refers to his home as "his" house.

I am still waiting for ideas about what I should bloviate about. God bless you and take care.

A Long Breakfast

Aloha: I spent the morning in Hilo today. Had to get blood drawn for my quarterly doctors visit next week. Had breakfast at 9:30a and before we knew it it was after 12. Boy, do we love to talk!!!!

Yesterday I heard noise outside and I thought the empty lot was being worked on. I was wrong. The noise was coming from nest door. I had made mention that their driveway was a river of mud. A few weeks ago it was scraped clean, and yesterday a gravel base was laid down. Looks pretty good. Maybe I should do the same.

In the study of weather, the coldest an area gets is just before sunrise. The sun rises and so does the temperature. It usually is the warmest at about 4p. It is called the peak of "insolation". (I wonder if spell check likes that word. Oh, oh. It does not.) Why did I spend so much time on that; because it is now 4p and the temperature on the sunny side of the house is 59. It is rather damp, and at 59, cool here in Volcano.
The volcano report is SOS.

I am looking forward to having company this weekend. The wife and I will have our mo'puna for the weekend. Saturday my wife will be giving a class for the Red Cross. It really is three classes on different aspects of "shelter management." I do know that Anakam and Topher really miss him when he is not home.

Take care of yourselves and look out for each other. May God bless and keep you all safe.

Aloha kakahiaka ia kakou: In Hawaiian when you have the letter combination "ia" it is not pronounced "eah" but rather "eyah". It is called the "y" glide. You can see the combination in the words "kakahiaka" and "ia". End of monthly Hawaiian lesson.

It is a cool (50), dark and wet day up here in Volcano. About 5 years ago a lot two lots down from ours was cleared and a septic system was put in. The owners then found out that he could not afford to build, so he sold the lot for way too much "kala". The new owner has now recleared the lot and now I hear noise that sound like they are delivering something over there. When they leave I will get "niele" and go take a look. I just did a spell check and am told that "recleared" should be written "re cleared". What???

There has been no real change in the current eruption of Kilauea. Earthquakes, tremor, tephra, and SO2 are all SOS.

Tomorrow I will have to go down to Hilo for blood tests. I have a doctor's appointment next week to get chewed out for gaining back some of the weight I lost last year. Auwe!!

God bless and take care.

Girls Day 2

Aloha from Volcano! Nabru e-mailed me, instead of making a comment, to inform me that the Japanese work for "Girls Day" is "Hinamatsuri", hence the title of this post. I still can not find the paper that I wrote it down on.

Anakam called to ask if my wife and I would watch our mo'opuna this weekend. Did she really think we would say no? It was very nice of her to ask and not take it for granted. I am one lucky guy! I have a great family! I would like to take this time to tell all my readers that I am related to, that I do love you all and am glad to be related to you. You pick your friends, but are "stuck" with your relatives. Be assured that I do not feel that I am "stuck" with you all.

Nabru e-mailed the family this morning informing us that our mother's last 1st cousin pasted away in February. There is now only one member of that generation left. Really two. Our aunt and uncle in Florida.

It is 10:30a and 50 degrees on the sunny side of the house. Cloudy with a slight drizzle. The volcano is doing its thing. Earthquakes are down and it appears that the volcano will continue on this path for a while.

My two followers have not posted anything for over a week. I guess they feel that a phone call is better than a blog. True, but you can go back and reread a blog. Most of the comments on this blog come from them.

Take care of yourselves and each other. May God bless all of you and my He bless America.

Happy Girls Day!

Aloha: Today is 3/3, Girls Day. I saw the Japanese name for today, wrote it down, and now I can not find it. Tomorrow will be too late. Auwe no ho'i.

Worked at Na'alehu from 7a to 12:30 today. Had to do the paper work as the main guy (not gut) is out. Had to do the flow gross, inventory and margin reports. Nice little bit of pocket change.

It is a nice day here in Volcano. Partly cloudy, mostly sunny and getting warm. Here it is 2p and it has gotten up to 58. The volcano is doing its thing. The vent inside the vent inside the crater inside the caldera is getting larger,or so the powers that be say.

Well, my mind is blank so I will close now. God bless and keep all of you.

Cosmopolitan 2

Helloha you'll: I am here in Volcano this morning. Went for a short walk this morning, to the Post Office and back. There was just junk mail so I left it there. Do you think it will disappear? Neither do I. I guess I will have to pick it up sometime. Tomorrow I go to Na'alehu to do the paper work as the main gut will be out for at least 2 more weeks.

It is still rather cool here today. It is about noon and the temp is below 50 on the sunny side of the house. Humidity is about 80% so everything feels cold and wet. The volcano update for today is SOS. I have a feeling that this is going to go on for a very long time. At least the paint drys after a while.

I have started to fill out the book my daughter gave me. I will use it as a guide as my writing is so bad sometimes I can not read it. I will have to do research (Vovo?) as to names and dates for grandparents, also places of birth. I know she has sent me printouts of all that information before but I am such a mess I have trouble finding my head. I discovered last night that I have Microsoft Word on this computer so I guess that is what I will use.

Manuel told me that the former mayor of Hilo gave a talk a few months ago and he used the word "cosmopolitan" and the older guys knew what he was talking about. My daughter thinks it is a very good drink. I had more that one two years ago at a niece's house for Thanksgiving and I will admit it was very good. However I feel that the term "cosmopolitan" should be used to describe the beautiful mix of people here in Hawaii. Mitchner called us the "Golden People". We are indeed rich! (Spell check does not like "Mitchner". I think that is how you spell the guy's name, He wrote the book "Hawai'i".)

God bless all of you and take care of each other.

Cosmopolitan

Aloha; it is another cold and wet day up here in good old Volcano this morning. It is, again, in the mid 40's with the sun trying to poke through the clouds. A note abut my thermometer; it is located on the SE side of the house, which is supposed to be the warm side. It is 55 in the house, and my feet are cold! Too bad I did not buy some "toasty toes" when I was in Bass Pro Shops.

There was an earthquake off Kailua, Kona this morning, 3.1 I think. Just strong enough to feel if you know what to "feel" for. You just might think that it is the dog scratching fleas on the porch. The volcano update is, again, SOS. As long as the trades keep up the air is clear and clean here in the village. Oh, oh, oh, the sun is poking through. Auwe, missed it.

Nabru asked me about the "race" here in Hawaii called "Cosmopolitan", from the Greek, meaning "of the world". Before statehood and right after, cosmopolitan was considered a valid "race" along with Asian, Caucasian, Polynesian and others. I had forgotten that word and now that Nabru reminded me of it I really think it should be mainstreamed. Now they use Part-Hawaiian. My daughters are a mix of Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese and a bunch of Caucasian "ethnic groups". Truly Cosmopolitan! The church my mom went to had a part of the mass when the children were brought into the church, from their bible study, She just loved to see all the different mixes of these children. Truly beautiful!

May God bless all of us, Na keiki o ka 'aina.