Mountains and Islands

Today's a beautiful day in paradise. It's warm and a bit breezy. The sun is peeking through the clouds. Mr. Sox has been basking in the day's balminess. We're still awaiting arrival of the tractor. Today would be an ideal day to give it a first spin through the cane grass. I spoke with a neighbor up the road this morning while on my daily walk with the pooches. She has two teenaged daughters and is currently sending them to a nice charter school in Volcano. She's not looking forward to their graduation to high school, as she's not too happy with the secondary school choices available here on the island. Too much violence and not enough actual education, she claims. Sounds familiar. I've heard similar concerns from parents all over the country. The news is full of stories about failing American schools. She's considering home schooling her kids. Any random thoughts out there on the state of public education in the US? From what I hear from people across t...

The sky was so clear and blue this morning that the snow atop Mauna Kea shone brighter than dandruff on a black t-shirt. And prettier, too. There's about a foot of the white stuff up there. Today, we played, strolled, baked, weed whacked and just generally enjoyed a perfect day of sunshine graced with lovely, cooling tradewinds. The cats were all in kitty heaven. This is Lucy. Isn't she a cutie? She came with the house. We have fallen head over heals in love with her. Abner likes her too. Now, it's raining. No. It's pouring. It's so loud I can hardly hear the keys on the keyboard as I type this. My dad is preparing for the biggest trip of his life. He is coming to the island to visit us for a couple of weeks in April. He's never been on an airplane longer than two hours, never been east of the Mississippi or west of the West Coast of Mainland USA. So this should be quite an experience for him. I'll meet him in Honolulu. It's a small, yet notoriously chal...

Ron and I walked outside this morning and looked to the sky. We shaded our eyes, squinting, rubbing them with wonder and awe. What, pray tell, was that foreign object in the sky; an orange orb lighting up the world? It was the sun, of course! We just hadn't seen it in so long..... Happy St. Patrick's Day, ya'all. Even in Hawaii, everyone is Irish on St. Paddy's Day. We're headed downtown this afternoon, to a bastion of Haoli-ness. It's an Irish Pub called Nichols Public House. They promised to open at 8 a.m. this morning to be serving cornbeef and cabbage all day. It'll be a nice change from all the sushi, saimin and stir fry we've been consuming lately. We did find a tasty little gourmet pizza at the Kiawe Grill in Volcano a few nights ago. Anyway, we're going to the pub early so we can still make our bedtime. That's important when you get to be our age. The rain has brought out some beautiful wonders around the yard. Yesterday, I discovered thi...

Ron says he didn't think there was this much water is the entire world. Yes, it is still raining, with flash flood warnings across all the islands. I accidentally dropped an empty plastic water bottle out of my car yesterday afternoon and the water running down the edge of the street in Hilo was so strong that the bottle was a block away before I could chase it down and retrieve it. Not only would I not want to litter, but that little sucker is worth five cents! Ron just came it to inform me that it's raining. He does this every so often, like it's a news flash. He thinks he's pretty entertaining. Our lemon tree is covered with blossoms. I hope the bees can see through the rain well enough to pollinate them so we actually get some fruit. Not much is new today. I expect to have a new podcast posted by next Monday. More blog entries will come this week. If you'd like, add a comment or two. Help jazz this site up a bit. Aloha.

Hopps and Crawford say Alo-o-o-ha! People are really into bumper stickers and decals for cars here on the Big Island. I saw another funny one today. It said, "Horn broken. Watch for finger." On the mainland bumper stickers are popular too. The messages run the gamut, to be sure. But here, drivers sport memorial decals. I've never seen them before. I will admit that I've lived life a bit sheltered from big city trends for the past several years. Still, if these were a hot new thing in Colorado, I'm sure I'd have seen at least one car wearing one as it passed through Gunnison. Anyway, these tributes to a lost loved one are usually white, in the back windshield and say something like "In loving memory of James Keoki Chang" in flowery lettering. There's usually a cross or angel to complete the presentation. It seems a bit morbid to carry around the sadness of loss everywhere you go. Maybe its a cultural thing and I just don't get it. That's p...

