It's Sunday again.

Aloha: Another Sunday has come and is about to be gone. We have our mo'opuna this weekend so while my wife is giving him a shower I will try to get this done. He likes to use the computer that is being used by whoever.

Rain was just a trace for the week. The volcano is SOS. I hope to get my truck back this week. Topher is off this week so I will get to spend at least 3 days home this week. Well, that will have to do. God bless and take care. Love to all.

Happy 4th of July.

Aloha: Today we celebrate the "birthday" of our country. Too bad we were unable to do as Ben Franklin suggested. I have been trying to watch Glen Beck every day. On Friday's his program is called "Founder's Friday". He sources everything back to the original through the Library of Congress. This idea of changing history is really a very old idea. Would you believe I finished high school in 1962? The American History textbook we used then was published in 1942, before I was born. I have been made aware that even then, the textbooks were "slanted" so as to convey a "political" message. Even in the 60's we were taught politically correct half-truths, from books that were 20 years old. That means that even our teachers were taught these half-truths. That is why Beck and others are going back to the "source"; old books in the Library of Congress. I know most, if not all, of my readers don't care so will go no further.

We had 0.4 inches of rain this past week up here in God's country. The volcano is doing its thing so all is SOS. Sometimes I think the HVO staff just changes the date every morning. My wife and eldest daughter are having a very long weekend. Furlough Friday and a holiday on Monday make for a four day weekend. The county is on furlough Friday on the first and third Friday's of every month.

May God bless you all and keep all of you safe. Love to all.

Aloha: The other week I went on craigslist. I want to buy "junk silver" (pre-64 dimes, quarters, halves and dollars) for their melt value and got 3 weird replies. I am willing to pay 10x face for the coins. There is a guy who puts full page ads in the local paper and sets up shop in the Naniloa Hotel and pays 5x face for the coins. Too bad the shipping from the mainland is so high; makes the cost of the coins higher to get them to Hilo.

Right now I am sitting my mo'opuna and he wants to sit where I am sitting. When I am on the computer he wants to be on the computer; when I play with his Lego's he wants to play; when I watch TV he wants to watch TV. Too bad my friend, Author Itis, keeps bugging me so I can not chase him or turn my legs so I am limited as to what I can do outside. I go to see my bone doctor later this month, hopefully he will be able to give me a magic bullet and fix my knees and right hip so I can run and play. I would settle for just being able to walk for more than a few hundred feet.

I got a call from the issurance company and my truck will not be ready for about 2 more weeks. More damage was found when they started repairs, so had to order more parts. Oh well, they are paying for the Charger.

The volcano is SOS. We did have a nice 3.6 earhtquake the other day that some people felt, but not me. That's it for today. Love to all and may God bless.

SOS Sunday

Aloha: We had 0.35 inches of rain this past week and the volcano is doing it's thing, so all is SOS. My wife's brother, "Small Fry", is here till July 5th then he is off to the mainland to do his "bomb" thing. If you just happened on this blog and don't know, he works for a ordinance disposal company and goes all over the place looking for unexploded bombs so the military can blow them up. He has been as far east as Cuba, west to Japan, north to Alaska, but not below the equator yet.

Thing here on the home front are, like out volcano, SOS. Our truck is still not fixed so we are still "tooling" around in the red Dodge Charger. We live off road so have to be careful not to scrape bottom when we come and go. I think we will have to wash it before we turn it in.

God bless and take care. Love to all.

Kelo vs. New London

Aloha: Auwe, tomorrow is the 5th anniversary of one of the most dangerous decisions of the SCOTUS. It is the one referenced in the title of this posting. We have all been taught about the concept of "eminent domain". The highway needs to be widened so government can take your land for the public good, after just compensation at fair market value. Up till 5 years ago it had to be for the government's use. A highway, hospital, expand a park, whatever. In Kelo vs New London, the SCOTUS ruled that any government (fed, state, local) can take your property and resell to a private entity for the purpose of increasing the tax base. In the New London case, a lower middle class neighborhood was destroyed so that a drug company could build a factory. The neighborhood was destroyed, the land was rezoned and sold at a profit and the factory was never built. No factory, no jobs, no homes for the displaced. Just a great big eyesore. God help us all.

Happy Father's Day

Aloha: I hope all you father's out there have a very Happy Father's Day. My wife went to Honolulu for Red Cross training this weekend so this father is able to sleep late, eat what he wants, and watch what he wants all day. She returns at 5p tonight so maybe we will go to Nori's for pork chops. Speaking of pork chops, when in Kona go to Manago's and have pork chops. Great stuff. Cooked on an old cast iron grill, fantastic!!!!!

It appears that the lava pond in the Pu'u 'O'o crater is no longer active. Halema'uma'u, on the other hand, is chugging along. The volcano report is SOS. The rain report is 0.1 inches for the week. When I checked the rain gauge I ate a bunch of green beans from my wife's garden and I must say, fresh vegetables from the garden taste a whole lot better then in the house. Crisp, crunchy and sweet. My mother would tell us that when she was a child her dad would have her mom start to boil the water and when the water was ready he would go into the garden and pick the corn, husk it on the way back to the house and put it in the pot. My grandfather had quite a garden, at least half an acre. I do not think they ever bought any vegetables, even in the winter.

That will be it for today. God bless and take care. Love to all.

Pau Ka'a Part 2

Aloha: It seems that I did not make clear that after our little "fender-bender" all protocols were followed and both the fire and police departments had their representatives on scene. Yesterday I got in touch with the "villains" carrier and today took our "wheels" (blue boy) to be looked at. There appears to be a lot more damage than at first glance, so for the next two weeks we will be tooling around in a red Dodge Charger.

The insurance rep was looking at the truck and asked one of the workers over to check out what the rep thought was a "ding" and the worker looked at the drivers side and back and forth. He went and got another worker and they measured the distance between front and back tire on the passenger side and on the drivers side and the drivers side was 1.5 inches shorter. Hence the red Charger. Just looking at the wheel and tire and tail pipe the rep thought about $2,000. Now the truck will have to be put on the rack and really checked out.

That will be it for today. God bless and take care.

Sunday. Again?

Aloha: I just realized that I did not do my duty to my readers this past week. No posting for 7 whole days. How did you all survive?

I do nave some news to report. On our way home yesterday we got into a little fender-bender. We were number 3 in a line of cars and number 1 decided to stop in the middle of the road. Number 2 stops in time, I stop in time, but the Ridgeline behind me swerved to avoid me and his passenger front tire and my driver rear tire make like cymbal's and he gets a broken tire rod and a flat and is stuck in the middle of the road. Part of his tire is embedded between my tire and wheel. The car that started the whole thing disappeared as did everyone else who saw what happened. A friend on my wife's from JC's and the driver of the car that hit us changed out tire and now I have to go to my insurance and see what has to be done. My alloy wheel is damaged so will have to be replaced. So much for the excitement of the day, week, month and maybe the year.

We got 0.25 inches of rain for the week. The volcano is SOS. And all is beautiful in God's country. God bless and keep you all.

Aloha: The year is half gone and it still feels like it just turned 2010. Today's rain report is for 2 weeks and it is only 0.15 inches of wet. Boy, does time fly. The only thing moving faster then time is my waist line.

Not much to report today. The volcano is SOS and it is a beautiful day in Hawaii nei. I guess that will be all for today. I still have not heard if I will be sitting this week so no news is good news so I will be going down on Monday. Love to all and may God bless.

Swimming lessons.

Aloha: In my last post I said YMCA when in fact it is the YWCA that has the pool and the swimming lessons. I checked out the YWCA and Anakam will have to join the YWCA before I can take CJ for lessons. He is only 4 and the County of Hawaii pools have lessons at $10 per and the start age is 5. I guess I will have to take him to the pool and teach him myself. The only trouble with that is that he does not take the "tickle monster" seriously.

The view from the Pu'u 'O'o webcam is quite good at night. Too bad there is no way for the public to get into the area to see it first hand. But then the rim of the crater has a tendency to collapse; that is the reason they have a new (and better) camera at Pu'u 'O'o.

