Sunday, January 24, 2010

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.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

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.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

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.

Friday, January 15, 2010

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.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

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, January 10, 2010

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.

Friday, January 8, 2010

"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.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

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.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

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.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

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.

Monday, January 4, 2010

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.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

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.

Friday, January 1, 2010

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.