Language fascinates me. I find it interesting that different people from different parts of the US (or the world for that matter) use different words predominantly for the same thing. I ask you; is it a sofa, a couch or a Davenport? Growing up, my mom always called in a Davenport. She hailed from the same hometown as Henry Davenport. I think he was a guy who created a sofa named after himself, and the name (like Xerox or Kleenex or Qtip) stuck. I'm guessing. I really don't know and it's not quite interesting enough to warrant further research. So there you go. In some parts of the country, they drink soda. In others, it's pop. Some people commonly refer to their refuse as trash or garbage. Here in Hawaii, its usually called rubbish. Yesterday at the grocery store, the gal at the checkout asked us if we wanted a wagon. We both did a double take. On the mainland, we'd have been asked if we wanted a cart. So wagon took a nano-second to process. The girl also told Ron h...

Aloha! Yesterday we woke up to sunny skies, birds chirping and the perfect weather for cutting grass. So, that's just what I did. No tractor yet. I just mowed the immediate lawn around the house with the little Craftsman. Good thing I had that inkling. It was my window of opportunity. Who knows when we'll get another totally dry day. Today it's raining torrentially, coming down in sheets as you can see from the photo. It's a great day to nap, or to update a blog. We found the most amazing Thai restaurant the other day. It was recommended by two locals who referred to it as "Tina's Place." That's not actually what it's called. I don't recall the official name. Something like Garden Fresh. I know where it is though and plan to return soon. Anyway, Tina, the owner and cook, prepares each dish fresh as you order it. Nothing is cooked in advance. It takes a little longer to get your meal but it is absolutely worth the wait. Unbelievable!! We actuall...

The big news in the islands this week is the prediction of a poi shortage in coming months. The heavy rains on Kauai have flooded the taro patches of Hanalei, which supplies some 70 percent of the state's total. Ron's been getting good mileage out of my comment about how taro-ble it will be. One of his clients responded to the news with "poi oh poi. I hope it doesn't make us any poi-er." Personally, I was devastated, as I had just embarked upon the poi-pous driven life. I'm sure you get the poi-nt by now. It's all so poi-nient when you think about it. Now that I've poi-nted this big of news out to you, I hope you are poi-sed to deal with it. I know, I know... this blog has been punn - ishing. Or should I say poi-nishing? Of course, if you eat poi, you generate Poipu, a famous beach on Kauai. OK. I'm all pau now. Done. Finito. Period. (Period.... hey, that's a poi-nt at the end of a sentence.....) Help me!!!!!! I need a new brain!

More rain. We did get our window of opportunity for a relatively dry walk this morning. That was nice. But it began to rain hard by late morning and has poured pretty much all day. It's still raining, well into the night. The fog is again as thick clam chowder without the chunks. It reminds of the toolie fog in the San Juaquin Valley of California, the stuff that causes multi-car pile ups on I-5 every winter. Yikes. The neighbor warned us yesterday that we would probably hear some shooting. It seems the feral pigs have been wreaking havoc in his yard, just generally rooting around and tearing things up. He had had enough. We did hear the shots. They were very loud. Don't know, however, if he actually got one or more of them or simply scared them off. We haven't seen them in our yard, but the dogs have heard them and bark when they do. That, I think, keeps them at a distance from our house. Speaking of dogs, Doc is due for a few vaccinations, so he will visit his new vet tom...

I saw a couple of pretty funny bumper stickers yesterday. They didn't exactly exude the aloha spirit, but they made me chuckle. One said, "Welcome to Hawaii. Now go home." That one reminded me of one that became popular in Oregon during the first wave of California immigration in the late 1970s, when real estate prices went through the rough in the Golden State and people began cashing out and moving north to the Beaver State. It said something like "Welcome to Oregon. We don't care what you look like, as long as you look like you're leaving." The second sticker I saw here (on the same car, mind you) said, "Aloha also means goodbye." Finally, my favorite was, "How's my driving? Call 1-800-ainokea." What made that one even better was the fact that it was on a van with a big fat dent in the bumper. It's raining today. Yes, it rains pretty much every day. But today, it's really raining, without any let up so far. In fact, it...

Here are a few photos of the furballs, flora and fauna. First, these orchids are growing right out of the base of a Hawaiian Tree Fern. Next is Abner, gettin' cozy on the lanai. He's followed by the three stooges: Crawford, Doc and Hopps. lounging on the lawn. Finally, it's Ron going bananas! I'll post more soon, so be sure to check back for the latest update. Aloha!