Yesterday my wife went to Maui for the day for a meeting with the Maui FD. She goes on so many trips that I am having trouble getting them all right in my head. She went from Hilo to Maui and the return was Maui to Honolulu to Hilo. She told me that the security in Hilo was much higher than the other two airports. She was patted down twice in Hilo, at the checkpoint where you take off your shoes and again at the gate to get on the plane.

Things here in Hawaii nei are, as always, beautiful. I think that we will go to the Zoo today. Anakam is off so it will be the three of us. I guess that will do it for today. Love to all and may the Good Lord bless and keep all of you safe. May God bless America!

I'm back! (Lucky you)

Aloha: I am back from a very nice weekend in Kona. The company was great and the Holua Resort was very nice. We went to dinner at the King Kamehameha Hotel and Anakam wore her "stretchy" pants; boy, can she put the crab away!!! It seems that I can not eat as much as I used to (all that food, so little time) but I still get heavier and heavier every week. My wife and I spent a lot of time in pool with our mo'opuna and also a lot time in stores. (There were 3 women.) On Monday we went to see a lady about outfits for my wife and I and Topher's mother to wear at Anakam and Topher's wedding in Oct. The lady sent me to "Omar, the tent maker" for my shirt.

I was looking for swimming lessons for my mo'opuna and he is too young for the classes I found. On Friday Anakam is off so she and I will check out the YMCA and county pools. Anakam asked me where she learned to swim and I can not remember. I know that my wife took her older sister to the YMCA, but I can not remember where Anakam went.

I only got one bite on my "Food For Thought" posting. He suggested that politicians like to spread your money all over the place so that they can get re-elected. Perhaps we would have a better system if we did not have any politicians but rather go back to the idea of "public service", How about a bumper sticker "Outlaw Career Politicians"!

The volcano has been busy while we were away. There is now a lava pond in the Pu'u 'O'o vent. That means there are now two active lava ponds. Both can be seen via webcams. All else is SOS.

I am sitting and my mo'opuna wants me to pay attention to him so I will have to go. May God bless you all and may he protect the USA.

Food For Thought.

Aloha: I believe one of our Founding Fathers, James Madison, said that Charity is not the function of Government. The Jaycee Creed says it quite clearly: "Economic justice can best be won by free men through free enterprise." May God have mercy on us all.

Updates

Aloha: If you check out my last post you will see that I got a comment. It is from, I think, a lawyer. I guess they are looking for business. No luck as the manager at the local AT&T store, who is very nice, resolved the problems and things are normal, for now. I think that phone, and tower, technology are not progressing at the same pace. The only problem is that you kinda lose confidence that the technology will work when needed.

We just had a special election for the 1st Congressional District. You may have heard about it as the Republicat won over the 2 Demipublicans. The weird thing is the D's do not reside in the district. Then yesterday I read about the guy losing the primary in Idaho, for the Senate, who has never been to Idaho. At least Hilliary moved to New York. I was taught, a long, long time ago, that you had to, at least, live in the district you wanted to represent. How about, at the very least, living in the State!

I am sitting my mo'opuna today. School is out so I will have a full time job for the summer. Tomorrow we all go to Kona for a long weekend. I know you all will miss my Sunday Report. I guess I will have to do it on Tuesday. For today the reports are all SOS. May the good Lord watch over the United States and protect it from "fundamental change".

Cell Phone Blues 2

Aloha: As you can see by the title, my cell phone blues are/is back. (See post of April 29). My cell phone carrier is AT&T Mobility. My new phone is/was a Nokia 6350. It is a really nice looking phone with features I will never use (More to go wrong?). As stated in my April 29 post, the phone lasted 8 days. Got a new one and it lasted 23 days. After about 2/3 hours at the AT&T store I got another phone yesterday and it does not work this morning. I took the sim card out of the new phone and put it into an old phone and it works fine (for now). The old phone is a Nokia 6085. I have had other Nokia phones over the years and they have all served me well. The new one; incoming calls go the voice mail; outgoing call get the message "Error In Connection". A full charge (battery full) last 8/12 hours. I am not looking forward to tomorrow.

This week is the last week of school for my mo'opuna. On Friday my wife and I, with our daughters, their "other halves" and CJ will be going to Kona for a long weekend. We have been doing this for, maybe 5, years now. It is a great, relaxing weekend. Do not expect a Sunday Report next Sunday. Sorry to disappoint.

We got 0.15 inches of rain this past week. The volcano is doing its thing and all is SOS. Time for me to go. May God's love be with you always.

Volcano Update!

Aloha: Just a short update for today. Today is the 10,000 day anniversary of the current eruption of Kilauea. That's if for today. May God be with you all.

It's Sunday again.

Aloha: It's Sunday again and time for all the reports from God's country. Here is how the HVO reported on the volcano this morning. Auwe!!!! My cut and paste did not work!!! I guess I will just have to sum it up. SOS. Rain for the week was 0.25 inches. I have not heard from Anakam yet so no news is good news and I will be going down to sit tomorrow. I guess that will be it for today. God bless and take care.

May Day Program.

Aloha: Today was the day for my mo'opuna's May Day program at Haili Christian School. The theme of the program was "Na Keiki O Ka Lahui E Hoike; Ke Akua Kou Aloha". Each class represented a Nation, my mo'opuna's class was Puerto Rico. (I know that Puerto Rico is a part of the USA as is Hawaii, which was represented by the 4 Pre class). Basically each class would sing a Hymn in English then in the language of the Country they represented. The 6th graders sang "Jesus Loves Me" in Chinese. My mo'opuna's class sang the same song in Spanish. Have any of you been in charge of 25 or so of 3 year olds? It is like herding cats! All that energy from so little food.

The volcano is still SOS, the weather is always great, sometimes wet, sometimes dry but always great. That's all folks! God bless.

Happy Mother's Day.

Aloha: Happy, happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there. We had a very nice day. Too bad Anakam had to work so we went out to brunch with Ka'iulani and Burida. Topher and CJ went to his mom's place for Mother's Day. We got home early enough for the "mother" in the house to go outside and play in her garden. I think I will have green beans to pick and eat in about 2 weeks. They sure do taste good right off the "vine".

Topher will be working this week so I get to sit my mo'opuna. So now for the reports; rain, 0.2 inches of rain. Volcano is SOS. God bless and take care.

Friday Post.

Aloha: My daughter, Anakam, told me today that she misses my posting. When I started a million years ago I used to write 6 times a week. Typing SOS is getting very old. The basic concept of this blog was twofold. One: keep mainland relations up to date on what is happening here in God's country, and secondly; air my views on what is happening in the news of the day. On item #1 it gets very boring as I type SOS. On item #2; nobody wants to hear what is happening. This country is in deep "DOODOO". This past week, Biden(the VP) suggested that all 401(k)'s be taken over by the government to create another government pension plan. This administration, in the GM takeover, repealed the 4th amendment to the Constitution so what the hell; the government owns all the money anyway. Maybe that is the plan; if the United States becomes like Mexico the illegals will all go back where they belong. Aloha oe and may God bless.

Special Report Sunday.

Aloha: Today is the day!!!!! The great news for the year is that my daughter, Anakam, and her main squeeze, Topher, together with my mo'opuna are the proud owners of their own home in Hilo!!!! They closed on Thursday and are now waiting for the documents to be recorded in Honolulu. Before I started this blog, over a year ago, my older daughter, Ka'iulani, and her main squeeze, Burida, got there place. It sure feels good to know that one's children are well on their way to success and happiness. God has really blessed us!

Now for the mundane. The quaking of the earth and the spewing out of lava and all else that goes with this eruption is SOS. We have only had a trace of rain in the last 7 days. The birds are still stealing the dogs food and making a mess on our porch.

