Last post of 2009

Aloha: This is my last post for this year. I have decided to end the year on a positive note so I will just say that the the weather and the volcano are SOS. You all have a great and safe and joyous New Year. May God's blessing be with you and do take care of each other. Love to all.

Pet Peeves.

Aloha: We all have them. Little things that just set you off. There is one that I thought was put to sleep, but has reared its ugly head again. I do not understand how otherwise smart people can not understand that when we count we start at one. We have 10 fingers so out number base is ten. Why is it then that "smart" people thought that 1999 was the last year of the 20 century. Start at 1; end at 0!!! There was no year zero. I just read an article about "the end of the first decade of the 21st century". We still have 12 months left in the first decade. Start at 1; end in 0. Decade; 1 - 10. century 1 - 100. How hard is that? When you count your fingers it is 1 -10; not 0 - 9!!!!

Soon after I did my post yesterday, Anakam got a call from the insurance division of the office of consumer protection. She then got a call from her employer and she is to take all her paper work in to the HR people and they will work out the mess. Hopefully things will be worked out to her satisfaction.

After about 12 hours of a nice gentle rain the sun is back and the firemen are back on their knees. Hopefully tomorrow will be a nice wet day and the firemen can stay in their firehouses. From this page to God's ear!

I hear that San Diego got a little bit on shaking this morning. There was an earthquake in Mexico. Quite a shaker, so there will be damage near the center of the quake.

Our volcano is just doing its thing and all is SOS, so that will be it for the day. May the Good Lord bless and keep you all safe in the palm on His right hand. In Nabru's case His left hand. for those of you who do not know; Nabru is left handed.

Prayers answered

Aloha: The firemen's prayers were answered last night as we had a nice gentle rain. I hope it keeps up until the New Years as it will help keep the fires to a minimum.

Today when I got to Anakam's house she was on the phone fighting with a health care provider bureaucrat. It seems that last October she mistakenly elected to get a policy that she does not need or want. She has been trying to get it fixed since then and the human resources person at her work site does not know how to do her job. The bureaucrat at Cigna can see the dollar signs and will not do anything to help. All Anakam wants is for them to drop the policy. The bureaucrat at Cigna kept telling her the "government" will not let then drop the policy. She could not tell Anakam what "government" or branch thereof she was referring to. In Hawaii we call that "pipikane kukae". It is what comes out of the south end of a north facing bull. Anakam now has the issue in the hands of the insurance division of the office of consumer protection of the State of Hawaii.

The vog is quite thick in Hilo this morning. Other than that it is a bright, sunny day in Hilo. Volcano was cloudy and a light rain was falling. The volcano was very bright from the overlook webcam last night. The report is SOS. I think I will close for today. God bless and be good to each other.

4th day of Christmas.

Aloha: Today is the 4th day of Christmas. January 5th is the 12th day of Christmas (12th night) and January 6th is "Little Christmas" and "the" big day everywhere except in the USA. The world is so much larger than our minds.

Today will be short and sweet, much to the relief of my brother Manuel. The volcano and the weather report are SOS. The mo'opuna report is, what can I say, he is a healthy active boy.

God bless and take care. May God bless the USA.

Last Sunday of 2009.

Aloha: Today is the last Sunday of 2009, so it follows, as night follows day, that this is the last Sunday report of 2009. But not to worry, there is always 2010, the last year of the first decade of the new century. The rain report is that we did not really have any. Less than o.1 inches for the week. The sun report is we had a lot. The weather report is we had some of that too. It got down to 37 one morning, but I still walked the dog in my "rubber slippa". Froze my toes.

The volcano report is SOS. For those of you who do not know what SOS means, this is it from the HVO website. Activity Summary for past 24 hours: Kilauea continued to erupt from two vents. At the summit, rising and falling, while continually sloshing, lava was visible at the bottom of a deep pit inset within the floor of Halema`uma`u Crater providing strong glow from the pit overnight. On the east rift zone, lava continued to erupt from the TEB vent and flow through tubes to the ocean just west of Kalapana; surface flows were active on the pali. Sulfur dioxide emission rates from both vents remain elevated. RB2S2BL quakes are at background levels, tephra is the same, and tremor is as it has been since this whole process started. (Same Old Stuff).

I got one bite on the small fire comment. A little turkey fat spilled in the oven and flared up. Two seconds later it was over, but made for a little excitement.