It's nap time in the Todd-Niederpruem household. The sound of soft snoring can be heard through our not-so-soundproof, uninsulated walls. It's a nice sound. More of a purr than a snore, really. Here's a weird phenomenon. Any cat experts out there, please feel free to help explain this one. Abner, by boy, and Mr. Sox, the big bruiser tom cat who came with the house, don't get along very well. That's to be expected. Both are fixed. Abner has declared the inside of the house for himself. Mr. Sox, the outside. The lanai seems to be neutral territory, as the two will sit peacefully out there with us. Anyway, for the second time in the past few days, we've heard kitty fisticuffs, followed by Abner coming home covered with poo. Yuck! He hates it! So do I. It seems Mr. Sox is actually pooping on him somehow to make his point, that under the house is his turf. Is this common? I've never heard of it or seen it, but then I've never had two tom cats trying to share ...

Last night gave me a whole new understanding of just how dark dark can be; just how black the blackest night; just what zero light looks like. There was no moon. The house was enshrouded with a heavy misty fog that lowered visibility with a light down to about 10 feet. With the lights off, that visibility was zero. Even the cats, with their giant pupils, seemed a bit spooked. They stayed close to the house, taking advantage of the glow from the windows. There are no street lights here on Glenwood Rd. So when the moon is hiding, it's dark. Really dark. Hold-your-hand-up-a-centimeter-from-your-face-and-not-see-it dark. We can't see our neighbors lights through the foliage from here, so the darkness gives a profound feeling of isolation. When a light it shined, it illuminates the mist as a white haze, obscuring the surrounding forest. It's all very cool. Ron and I went to a beach park in Hilo yesterday. It's a shallow, protected lagoon with a sandy bottom, perfect for swim...

I've heard a few comments lately, from people concerned that Ron and I will settle in here, only to be ostracize. They fear that because we are white and a minority, we will not fit in and will be treated as unwelcome outsiders. They say they've known people who moved here and had that experience. Those people have since moved back, having acquired a bitter taste for Hawaii. So far, we have experienced only limited "stink eye" as they say here. No more so than if we'd walked into the wrong bar in any city USA and found we did not match the typical clientele. In fact, with the exception of one cranky, overworked haoli waitress, everyone has been as friendly as can be. The neighbors we've met so far have all been welcoming and nice, more than willing to talk story for a while if you happen to pass by when they are out in their yards. I'm sure we won't become best friends with everyone we meet, but I also trust there will be plenty of people we encounter ...

Trubiute to Uncle Ernie Aloha- It's another beautiful day in paradise. A sad one, however, as last night, I learned that my uncle Ernie has passed away. He was a kind, generous, softspoken, hard-working man, much loved by many. He had many talents, too. Ernie could build a computer or install a garage door with equal expertise and skill. Along with his wife, Elise, he raised four lovely children - my cousins - who will carry his spirit with them always. You can see a lot of Ernie in all of them. They are all among the best humans you will find anywhere on this earth, raising fine families of their own. My heart goes out to them all, especially my aunt Elise. She has lost her soul mate. I only hope she can take comfort and strength in the fact that she had such a long, happy marriage with such a good man. I know my dad, Ernie's brother, is feeling profound sadness today. He and his brother were close as kids and that closeness never waned, dispite geographic separation. Dad alw...

Aloha and welcome to my hawaiian rainforest blog. It does rain oddles here on the windward flanks of Mauna Loa, but not always. In fact lately it's been beautiful. We're settling into our island home, getting used to the nuances and quirks of the place. The neighborhood is eclectic. On our road, there are small cattle ranches, a couple that raises lambs, a lettuce farmer, lots of chickens, a few goats and one large pig that I suspect will one day become family bacon. We'll order up the tractor this week and within the season should be clearing the six-foot tall, viney cane grass that dominates large portions of the property. Meanswhile, we're fertilizing and liming citrus trees and getting the pets acclimated to their new tropical home. It's actually been - dare I say it in February - a little chilly these nights, with temps dipping into the low 50s. It's prompted Ron to fire up the wood stove to take the chill off in the evenings and early mornings. I'll ad...