I just took a 10 question test. Turns out that I am, politically, a Libertarian. It is a test developed by David Nolan, and depending on your answers will tell you just what your political philosophy is, be it Centrist, Conservative, Liberal, Statist or Libertarian. I would venture a guess and say that over half the people in the United States do not really know what they are. When I got out of the Navy in 69 I went to the Hilo Campus of the University of Hawaii. In 70 I joined the Democratic party and became quite active behind the scenes. One of the big jokes in the party was that the people in the 2nd district, where I was from, thought they were Republican. I think that a majority of the people of Hawaii think they are Democrat because of the old plantation era when the bosses were Republican and the "common" folk were Democrat, so if you are a working stiff in Hawaii you are a Democrat, no matter what you believe. This test has you answer question about what you think or feel about a subject and when all your answers are plotted on a graph, and shows what you are within the five groups listed above. Pau for now.

God bless and be good to each other.

May 1, 2010

Aloha: This will be short. I will be telling you all the good news tomorrow so stay tuned. Today is the 1st of May. In Hawaii today is known as "Lei Day". The schools usually have a program with a Hawaiian flavor with students representing all the different cultures here in Hawaii. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a very happy May Day and hope you all get the chance to get Leid today. God bless and take care.

Cell Phone Blues

Aloha: Last week my cell phone died. I would turn it on and the phone would turn itself off. The cell phone doctor was unable to breath life into the phone so yours truly had to get a new one. Since the old would not stay on my phone book could not be transferred out into the new phone so good ole Anakam had to redo the phone book. I got some news for her; I got another page of numbers for her.

Chapter two: One week later the new phone does not ring. It just shakes. I take it to the phone store and the girl there gets it to ring while shaking so I go to Anakam's house and by chance, either she or I was holding the phone and it starts to shake, no ring. Back to the store I go and the phone is pronounced broken beyond repair. I am told to call a special number to make a claim. Back to Anakam's I go (home is 30 miles away) to make the call and at about the 15th time I have to choose between 1 and 2 Anakam tells me to push 0 and not stop. Wow, I got a real live person and he tell me since the phone is less than 30 days old to take it back to the store for a replacement.

Chapter three: Back to the store I go and this time Anakam comes with me. I talk to the 3rd person for the day. "O ya, we will exchange the phone, do you have the box and all the papers" Auwe!!!!! I am not going to the dump to look for that which was thrown away because it was rubbish! I had had the phone for a total of 8 days. Anakam asked one question. "What the hell is he supposed to do now?" The clerk goes to the back room and come out with a new phone and tells me the "boss" told him to give me a new phone. This time the phone book was able to be transferred. At least one thing went right. The real kick in the pants is that if my phone had gone out one week earlier or later I would not have needed a new phone as the fire department had given my wife a blackberry and told her to keep the old phone as they had no use for it. She was on Maui the week the phone went out.

I will have some great news later so stay tuned, but this will be it for today. God bless and take care.

Another Sunday.

Aloha: Well, here it is another Sunday. All the reports for the Volcano are SOS. We had 0.4 inches of rain (plus one cricket) for the week.

Want to try to wrap your brain around something? Look up Piri Re'is map on the Internet. The map was found in 1929 in Turkey and is from 1513. Very interesting!!!!!

It looks like I will not be sitting this week. Just sitting at home with only the full refrigerator to keep me company. Ok, ok; also 4 dogs. Don't you feel sorry for me?

God bless and keep all of you safe and sound. Love to all.

Inflation?

Aloha: Do you think we have inflation today? I just saw something that surprised me so I copied it for your edification. "The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) today released their Producer Price Index (PPI) report for March 2010 and the latest numbers are shocking. Food prices for the month rose by 2.4%, its sixth consecutive monthly increase and the largest jump in over 26 years." Whoa, what happened? Could it be possible? Wait, that's right. A quart of Mayo in now only 30 ounces, not 32. Can you find other examples of inflation?

There was a 3.2 earthquake on Mauna Loa very early this morning. Last month Mauna Loa status was lowered to the lowest level possible; normal. Our volcano, Kilauea, is chugging along; SOS. No lava in going into the ocean as the lave tubes from the TEB vent have closed and there are now surface flows which move quite a bit slower and cool a lot faster. These flows are not in areas that can be visited by the general public. All the volcano reports are SOS. The weather is great.

I am waiting for word about sitting next week. That's all folks. God bless and take care.

Another day....

Aloha: I was asked "what feedback" so here it is. On April 4th (I believe) I asked what you, my readers, thought about which direction you thought our country should take. Should we go with the founders or with the Progressives? Just remember, 30 years ago it was progress in Hawaii to put a hotel on every beach. "They paved paradise and put in a parking lot". Progress is a journey and it is not only fair, but our duty to ask "What is at the end of the journey?"

My wife went to Maui on Sunday for a meeting (state wide) of the Red Cross. She was to come home that night and then leave on the first flight out for a meeting (state wide) of the EMS the next day. Thank God the Red Cross put her up in a hotel for Sunday night. She is coming in tonight (Thursday) and she has to be at work tomorrow morning.

God love you all and take care.

Sunday Report

Aloha: Here it is, Sunday again, and all is SOS. We had 0.15 inches of rain for the week. Still waiting for feedback. Take care and may God bless.

Sunday Report.

Aloha: It looks like we will have a lot of flowers in May as April showers bring May flowers. Rain for the last week 1.75 inches. Volcano report is SOS. No sitting this week. That's all folks! God bless you all and do be good to each other.

What do you think?

Aloha; I just read something and I would like to get some feedback from all my readers. Here it is.

"Over the past 14 months, our political debate has been transformed into an argument between the heirs of two fundamental schools of political thought, the Founders and the Progressives. The Founders stood for the expansion of liberty and the Progressives for the expansion of government. It's an argument that has been going on for a century but was largely dormant over the quarter-century of low-inflation economic growth that followed the Ronald Reagan tax cuts. It's been raised again by the expand-government policies of the Obama administration and Democratic congressional leaders. Those policies, thoroughly in line with the Progressive tradition, have been advanced by liberal elites in government, media, think tanks and academia. The opposition, roughly in line with the Founders tradition, has been led by the non-elites who spontaneously flocked to tea parties and town halls. ... The conservative rebellions of the late 1970s and middle 1990s were focused on taxes. The tea partiers are focusing on the expansion of government -- and its threat to the independence of citizens. ... By passing the stimulus package and the health care bills, the Democrats produced expansion of government. But voters seem to prefer expansion of liberty." --political analyst Michael Barone

My basic position is with the Founders. "Economic justice is best won by free men through free enterprise". "Social justice" has never been, and will never be, achieved at the point of a gun.

Saw my skin doctor this morning and the bumps on my left jowl is "segmental neurofibromatosis". I think that is spelled right. You all know how bad doctors handwriting is. Almost as bad as mine. I have had those lumps for over 50 years now so I do not think I will worry about them.

I am down in Hilo today and it is raining. Looks like I will be getting wet picking up my mo'opuna this afternoon. He was not a happy camper this morning when he realised he would not be picked up by mom or dad. Poor kid!

That's all folks. God bless and be good to each other.

Happy Easter.

Aloha: I want to wish you all a very Happy and Holy Easter. The day kinda snuck up on us this year. We went to South Point on Friday with Topher, Anakam, CJ, Ka'iulani and Chief and the subject came up so we made plans in a hurry to eat at noon at Anakam's house. Even without planning we ended up with too much to eat. In addition to those mentioned above, Chief's friend, Malama and my brother Manuel were there. It was a very pleasant day.

On my last post I got two comments: the second answering the first. The first asked what "blatherskite" is and, also, what is "bloviate". He/she/it wanted to know what the "bones" reference was about.

The second comment explained about "Bones" being a TV program, which I watch reruns of in the afternoon. As for "blatherskite" (A person given to voluble, empty talk) and "boviate" (to speak pompously.) I believe he said, before the House vote, that all that can be said has been said and now he is going around the country contributing to global warming try to convince himself that what he is doing is a good thing. In North Carolina he used over 2,500 words and took more that 17 minutes to answer a simple question. Auwe!!!!!