Kansas Vovo will be visiting in January and February. She will be here for my mo'opuna's 4 birthday. I wonder if A&T have anything planned for the occasion? What was the date again?

We have had such beautiful weather that the fire department is now praying for rain for New Years. The fireworks has a tendency to light the bushes on fire. Before Dan Inouye killed the sugar industry in Hawaii we would have cane fires and the sugar workers would have to cut fire breaks and help fight the fires. I remember the gook old days when there were no limits on fireworks and the smoke would be so thick you could not see across the street. My brother-in-law, Kansas Vovo's husband, was in the Army, and would bring us things that made the neighbors jealous. Those were the "good old days".

I could go on but will have mercy on all of you. For those of you celebrating Christmas on the 29th I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, of that, the 5th day of Christmas. God love you all and be safe.

A great day!

Aloha: I hope you all had as great a day yesterday as we had at Anakam & Topher's house. (I think I will just use A&T from now on.) The fire in the kitchen was very small and put a light smoke flavor on the turkey. We had way too much food and ate more than our fair share.

I got a test message from one of my nieces at 4a Christmas day. My phone was making a sound I do did not know and I was trying to turn off the alarm clock, 90% asleep, not knowing what was going on. I guess she was excited about having a white Christmas. Yes, AF, we love you too.

We have been living here in Volcano for more than 25 years. (we-25; me-30) When I first moved up here I had to get a PO Box as there is no home delivery. At that time I had to pay for the box. A few years later the PO decided to let us have the box for free, we just have to fill out a form every year stating that we live in the area. This year the PO has decided that I have to provide proof that we live here. They want a utility bill with our address on it. The only utility bill I have is an electric bill and it does not have a physical address on it. I do not have a land line phone and I have my own water system and sewage system so no bills there. I do have cable but no address there either. I hope they take the fire insurance bill. Why do they want that info after 25 years?

Weather is beautiful and the volcano report is "I forgot to check this morning". The overlook webcam had a great view last night. God bless you all and take care.

Just in case.

Aloha: Just in case I do not have a chance tomorrow I want to wish all of you a very, very Merry Christmas. I know how busy you all will be as we will be in a crazy mood too. Anakam will be doing her first turkey, and grandpa and grandma will be doing roast pork and sushi and lomi salmon and.....again too much food. Auwe! How can we lose weight? I really am too fat and I know I would feel a lot better if I lost about 60 pounds. For one thing I would be able to see my feet again.

This morning it was a bit chilly in Volcano. Thirty-nine on our porch and thirty-seven at the highway intersection. Still not a record; the first year I lived in Volcano it got down to 28 for three mornings in a row.

Auwe! I forgot to check the HVO website this morning, so I will just "wing" the volcano report and say SOS for the umpteenth time. (Wow, spell check likes umpteenth.)

Tomorrow we will be coming down to Anakam's early. I hope we will be able to sleep in on Saturday. We are planning on staying home on New Year's, as we have the last few years. I just might not get up at midnight to call and wake up my siblings.

My mo'opuna is waiting for the computer to play some of his games so I will close. God bless and take care.

"Junk" silver.

Aloha: Well, Christmas is almost here and I have not done any shopping, and believe it or not, I do not intend to do any. Christmas is just a reason to sell junk that will be discarded by January 1st. I guess that is what makes the economy hum but I think it would be better if the selling was spread out throughout the year. It looks like I will have to get with the program next year as my mo'opuna will be 4. That is the age when children understand just what is going to happen and kinda know how to make adults feel guilty.

I am thinking of investing in "junk" silver. It is not really "junk", but rather bags of pre 64 silver coins. The coins are 90% silver and are sold for their "melt" value. I read about a store that will redeem the coins for their "melt" value then you can use the "money" you get in the store. When I was a child you could buy a loaf of bread with a quarter. The dollars you get with a silver quarter today is enough to buy a loaf of bread. The silver has not lost it's value and the bread has not lost it's value. It is the dollar that has lost it's value. What my father was able to do on his small salary in the 40's and 50's it now takes two people working full time jobs and somehow we think we have gotten ahead. Auwe!!!

It was cold in Volcano this morning. It was back down to 44 after being in the high 40's for the week. It was nice and clear, with the mountains in clear view. The snow has all melted. It looks like we will not have a "white" Christmas this year. We will be at Anakam & Topher's house. It will be the same gang as Thanksgiving with two exceptions; Manuel will be here and Hawi sister and her husband will not. I wonder where Kansas Vovo will be for Christmas?