We had all of 0.4 inches of rain this week. The weather has been beautiful, the air clear and clean as the trades are blowing all the vog to Kona. The volcano is SOS and all is well in God's country.

The best news is that I will be sitting my mo'opuna this week. I will have to check with Anakam as I think she was saying that I can meet the whole gang at the zoo on Friday. Sounds like a winner to me. That is all for today. May God bless and keep all of you safe and sound.

SOS

Aloha: I received an inquiry at my elemakule_tutu e-mail address about SOS. SOS mean "same old stuff". Here is how it is stated on the HVO website. "Activity Summary for past 24 hours: Kilauea volcanic activity continued at two locations. At the summit, a circulating and spattering lava surface was visible in a deep pit inset within the floor of Halema`uma`u Crater and produced glow that was visible from the Jaggar Museum. At the east rift zone vents, lava flowed through tubes and fed slowly advancing surface flows above the pali. Sulfur dioxide emission rates from both summit and east rift zone vents remained elevated." As you can see, SOS is a lot shorter. The website goes into more detail about deflation/inflation events; tephra; RB2S2BL quakes; SO2 production, maybe another 3 paragraphs. Like I said, SOS is shorter and a whole lot less boring.

Our favorite "Blatherskite" is now blovlating on the tube. He has the French president in the US for a dinner this week. Too bad it is too early for reruns of "Bones".

Today started out dark and drab, but now the sun is out and it is going to be another fantastic day in paradise! Methinks I should go out under the trees and breath in all the brand new air. May God bless and keep all of you safe.

Another Sunday.......

Aloha: Another week has gone by. My favorite 4th grade teacher wrote two postings today. Last week I got an e-mail from her dad with a picture of a snow bunny that her mother has sculpted. I was reminded of that because my 4th grade teacher had pictures of her BBQ in the snow. Those posts were the first from the blogs I follow this month.

My wife finished teaching a course for first responders today. I had to play a role and let the students patch me up. Topher, Anakam and CJ were also victims along with Chief and Malama. Quite an interesting day.

Went to the skin doctor the other day. He said, "For a guy your age you have pretty good skin." My theory is that since I am a little more than pleasingly plump the wrinkles are all filled out therefore nice skin. I had gone to see him about 6 years ago so I asked how often I should get all my moles checked. I got the impression that there is no real guidelines so I guess when ever another mole starts doing funny things it will be time to get checked out again. I go back on Monday for a biopsy on some lumps I have had on my neck since high school. On Wednesday I go for a pre-screening for a colon thingy. On April 14 I will go to get the "procedure" done. They knock you out and then look to see if you have your head up your butt. I feel I have to get all this done before the rationing starts.

The weather has been great. The volcano SOS. We got 1.4 inches of rain this week so the water tank is overflowing. That's all for now. God bless and be good.

Be careful what you ask for.

Aloha: It has taken me awhile to get back to the computer to write this blog. The good news is that the House did not use the Slaughter rule. The bad news is that, just as Sharpton says, "you voted for Obama, you voted for a Socialist state." Our founding fathers left countries that had governments that had complete control of all aspects of society, in the hope of having a nation where the people would be free from excessive intrusion of government. How many of my readers know what the "Bill of Rights" is? Have any of you read either or both of the 9th and 10th. Obama does not like the Constitution (he has said so) because he says it is a negative document, in that, it tells the Federal Government what it can do, not what it can not do. I think that makes the Constitution a positive document. If the constitution does not say the Federal Government had the right to do something, that right is reserved to the States and the people!!!! The Constitution is very clear!! Read it!!!! We are on a train and the train is headed down the tracks. The right rail is the Republicats and the left rail is the Demipublicans and the train is headed to absolute government control of out lives.

Today the weather is wet, enough so that my water tank is overflowing. The volcano is SOS. May God bless you all and I pray He blesses the United States.

Sunday

Aloha: It is Sunday again. The good news is that I will be sitting my mo'opuna tomorrow. The bad news is that Haili Christan School took last week off for "Spring" break and the students will be in school for Easter Week. Auwe no ho'i.

There was no real change in out volcano. The weather right now is wet. Chief and Malama just came up to walk his dogs. We had 0.35 inches of rain for the week.

God bless and take care.

The Constitution is dead.

Aloha: Is the Constitution dead? Right now this country is in the worst Constitutional crisis since the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. That crisis was averted when one U. S. Senator put the nation ahead of his party and voted not to impeach the President. It was that close. Now we have the House willing to "disobey" the Constitution and "deem" the Senate version of the health bill passed without a vote. It is called the "Slaughter" rule named after Rep. Slaughter. The rule "slaughters" the Constitution. Since the time of George Washington there has been a battle between the 3 co-equal branches of the federal government. At the State of the Union speech we saw the beginning of the end of the Supreme Court. How the battle between the Congress and the President will turn out is up in the air, but at the end we will have a country with the Federal Government having complete control of the lives of the people. At last report, 36 states have started the process of passing laws and or amendments to their constitutions, to nullify this law in the individual state. Where are those 72 Senators? Senators are the states reps to the Congress of the United States, and their job is to protect the state from intrusions from the Federal Government. May God bless the United States.

Weight report

Aloha: Auwe no ho'i!!! Went to the doctor yesterday and got weighed. What a bummer! All my numbers were better than three months ago; except my weight. Up three pounds. "Do you know?" Losing weight is harder to do than quiting smoking, drinking or getting off of drugs. How hard would it be for an alcoholic to quit if he had to drink a beer once a day? People have to eat and if you have a problem stopping.....

This morning there was a lot of air traffic over the volcano area. I checked all the webcams and did not see anything unusual. At one point two rotor wing and one fix wing making way too much noise. We can usually go a full month without hearing such noise.

This morning was bright and sunny, but not so now. The volcano report is SOS. I just saw our fearless leader interviewed on Fox News and he has raised verbal diarrhea to new levels. That man can talk and say nothing, all the while making everything perfectly clear. I hate to say it but the United States is in very deep "dodo".

God bless you all and may he bless the United States.

Something new.

Aloha: All of you are having the rare treat of being the first to read something typed from my brand new keyboard. My old one died and I was in withdrawal yesterday. I have to get used to the space bar. It is not as high as my old one so I have to work to get it to do its thing.

I had a comment from a "Joe", who is still unknown to me. I also have a follower, Aggarwal Govind, who has blocked his profile and blog so I do not know anything about him or what he is about.

A few months ago I wrote about having to send to Florida for my meds. Enough people complained that we no longer have to send away for meds. I went to the doctor and got new scripts and took them to Wally's world. I explained to the person that I only needed two of them and that I would let them know when I wanted to pick up the rest as I had just gotten a load of meds from Florida. They told me to come back in one to one and a half hours. I came back and it was not ready so I waited and waited and waited... Two hours later (total time over 3 hours) they have them ready for me. All 8 meds. I was thinking of going to Windward Pharmacy but decided on Wally's world just in case I go "holo holo" and needed to get a refill.

All the reports for the volcano area are the usual SOS. That will be it for today. God bless and be kind to each other.

It's Sunday again.

Aloha: It is Sunday again. Have all my mainland readers changed their clocks? We here in Hawaii do not have to do such things as we are on Standard Time all year long. There are good things and bad things about living anywhere in the USA, the trick is just enjoy what you have and let the rest go.

Today it is partly cloudy, sunny at this moment; the trades are blowing all the vog to Kona, so the air is clear; God is in His heaven and all is great in "His country".

There is some sad news. Because of safety concerns the "cheese roll" has been cancelled. No more "nuts" chasing a cheese wheel down a hill. It seems that too many people wanted to watch and the powers that be could not handle the crowd. Too bad....

I went down to Hilo yesterday to go to the Hawaii County Band concert, but there was not a parking space to be had within a half mile radius of the bandstand. My friend, Author Itis, informed me that he would not walk that far so I spent the time with Anakam and family. Topher does not work this week so I will not be sitting. Maybe he has some errands to run and will need some help as CJ will be on Spring Break. The tickle monster is getting bored.

The volcano report is SOS; weather is nice; we got almost an inch on rain (0.95) so the water tank is over three quarters full; life is good. My wife is teaching a class (emergency responder) for the Red Cross this weekend. All day Saturday and Sunday. She will have to set up a "drill" in one of the parks in the area one day this week to test her students. They are training to be instructors to teach "lay" responders. If you are confused; join the club.

That will be it for today. Love to all and may God bless and keep all of you safe.

It happened again

Aloha: Well it happened again; as soon as I got finished with yesterday's post the HVO website updated the eruption report. Same like when you get better as soon as you go to the doctor's office.

All the volcano reports are SOS so that will be it for today. God bless and take care.

Volcano report?

Aloha: I am sorry, some will say that I am the sorriest person around, but the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) has not updated the volcano report for two days now. They usually do it every day but not yesterday and, again, not today.

The weather is the same as yesterday. We have had some rain, but not as much as we need. Speaking of rain...Does 7.48 gallons of water in one cubic foot seem high to you? I have done the math twice now and that is the figure I get. An acre-foot of water is 325,851 gallons. An acre-foot (the amount of water needed to cover one acre to a depth of one foot) would be 43,560 cubic feet of water.

Do you know that an acre is defined as an area that measures one chain by one furlong? What is a furlong you ask? Simple, a furlong is 10 chains. Have I given you all a headache yet?

That will be it for today. God bless and take care.

I got another one.

Aloha: I got another follower. I have no idea who it is. When I clicked on the icon there was no link to a blog so I am not able to read or follow. I am still waiting for Joe to answer and/or open up there blog for me to look at. I know that the name of the father of two of my followers is Joe, but is it the same Joe???

We had a nice little rain last night; about half an inch. It is still wet today and a bit on the cool side. The volcano is SOS and all is well here in God's country.

In a move to trim the county budget, the mayor had decided to cut the funding of County Band. There is a petition on the internet to save the band and the e-mail has been going fast and furious. The band has been in existence for over 125 years. Why is it that the powers that be always want to cut teachers, police, fire, arts; rather that their over stuffed staffs. These "public servants" will not be satisfied till they suck all of us dry. I am getting to be, more and more, a supporter of the 9th and 10th amendments. The smaller the government the better off all of us would be.

That will have to be it for taday. God bless all of you.

Sunday report (again)

Aloha: One of the problems of being retired is that the usual measures of time no longer apply. Off today, work tomorrow; that sort of thing. Here it is, another Sunday, and I can not remember what happened to the past week.

On my last post I asked for ideas on what to write about. I got this response from Joe: Joe said...
"Write about the truth. There are those of us who still believe in it."
I clicked on word "Joe" to see if it would lead to a blog but no such luck. Everyone has their own opinion on what is true. What is the "true" religion? What is the "true" political system. What is "true" medicine. What is the truth? As you can see I need more input to determine just what "truth" we believe in.

I asked about how many gallons of water one inch of rain will produce on a one foot square of surface. I wanted to know so I could determine how much water I am collecting on my roof. Well, now I know! My roof is 1440 square feet and one inch of rain will give me 897.6 gallons of water. I am now patting myself on the back and giving me an "atta boy".

Today the weather is cloudy with some sun. We had 0.6 inches of rain this week. The volcano is just doing its thing and chugging along. All is SOS.

I will not be sitting this week. Maybe I will do some research on the differences between Demipublicans and Republicats. My mother used to say "six of one, half a dozen of the other".

God bless and be good to each other.

Well played.

Aloha: The ball was in her court and she played it well. My new follower is indeed who I thought. (See comment on last post.) Question; do you have a blog? I could not find a link. I did not know that you could follow a blog without having one of your own. As I have said many times before; I am technologically challenged.

Because I am retired I have time to watch things like the Fox News Channel. They are live so at noon I am seeing into the future as they are 5 hours ahead of us. I am now "hooked" on the Glen Beck program. He is going over the history of the United States and the view of the founders and it is quite interesting. He does love his chalk board!

Today is a cool, beautiful day in "God's country". It is now 58 on the sunny side of the house, the trades are back so the air is clean. The volcano is doing its thing so all is SOS.

To whom it may concern; I am open to suggestions as to what I should write about. Just comment on the blog and I will try to address the issue. You all know that I am the worlds greatest authority on my own opinion and I am willing to share my wealth of knowledge. (If you are offended by that last sentence you are liberal: if you thought it was funny. you are conservative.)

May the Good Lord keep all of you in the palm of his right hand.

My new follower?

Aloha: I am 99% sure I know who my new follower is. When I clicked on her icon there was no link to a blog so i was not able to read "all about it". I clicked on her "leave a message" button and, being technologically challenged, could not figure out how to do it (leave a message). The ball is now in her court.

I just had a visitor. He brought me my census papers. I will have to check them out and report on them later. My mom used to work for the census years and years ago. I wonder how these guys will make out in the area of the Big Island known for there ag products. (Pakalolo - Crazy Tobacco) These farmers do not like to have strangers driving around their area.

I do not have to sit this week. I will have to go down to Hilo this week to get some Niacin. I got a letter from a doctor I see every 5 years and he wants to look up my butt again. I think I will have a letter drawn up so he can certify that my head is not up there.

We got a little bit of rain last night, and it was rather gloomy this morning. It was cold enough (51) that I decided to make, what I call, Portuguese Brand Sausage soup. My wife does not like beans so the soup is bean soup without the beans. I think I asked this before and got no answer, but when did Portuguese become a brand? When I fill out the census questionnaire do I call myself a Portuguese brand human being? I have another question. If you are from Brazil are you Hispanic? Most of the people in South America speak a European language (Spanish or Portuguese), as do most of the people of North America (English or French). Is Brazil a part of Latin America? Or are they Portuguese brand Hispanics? Are the people of Mexico, Mexican brand Hispanics? Points to ponder.

The reports for the volcano area are, as usual, SOS.

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

Tsunami update

Aloha: I have a couple of item of good news to report. First the one of general interest; the tsunami was only half the size expected so we did not have any real damage here in Hawaii. The second is of a more personal nature as I now have another follower. I have not had a chance to check out her blog yet, by the use of the female personal pronoun, you can guess that I think I know who it is.

First the tsunami: I first got word of the earthquake from the County of Hawaii Civil Defence at about 8:30 pm Friday night. I subscribe to their warning "network" so I get the bulletins e-mailed to me at the same time the radio and other news guys get theirs. An earthquake from the same area in 1960 produced a tsunami of 35 feet so we were very concerned about this one. The quake in 1960 was 9.5 and this one was 8.8. The projected wave was to be 6 feet. I have not seen the official report but I believe it was 3 feet above mean sea level.

I will have to report on my new follower next time because I will need time to check to see if it is indeed the one I think it is.

Topher had to go to Honolulu for the weekend and Anakam, Ka'iu and Sammy went to Kona for a little "girl time". Guess who grandma and grandpa had as a house guest? If you said CJ you were right. I will be taking him down to Hilo this afternoon.

The volcano report is SOS. The rain report is dry, the weather report is sunny, and all is well in the middle of the Pacific. May God bless and keep all of you safe.

What's new with you?

Aloha: I am still waiting for news from Kansas Vovo. She left Hilo on Monday and called me from Dallas between flights. She had had an adventure going from Hilo to Dallas and was going to write it all down for all to read, but nothing yet.

Everything is SOS up here in God's country. My wife is teaching a class for the Red Cross this week. It is one of the longer classes; 3 hours tonight; 3 hours tomorrow night; all day Saturday and all day Sunday. We will have our mo'opuna all day Saturday and most of Sunday. I think I will take him into the HVNP. It should be interesting as he is now 4 and can "learn" something about the native flora and fauna. We shall see.

I guess that is it for today. May the Good Lord bless and keep all of you safe.