Our volcano is SOS. May God bless and keep you all in the palm of his right hand.

It has not stopped me before.

Aloha: I get the feeling that my readers do not want to read about what I want to write about so I have days like today that I really do not have anything write about. As I have said before, and I will say it again; just because I have nothing to say does not mean I will say nothing.

I have been trying to find something good to say about the "health care reform bill" in the Senate and I have finally found something. The Senate bill will reduce the rationing of care we now have. Care today is rationed by health insurance. Have insurance; have health care. No insurance; care is limited. In the present bill (Senate) the fines for not having insurance is so low that, for the young, the sensible financial decision would be to drop the insurance. For most of the young (late teens to about mid 40's) do not use and therefore do not need health insurance. Since the companies will have to cover pre-existing conditions there is no penalty for not having the insurance till you really need it. (When your house catches fire, call 911, then 411 and ask for the number of a fire insurance company. No pre-existing conditions.)

The volcano and the weather reports are SOS. Starting today the days will be getting longer and the countdown to 2012 begins. Three years and counting. 3..2..1.., you get the picture. I think it was 3 years for the USSR to be no more after Gorbachev got elected.

God bless and be good to each other. Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy and Holy New Year.

Snow in Hawaii

Aloha: I was going to write about the woman in Virginia who killed her newborn, legally, but decided to go with the storm we had that covered our mountains with snow.

The last few days we have had rain in Hilo and lower Puna, we live in upper Puna. My oldest lives in lower Puna and had lightning strikes on her street. The thunder was so bad it knocked things off shelves in her home, and scared the dogs shitless. We could just see flashes of light up here in "God's country". This morning there was news of a cell over Kohala, between Hawi and Kapa'au and I am waiting for news from my Hawi sister as to what goes in her neck of the woods. The cell was to have produced penny size hail. In Hawaii thunder storms usually mean that there will be snow on the mountains and sure enough, I checked the Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea webcams and there is snow on the mountains. (What is the Hawaiian word for snow?) As a kid I do not remember bolt lightening. We had sheet lightening that would light up the sky. It was not until I was 22 and in the Navy that I saw lightning bolts.

With all the rain they had in lower Puna we had only 0.2 inches for the week up here in Volcano. It was cloudy with no rain this morning, but now it has started to rain. It sounds like it will be a steady rain for the rest of the day.

The volcano is doing it thing and all is SOS. Hey, I think I just heard some thunder. No wonder the dog is on the porch "woofing" at me. He thinks I will let him. This is the time to show him that "fat" and "thin" mean the same thing. Like the dog has a "fat chance" of coming in the house. His chances are thin indeed! The adjective "fast" also can be used to mean to go quickly or to not move at all. Isn't English wonderful!!!!

Well, we just lost power for about 20 seconds and there was a clap of thunder. Time to go. God bless and take care.

It is sneaking up on you.

Aloha: Last night my wife informed me that this time next week will be Christmas. Auwe, it sure is coming up quickly. It looks like I will not be ready again this year. Next year my mo'opuna will be 4 and will know what Christmas and Santa means and I guess my free pass will have passed.

It is getting interesting in Denmark. As Shakespeare said, "there is something rotten in state of Denmark." Next year the rotten something will move to Mexico City. (For those of you who have not figured it out yet: I believe that anthropogenic global warming is a hoax that has, as its goal, the destruction of the American economy. It is based on the anthropocentric belief that humans are all powerful and responsible for all that is wrong with the universe.)

Our volcano is, again, SOS. The trades have returned so the vog is headed to Kona. The weather is bright and sunny. Clear weather equals cold mornings. I was 43 the other morning, 47 yesterday and 49 this morning. We just might have to invite another dog into the bed.

Have any of you noticed that I have started to put labels on my posts? "Run it up the flag pole and see if anyone salutes."

God bless and be good to each other.

Another one?

Aloha: After the last post I got another "follower". I really do not know what to think about this last one. I think it is a "scam" to get me to part with some of my money. I am one of those that do not open and/or look at things until I feel that it is "safe". I have a bad feeling about follower #6. Is it possible to remove a follower?

The volcano is, as usual, SOS. The weather is fantastic. The birds are singing, did you know, Volcano is the only place in Hawaii that you can live in a native forest with the native birds? I live in an old growth fern/ohia forest with apapane, making happy bird noises. Life would be prefect is Congress were not in session. (Sorry, I just had to get that in.)