Sunday (ho hum) Report

Aloha: After the whale watching tour these reports do not seem very exciting. The volcano is SOS, although one reader thought "Thar she blows" referred to Pele, the goddess of fire. The weather has been bright, sunny, and rather cool. We did have about 0.25 inches of rain last night. Oh, before I forget, do any of you know the formula for figuring out the volume of water if one inch falls on a square foot surface. I knew it 30 years ago but my brain seems to not want to find it again. I estimate the quarter inch gave me about 200 gallons.

I think I will be sitting on Monday. I am waiting for a call from Anakam. I am not sure when Topher works so ...

I guess that is it for today. May God bless you all and be good to each other.

Thar She Blows!!!!

Aloha: I know you all were very disappointed not to have me write for all of 5 days. I will try to keep up with my duty to keep you all informed on my exciting life. Well, this time I do have something exciting to write about. Yesterday afternoon Vovo, Hawi Sister and her husband (their treat), and I went on the "Sea Smoke" for a 2 hour whale watching trip. We boarded at low tide so the "cat" got stuck on the sand bar. We finally got off the bar and then the wet bar opened and the Mai Tai's flowed. We left from Anaeho'omalu Bay and the whales were right out there. The seas were pretty heavy, so standing was up was quite a trick. We saw whales on all quarters, maybe 50. Could have been 25 viewed twice but I do not think so. The spinner dolphins (actually porpoises as a dolphin is a mahimahi) were showing the whales how to jump out of the water and the whales were trying. There must have been 200 "spinners" with the whales. One whale surfaced close enough that the watchers on the starboard side got whale "snot" on then. I used Anakam's camera and I hope I got some good pictures. The score for the day: 50 whales; 200 "spinners" and 1 turtle.

I have a feeling that something is up with my 4th grade teacher follower. Her last post was quite interesting.

After Thursday afternoon all the normal reports are rather mundane. SOS: SOS: SOS.

May God bless and keep all of you safe.

It's Sunday again!

Aloha: Guess what day today is? That's right, today is Sunday, the 14th of February, Valentines Day. I well take this opportunity to wish all of you a very happy Valentines Day. (Thank God for spell check!)

Kansas Vovo and I had a very good day on Friday. We did a little bit of touring in HVNP; she wanted to see the plume from Halema'uma'u, and I showed her the areas I used to walk before my "friend" started to complain. We had lunch in Na'alehu, then headed back to Punalu'u. There were 5 green sea turtles on the beach and a few more, either coming or going, in the water. Tomorrow Vovo will be heading back to Hawi. I will be going out on Thursday and bringing her back to this side of the island on Friday. Boy, does time fly!!!

Friday was also a very interesting day for the USA. Hawaii was the only state that did not have snow falling. We had snow in October and November (I think), but it has been dry the last few months so no snow. (Yes, we do get snow on our mountains in Winter.) In the 70's I would go up Mauna Kea in the morning to play in the snow on Christmas Day. At about 1p we would head down the mountain to Hapuna beach to play in the water. I do not think you can do that in California. The only problem was I would get a nasty headache. Could it be the change in elevation? (Sea level to 13,000 feet in less that 6 hours.)

Now for the reports. Volcano is SOS; weather is beautiful; rain is just a trace. (We could use a few inches.) I am having an A.D.D. moment. I can not remember if that is it or am I missing something. Oh well, may the Good Lord bless and keep you all safe, and may He bless the USA.

I's still here!

Aloha: It looks like my problem with getting on the web is the wireless router. I am still on after 36 hours so my wife and I will go to Cosco tomorrow and see if I can get a new router. If not at Cosco there is always Office Max.

Our volcano is basically SOS, with one major change. The lava is not flowing through tubes to the coast. Within the tube the lava is contained. We now have surface flows and we just might lose another house to Pele. The flow is about 150 yards from the house in the Royal Gardens subdivision. The entire subdivision has been cut off by lava and you need 4WD to cross the lava to get into the subdivision. Because of the surface flows no lava is entering the ocean.

Before I started writing today I read the new posting from my favorite 4th grade teacher. I was very happy to see a new post from her but the news was not too bright. Her school is having money problems and might have to cut staff. I will have to send Manuel a request to have her situation put on his prayer list. Hopefully all will be well with her.

The weather in Volcano is sunny and the air is clean. For a short time this morning I thought we would have rain, but no such luck. I still have more than half a tank of water but would rather have it full.

That is all for today. May God bless and keep all of you safe.

Sunday report, one day late.

Aloha: The title says Sunday, but it is Monday. I could not get on the "net" this weekend even though I did the unplug, plug in thing. This morning I was looking at the modern and cable and such and I thought, "What if it is the wireless router, not the modem, that is 'kaput'". I hard wired the desktop to the modem and have been on this thing for about 2 hours now. If it works for the next 24 hours I will get a new router.

We had about 0.1 inches of rain this past week. This morning it was 50 degrees and clear in God's country. Our volcano is fuming and doing a little shaking. The overlook webcam went out at about midnight last night. The report said that there are 2 holes in the floor of the "inset" in the vent in the floor of the crater in the caldera called Kilauea. If that makes sense to you please explain it to me.

I do not have to sit my Mo'opuna this week. My wife has to take another day off that was earned last year; I think she will be taking off on Wednesday. I have to get in touch with Kansas Vovo to see if she wants to do something this week.

Take care and may God bless and keep each and every one of you safe and sound.

It's working, for now.

Aloha: The cable guy came and informed me that when the modem is changed, the router must be reset to get the whole thing to work. When he left it was working, but went down after a few minutes. I did the unplug, replug thing for the modem and the router and nothing happened. Tried it about half an hour later and the whole thing started to work again. I had called him and he was still working in Volcano and will stop back later this afternoon. You and I know that it will knock off again after the cable guy goes down to Hilo.

I was able to get into the earthquake website today and I did not see much change. California had a nice shaker today. I have not heard much more about that so I do not think it did much.

The weather today is beautiful, the volcano is SOS and I am still hooked up to the internet. May God bless and be nice to each other.

Earthquakes?

Aloha: I tried to check the earthquake website yesterday afternoon and again this morning and can not get in. Some kind of error; page not found or something. I clicked on the webmaster link and got a page to send an e-mail. Got it all written out and could not find the "send" button. Talk about "technologically challenged". I think my picture is in the dictionary.

Have you been following the Hatti orphan story? I noticed something and am wondering if anybody else has noticed the same thing. The US citizen who adopt these children and the groups that are trying to help are all "white". Where are the American "black" church groups and "black" families? I hope that I am just not watching the TV at the time that they are engaged. If any of you have seen anything different please let me know. Some of my wife's co-workers have asked her if she will be going for the Red Cross. This is a International Red Cross/Red Crescent project, not an American Red Cross. Also my wife does not have a passport so she can not leave the country.

The reports from the volcano are all SOS. This blog program is giving me a warning that the autosave has failed. I wonder if I am still hooked up the the internet? I will find out when I post this thing. God bless and take care.

Something new all over again.

Aloha: News flash!!!! I saw something new on the HVO website this morning. Sixteen earthquakes beneath Kilauea were strong enough to be located along a south-trending delineation through south flank faults. This occurrence and preliminary data that indicate south flank GPS receivers moved 2 cm southward yesterday suggest that a "slow earthquake" may have occurred. Confirmation will take some time. How about that! A "slow earthquake"! I wonder how long "some time" will be? With confirmation I hope we will get a detailed explanation of just what it is. Not confirmation; "slow earthquake".

Kansas Vovo visited Manuel on Friday and it seems that the two of them caught the same bug. From what I hear both of them were confined to a space within 10 seconds of the "head". "Head" is the Navy term for bathroom for those who do not know. Manuel had a theory that this bug only liked males, but I guess Kansas Vovo disproved that. Too bad, can you see it. A weapon that will attack males and put them down for 3/5 days. Within a week we could have a great big happy world. Now is the time to laugh!

We had about 0.05 inches of rain yesterday. Other than above the volcano is SOS. Manuel plans to go to work tomorrow. Vovo should be out of bed. OTWC has not fixed my network connection yet, nor have they called to make an appointment.

God bless all of you and may He bless out president with common sense. Sorry Hawi sister and Manuel.

I'm still alive.

Aloha: Guess what? I am still alive! It is my internet connection that is dead. I took Kansas Vovo to Hawi a week ago and was going to spend one night. Sorting through the last (I hope) of our mother's items. It was slow going so I ended up staying one more night. When I got home on Wednesday I would log on and after a few minutes I would get a "Can not connect to the internet." message. After resetting the modem about 5 times I called the cable company and the technician could not get a "rise" out of my modem. I took the modem down to the cable company and got a new one. Guess what? It does not work. Now I am waiting for the cable company to send a technician (Sometime in the next 3 years,) to check the lines. The TV works.

I thought that after a week I would have a lot to talk about, but the weather is the same as it was before I left; the volcano is the same; the rain gauge is dry; my followers have not posted; my readers have not commented.....I feel neglected. Don't you feel sad for me?

May the Lord bless and keep you all safe. May God bless the USA.

Lua o Pele

Aloha: Here it is, another Sunday in beautiful Hawaii nei. I have been having trouble "hooking up" to the webcams at HVO. Last night at about 8 I finally got in and it looked like there was low level fountaining at Pu'u 'O'o. Part of the rim of Pu'u 'O'o fell into the crater right in front of the camera. The protective housing of the camera even got hit by some rocks.

Yesterday was a very good day. It was my mo'opuna's 4th birthday. We had a get-together at Richardson's Beach Park. Kansas Vovo was there as was Topher's brothers and sisters with their children. As always there was too much to eat but we tried to keep leftovers to a minimum. We ate at noon and did not need to have anything for dinner. I hope I did not do too much damage to my diet. Sushi, poke, sausage, steaks and short ribs on the grill; what excuse can we use to do it again. Uncle Chief came too late to get his chicken cooked.

Now for the reports. It is a beautiful day in "God's country". The air is clear and clean, the sun in shinning, it is 60 degrees on the sunny side of the house and the birds are making all their happy sounds. Even with the goings on at Pu'u 'O'o the volcano report is still SOS. The rain report is "dry". Just a trace in the gauage for the week. I just might have to start rationing water till the rain fills my tank.

Topher will be off this week so Kansas Vovo and I will try to get to Hawi this week. That way KV will be able to get some wheels and will be more able to visit with her high school buddies and cousin Agnes. If you want to know anything about the clan, Agnes knows; and she loves to tell all about it. When you visit with her make sure you have several hours, and I guarantee that you will enjoy every minute.

Well that will be it for today. May the Good Lord bless and keep you all safe and sound in these troubled times.

Auwe no ho'i.

Aloha: E kala mai. I have been away from my blog for too long. I know that all my faithful readers must be going through withdrawal by now. The problem is that life is SOS, so there is nothing very interesting to write about. I had lunch with my two sisters and brother-in-law yesterday. Saturday is my mo'opuna's 4th birthday. Tomorrow my wife has to take the day off from work because she has too much comp time coming to her. I do not know what we will be doing. The weather has been dry and my water tank is down to 2800 gallons. The trades are back so the air is clear. The volcano is SOS. That is it for today. God love and keep you all safe.

Auhea 'oe?

Aloha: I think I got it right. "Auhea 'oe" means "Where are you". It is been a long time since the blogs I follow have posted, except for shoes. Maybe this sick joke will get things flowing.

A man goes to Africa on a safari. While there, he comes upon an elephant, in great pain, with a giant thorn in its foot. Rather than shoot it to get the trophy he came for, the man very carefully approaches the elephant and gingerly removes the thorn from its foot.

The elephant begins to limp away, but then turned and stared at the man for a full minute, locking eyes with him. The elephant then continues on its way.

"I wonder if I ever see that elephant again if it will remember me?" the man muses to himself.

Twenty few years later the man is at a circus back in the States. He notices that one of the elephants keeps looking at him, almost like it knows him. The man wonders, "Could this be that elephant I helped so long ago?" He decides to get a closer look. With the elephant still giving him the stare down, the man moves in closer, getting right up in front of the elephant. They lock eyes. A knowing look seems to cross the elephant's face. The elephant reached down... picked the man up carefully with its trunk... lifts him high in the air... then throws him crashing to the ground and stomps him to death!

Turns out it wasn't the same elephant.

Now for the reports. Volcano SOS. Weather and rain; dry for the week, less than 0.1 inch of rain. Light winds so air is full of vog. I just drew a blank so that will end the reports.

Topher is off this week so I will have time to spend with Kansas Vovo. Hawi sister and husband will be coming into Hilo this Wednesday. Hopefully we will all be able to do something together.

That will be it for today. God bless and be good to each other.

It's me again.

Aloha: I''mmmm Baaaaack. I just could not stay away for very long. I see my eldest has gone back to taking pictures of her shoes for her blog. She went to Kona with us last week and found a rack of shoes at $1 a pair. Needless to say, the rack was empty when she left.

We went to Target and I bought a filter pitcher called "Zero Water", They were not talking about the price. In Hawaiian it is called "nui kala". You get a meter with the pitcher and so I measured the water from my catchment system and got a reading of 15. I checked out the bottled water, "Dasani" and got a reading of 24. The water I get off the roof of the house is cleaner than the bottle water we buy. When I measured the filtered water I did not get a zero but a 2. It did take the sulfur taste out of the water though.

I will not have to sit my mo'opuna next week, which is good timing as my sister, Kansas Vovo, is visiting from, you guessed it, Kansas. Kansas is getting quite a bit of snow this winter. I do believe a record was set for December. We will have to set up a program for "go holoholo" for next week. I think Hawi sister will be coming into Hilo on Wednesday so other than that the week is open.

My mo'opuna is sick today so he did not go to school. When I got to Anakam's house and logged on I saw that on the way down we had an earthquake up in Volcano. Just a little shaker, 3.2. Just strong enough that you start to pray. Out volcano was rather active last night. The lava got up to about 120 meters from the floor of Halema'uma'u. The volcano report is SOS. The filling up of the vent is part of the inflation part of a DI event.

The temperature in Volcano this morning was 49 and we have a high cloud cover so it will not get too hot today. So there you have it. Take care and may God bless and keep you all safe.

Rubbish anyone?

Aloha: Today is the day that my sister, Kansas Vovo, arrives. I am worried about who is picking her up at the airport. My daughter, Anakam, keeps telling me "no worry" , but I am me so....

Today I did not need to go to Hilo to sit my mo'opuna and, shame on me, I did not realize that I should go down to greet my sister so I am stuck in Volcano as the cars are in Hilo. Auwe!!! The brain box stay burn!

As to today's title. This morning my wife took the rubbish to the "transfer" station and lo and behold, the "rubbish police" would not let her transfer the rubbish because transfers can only be made on Monday, Thursday and Saturday. She wondered why there was a pile outside the gate. People in Volcano are used to being able to "transfer" their rubbish on their way to work early in the morning, or later in the evening after they get back from Hilo. She ended up going all the way to the Hilo "transfer" station to make the transfer. Why can't the powers that be call the rubbish dump a rubbish dump? What is the reason it is now called a "transfer station"?

Anakam and Topher had a meeting with CJ teacher to discuss his behavioral problems. He is now on 2 week probation. "Shape up or ship out!" I have never had a male child so I think I will have to pick Kansas Vovo's brain as she has had 3.

Time to go so I will close. May God bless you all and take care.

Sunday report; 01/10/10

Aloha: Well, it is back to normal with the exciting Sunday report and the weather report and the volcano report, and all the other exciting news from "God's country".

First; today started out very voggy, but now the air has cleared up and the sun is shinning, the birds are singing and it is now 60 on the sunny side of the house. So much for the weather.

Second; in a related report, the rain gauge recorded absolutely no rain for the week. That right, 0.00 inches for the week. A few more weeks like this last one and I will have to start rationing water. For those of you who do not read these pearls of wisdom regularly, the Sunday report is the rain report.