May the good Lord bless and keep you all.

I got another one!

Aloha: Boy was I surprised this morning when I saw that I have a new follower. I clicked on the link and there were quite a few links to different blogs. I really do not know which one to read. I have no idea who he/she is and will have to spend some time going through the different links to see what is what. Looks like I will have some work to do.

Hey, Glen Beck just came on and he is in rare form. As I watch and listen to both sides, donkey/elephant, right/left.....I have come to realize that for some reason it is the right/elephant that seem to have a sense of humor. Donkey/left are all gloom and doom and everything is a crisis. "We can not let a good crisis go to waste." That is a quote from Obama's chief of staff, Rahm.

The weather in Volcano was great this morning. We could use a little more wind to blow the vog to Kona. Hey, better them than us. Our volcano is huffing and puffing and doing its thing. SOS. Not so much shaking, thank God.

I guess I will go to my new follower's blogs and do some reading. God bless and be good to each other.

Sunday report.

Aloha: How about a joke for today? Here goes, enjoy.
Young man Murphy applied for an engineering position at an Irish firm based in Dublin. An American applied for the same job and both applicants having the same qualifications were asked to take a test by the Department manager. Upon completion of the test both men only missed one of the questions. The manager went to Murphy and said, "Thank you for your interest, but we've decided to give the American the job." Murphy: "And why would you be doing that? We both got 9 questions correct. This being Ireland and me being Irish I should get the job!" Manager: "We have made our decision not on the correct answers, but on the question you missed." Murphy: "And just how would one incorrect answer be better than the other?" Manager: "Simple. The American put down on question #5, 'I don't know.' You put down 'Neither do I.'"

Have your eyes dried up yet? The rain report is 0.25 inches for the week. The weather is cloudy, with no wind so it is kinda voggy. The volcano is SOS.

It was good to see that someone is back on line. God bless you all and be kind to each other.

CFL's

Aloha: The other day I talked about the CFL bulbs that we will all have to use after 2012. Well, one person took exception to the comment about getting the "haz-mat" team in to clean up a broken bulb. I wanted to "lift" the part about clean-up from the EPA website but I do not think I have enough memory to do so, so I will, in my own words, give you all a few highlights. I hope I do not get cramps from tying this.

1.....Before clean-up; air out room.
a.....Have people and pets leave room, making sure no body walks through
the area on their way out.
b.....Open windows and air out room. Wait at least 15 minutes before
going back in room.
c.....If you have air condtioning or heating or fans, turn them off.
2.....Cleaning up steps for carpet and rug.
a.....Pick up glass and put in glass jar with metal lid.
b.....Use sticky tape to pick up small pieces of glass.
c.....Vacuum area; put used vacuum bag and/ dirt in sealed plastic bag.
3.....Cleaning steps for clothing and/or bedding.
a.....If clothing or bedding came in direct contact with glass or powder
discard items.
b..... Do not wash! You will contaminate the machine and
will have to get rid of the machine.
4.....Disposal of clean up materials.
a.....Place all clean up materials out doors for trash pick-up; checking to
make sure local requirements for disposal are met.

The volcano and weather reports are SOS today. The birds are making happy sound and it is just about time for me to go down to Hilo. God love you all and take care.

For reasons I do not understand this program will not spell check. Auwe!!!

Delivery

Aloha: Our bed arrived today. Delivery sometime between 9:30 and 11:30a They hit it on the head and arrived at 10:30. But..... They were supposed to break down the old bed and set up the new bed and haul away the old stuff. "Hey man, we just take away the old box spring and mattress, you have to remove the old frame and haul the frame away yourself." Now they are going to the dump to junk the stuff they take but cannot take away the frame at the same time? Auwe, no wonder the economy is in the pits; no customer service. A bright spot...the snail mail people delivered the flannel sheets today so the new bed will have new sheets. The sheets were shipped on November 4th and arrived today, December 9th. Not quite as bad as the cell phone from Maui but...

The weather is great and the volcano is SOS. Life would be prefect except that Congress is in session. With this group of nitwits Mark Twain hit the nail on the head.

God bless and take care.

Something interesting.

Aloha: I subscribe to an online newsletter from the National Inflation Association, (http://inflation.us). I will not bore you all with details, but I do urge you to read just one issue to get insight as to what is happening to our economy.