Third; after a few nights of great views from the overlook webcam the view, at night, is back to normal. RB2S2BL quakes are at background, tremor is in the same level as it has been since 07, tephra is the same, and SO2 is still elevated. The volcano report is, therefore, SOS.

Yesterday my wife, eldest, and I went to Kona to visit Cosco, K-mart, and Target. Kissed about $400 dollars good-bye (buy?) and came back with a truck full of all kinds of "stuff". I paid $40 for a "Zero Water" filter pitcher and another $40 for two replacement filters. The charcoal filters, hopefully, will remove the sulfur taste from the catchment water so we can use it for cooking.

I pray that I will have good news to report this week on the school front, as regards to my mo'opuna. The teacher says that he know everything that they are teaching, so I think he is too smart for them, but what else can I say since he is my grandchild (ego inflated).

Last, but by far not the least, is the benediction. May the Good Lord be with you always and may He keep you all safe.

"Bad Choices"

Aloha: Auwe!!! My mo'opuna has been making "bad choices" at school and I had to go pick him up 2 hours early yesterday. He will be 4 this month and he just does not want to listen and do as he is told. Will not sit, will not eat, will not sleep. He is taller than the other kids so when there is a shoving match he get the prize. He may win the match but he loses the battle. This morning grandma took him to school and he was not a happy camper. He knows I will be highly P.Oed if I have to pick him up again today. He knew that I was not happy to see him early yesterday.

The overlook webcam recorded quite a show last night. The HVO webcam recorded a nice glow all night and it looks like there is a vent in the hole in the ..... that is putting out a stream of lave and it is draining in another hole in the ..... Like I said before I am waiting for the crater wall to fall into the vent. The powers that be will then have to install a new webcam.

The weather is great today. Kansas Vovo will be all thawed out by the time she returns to Kansas and the 200 feet of snow. I hope she will be able to make it to the airport for her flight next week.

Another jerk locked himself in the bathroom of an airplane and the plane had to be diverted. I wonder if we are seeing a new tactic in the war against the US. You do not have to blow the plane up; just screw up the system by have one passenger acting stupid on a flight. The government will bring the plane down for you. Not as spectacular but it gets the job done.

I guess that will do it for today. May the Good Lord bless and keep you all safe.

Quite a view!

Aloha: While the volcano has been SOS for some time now, the view from the overlook webcam was great last night. I checked at about 8 this morning and it still had a very active surface at the bottom of the hole....... The activity took up about a third of the picture frame. Quite a sight. We could see a glow from the HVO webcam and the Pu'u 'O'o webcam recorded a strong glow. Well worth the effort to look.

The trades have come back and the weather is glorious. "Dear leader" is back on the tube, again, so I think I will close before I "disturb" some readers by expressing my opinion about the "dear leader" and the planned distruction of our great nation. God bless and take care.

The end of Christmas.

Aloha: Today is January 6th, the last day of the Christmas season. Last night was the 12th night and today is called "little Christmas". Throughout most of the Christian world today is the day when presents are opened. Today is also the 4th anniversary of the death of our mother. She was 92 and in complete control of all her faculties. Enough said about that.

I am going to have my eldest tell me where "browns" is. She thinks using the metal detector there would be better than at bayfront. Who knows, I just might find Capt Kidd's treasure.

I got some "vent shades" for our pick-up and Burida installed them for me yesterday afternoon.

The volcano is SOS, earthquakes are down and the view from the overlook webcam is up. The weather is fantastic. I saw stars when I took our "old man dog" for a walk this morning so I knew that the vog was clearing. Sure enough, most of the vog is gone and the air is breathable again. You do not have to chew it before you "use" it.

I guess that is it for today. God love you all and be good to each other.

Not so easy.

Aloha: I am writing this early today. I just got back from the beach where I was going to find Blackbeard's treasure with my brother-in-law's metal detector. I got the machine up and running and put is to the ground and it goes off. I dig up a bottle cap. Take two steps and get some tin foil. Long story short; about every 20 seconds I got a hit and no treasure. Got tired of bending over so retired to Anakam's house for breakfast, fox news and doing this blog.

We are all looking forward to Kansas Vovo's visit. She arrives next week and will be here for about 5/6 weeks. I have not figured it out with a calendar yet.

She has not said anything yet but I get the impression that my wife is going to "help" me with my diet. Yesterday she made me a breakfast; boiled egg, and slice of bread. For lunch she brought a subway sandwich which we shared. This morning a boiled egg and a slice of bread. For lunch; crackers and cottage cheese. Looks like I will lose that 30 pounds by next week.

I just read an article from the National Inflation Association. The value of the copper in a pre 1989 penny (I think it was 1989) is 2cents. The value of the nickle in a 5cent nickle is 6 cents. No wonder it is against the law to melt penny's and nickles. It is not against the law to melt junk silver. Somewhere I have a 3cent silver. Of the 3cent pieces it is the 3cent nickle that is really worth something.

The weather was voggy this morning in Volcano. We are waiting for the trades to come back and blow all the vog to Kona. Better them than us! The volcano report is SOS. Lava was visible in the hole in the pit in the crater in the caldera of Kilauea last night.

I guess that will be it for today. God bless and take care.

As I said it before.

Aloha: As I said before just because I have nothing to say does not mean I will not say something.

My brother-in-law, "small fry" loaned me his metal detector so I can look for pirate treasure along Hilo Bay. He works looking for unexploded ordnance in places all over. From Cuba to Japan. In a few days he will be on his way to Guam, again. I do not know why he got his own personnel detector; I would think he would be tired of swinging that thing back and forth waiting for the thing to start singing. I think I will try it out tomorrow morning.

Other than that all else is SOS. God bless and take care.

A new beginning.

Aloha: Today is the start of a new beginning for me. I am going to go on a diet and lose at least 30 pounds this year. Right now the opu is so big I can not see my feet. I am writing about it so that, I hope, some of my readers will keep me on the straight and narrow. How does a weight report, to go with the rain, vog, volcano and weather and whatever else I feel like reporting, sound.

How about a rubbish police report. Yesterday when we went to Hilo we stopped at the "transfer" stations to transfer our rubbish and there were 2 "rubbish officers" there. Before I could get out of the truck to unload one of them had done it for me. Great service but... Next year my wife (works for the county) and my eldest (works for the county) will be forced to take extra days off without pay because of the lagging economy. Yet the county hires people to guard the dumps 24/7. I would think that the computers for the fire department would be more important than the rubbish. But that is just me.

Now for the reports.... Rain 0.25 inches for the week. Volcano SOS. The vog was bad yesterday and early this morning. Right now the air is clear and clean and it is 60 on the sunny side of the house. Tephra, RB2S2BL quakes, and tremor is, also, SOS.

I am thinking of starting another blog where I can vent about the destruction of the United States. How about the fact that religion is the greatest obstacle between God and man. What do you all think?

God bless and be kind to each other.

Happy New Year!

Aloha: Welcome to the last year of the first decade of the 21st century. It was not that long ago that we were all worried about the Y2K "virus". Here it is, 2010, and we have other things to worry about. Much more important things.

Have you ever noticed how stupid government is? Here in the County of Hawaii cutbacks have to be made to save money. So now they are paying new hires to guard the "transfer stations" (rubbish dumps) so that you can only dump rubbish during daylight hours. During the Winter, most people, in areas like Volcano, leave for work when it is dark and return when it is dark. We used to take and "transfer" our rubbish on our way to Hilo, but no more. I wonder how much they are paying the "rubbish police" to watch the rubbish? At one time the powers that be put up a fence with a gate to lock up the rubbish at night. I think they quit after about 4 fences and gates were stolen. I do not know if it is related but I have noticed that there is a lot more rubbish along the highway then there used to be.

The wife and I are spending a quite day at home today. We had our New Years meal at noon. I went to bed at about 9p last night. Our new neighbors popped off a few crackers at about 7p so I had to bring the dogs up on the porch to keep them quiet. Thankfully they went someplace else for the midnight bang.

The weather today is cloudy but dry. The volcano is SOS. For the last two night there was a glow from the Pu'u 'O'o vent. God love you all.