Not much for today. The weather was clear in "God's country" this morning. Clear and cold. It was 50 on the porch. Since the house is not heated or insulated it is only about 10 degrees warmer in the house. (The first year I was here it got down to 28.) That is the weather report.

The volcano report is SOS. Tomorrow the bed store is going to deliver a new bed. Our old one is only about 30 years old. I ordered some new flannel sheets and they were shipped on November 4th. Still a no show. I got in touch with the company and they are going to ship a new set. If I recall correctly I told you all about the cell phone that was shipped from Maui to the Big Island by snail mail that took 2 months to make the 75 mile trip. I just might get two sets of sheets out of this.

That's if for today. God bless and be good.

In the beginning.

Aloha: When I first started this blog I would copy a part of the HVO website as the volcano report. Hence today's title, "In the beginning", since that is what I am going to do today. Are you ready? Here it is!!!

Activity Summary for past 24 hours: Kilauea continued to erupt from two vents. At the summit, spattering continued from openings in the floor of a deep pit in the floor of Halema`uma`u Crater. Sulfur dioxide emission rates from the Halema`uma`u and east rift zone vents remain elevated. From the east rift zone vent, lava flows through tubes to the coast and is entering the ocean at several locations west of Kalapana.

Just as in the beginning what I "lifted" is in red. Maybe I should put the rain report in blue. This past week we had all of 0.9 inches of rain in my neck of the woods in the village. How about green for the forest report? Red for fire; blue for water; green for veggies; and a jacket for me.

I just counted the light bulbs in our house. There are 27 of them. I changed to those energy saving fluorescent bulbs. The box says "lasts 10 times longer" then the regular bulbs. HA!!!!! Do not believe it. I have to change 4/5 bulbs a month, the same as with the regular bulbs. Right now I have to replace one in the living room and one in the kitchen. Have you ever had one of them break? We did. It will make your eyes water, and you have to call the haz-mat team. Also you are not supposed to throw them in the rubbish. They are a "no-no" in the land fill. Auwe no hoi! E kala mai i'au.

God bless and take care.

Waiting for the news.

Aloha: My brother just got back from having a great time at our niece's house for Thanksgiving. He told me about some family news that is rather exciting. I will not say just what it is until I read about it in a certain 4th grade teacher's blog.

My wife is teaching a class for the Red Cross this weekend. Friday night, all day Saturday and all day Sunday. She is training instructors so each student has to do 2 "teach backs". That can take a long time.

Weather today is cloudy and rather dark. Good for staying in bed. My oldest is having a yard sale so I went down to her house for a short time this morning. It is a good way to get rid of unwanted items.

The volcano report is SOS. Earthquakes are way down. There is a glow from the Pu'u 'O'o vent and the Halema'uma'u vent. For some reason I can not get the movies from the HVO website to play on my computer. Something about a file missing from the "quick time player". When I click on the "fix" icon I am told the file is not on the server so TS. I was able to view them before so I do not know what happened. The same goes for the Mauna Kea webcams.

That is it for today. You will have to tune in tomorrow for the rain report. God bless and take care.

Kona weather

Aloha: We are having Kona weather in Hilo today. What that means is that Hilo is getting the vog and Kona is not. This happens when the winds are from the South. I had noticed yesterday afternoon that the sun was yellow-orange which is a sign that the sun is shining through the fume cloud. We usually do not get rain during times of "Kona" weather, just funny looking air.

Anthropogenic climate change: To make a long story short, it looks like an inside job, sorry Senator Boxer. The emails had been moved to a public server as part of a "freedom of information act" suit and into the public domain. This may just cost Al Gore billions of dollars over the next 10/15 years. Who knows, he n=might not be able to pay his $17,000 monthly electric bill not to mention his $8,000 monthly natural gas bill. Is it just me or do others think he is not a true believer. As a side note I was at the UH in the early 70's and there were professors there in the natural sciences who looked at the "next ice age" signs and took great pains to try to explain that the only constant in the weather is change and that it will go up and down (temps) until it peaks out and then back sown to the next "Ice Age". I find it quite amusing that in our anthropocentric belief we think we are so powerful that all that is wrong in the world is mankind's fault. Believe it on not, we are no greater than, or less than any other creature on this planet. We have a right to be here!

The volcano is doing its thing and just chugging along. In my opinion we will have a collapse of part of the rim in a short time, geologically speaking. All is SOS.

That's it for today. God bless and take care.