WET NOVEMBER

                                                   WET NOVEMBER

In the past few days the weather has turned from a very pleasant 70 – 84 degree daily range with only a trace of rain to a cool 67 – 77 range with 1.1, .5 and 4.2 inches of rain over the last three days.  There was also an unusual amount of wind yesterday and as it came more from the north east instead of the usual east or southeast the resulting breakers roared straight into Hilo Bay.  There are always a few surfers in the north side of the bay but yesterday’s waves with their 4-6 foot faces reaching 2/3’s of the way across the Bay were an only 3 or 4 time a year event, I was told.   The gradual slope of the bay coupled with the fact that the swells could only come in around the breakwater on the North gave surfers a great 5 minute ride!

 Driving into Hilo yesterday was a thrill too.  The rain reduced visibility caused speed to drop to 30 on some parts of Highway 19.  On the side streets there were often 6” depths of running water on the outer half of the road.  But even in the midst of that downpour it was still 75 degrees.  But the night temperature did drop to a low of 67 by daybreak and I am now wearing long sleeve shirt and long pants most of the day for the first time here as it looks like the high for the day will be 75 here with an inch of snow on top of Mona Kea. 

Also, for the first time since we’ve lived in this house, I heard the surf pounding at the cliff straight in front of us.   At first I thought maybe that unusual noise could be just wind in the coconut fronds so I went out on the deck.  There with the palm on my left and the Ocean pounding the beach cliff ½ mile in front of me it was easy to distinguish the sounds in the storm.  Usually the only surf we can hear is from the far side of the Kolikoli River, two miles away and that is possible only at night when it is very quiet.  All the closer surf is hidden from our view and, most of the time from our hearing, by the cliffs.

A different kind of first occurred for me last Saturday.  Since Myrna was obligated, as director of Nursing, to march in the annual Veterans Day Parade she wanted me to attend also.  Old peacenik that I am, I was very reluctant to possibly be seen as adding to the glorifying of war making.  I am no pacifist but I consider most of the wars that we’ve engaged in since I’ve been an adult to be of no purpose to our nation except to keep our standing armies trained for world domination and the further enrichment of the war profiteers.  Nevertheless, I do believe in honoring our obligation to those who serve our nation no matter how misled they may have been and I was there at my first veterans parade to support my wife also.

So with an official veterans home T-shirt on I went first to the peaceniks and got a bumper sticker in Hawaiian that said roughly; LOVE THE LAND, DO NOT DESTROY IT AND ITS PEOPLE and put that on the front of the T-shirt.  Hilo loves its parades in general and, like other poor areas of our nation, military service is higher than the national average so the parade was well attended.   The People were all friendly as usual and a couple of photographers seemed to take a special interest in my shirt but a good time was had by all.

Meanwhile, visitor season is approaching with my daughter and son-in-law, Adar and Rob, arriving first on the 13^th next month joined by Xylena on the 23^rd.  Let us know when you are coming!     Aloha!

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TAXONOMY

                                                            TAXONOMY

I never took Latin in high (I doubt it is still offered now), and I have no natural ability towards learning languages, but I always had a strong interest in learning about all the life forms around me.  Although I’ve rarely learned the Latin names of the life around me I have always learned common names and as much as I could of their habits.  As I’ve not been here long I hope you will forgive me how little I know about the plants and animals here.  For example, the first month we in this house I wrote about Monstera and mistakenly called it a vine.  I’m surprised no one corrected me on that.  There is a vine with similar leaves that grow up trees to 40 or more feet and cover them so heavily that many are killed.  But Monstera is a “single story” plant, at least here.  And now that I know them both it does not resemble the vine whose name I’m still not sure of. 

This brings me to my point.  When I asked the young neighbor who was helping me cut and move an African Tulip tree that was nearly totally covered in noxious vines, “What are these horrible strangling vines called?”  He replied, “Horrible strangling vines.”  He was born here but does not know the name of one of the most commonly seen plants in his neighborhood.  I GOT A SIMILAR ANSWER FROM A COUPLE MY AGE WHO LIVE JUST DOWN THE STREET.  This is all too typical everywhere

Recently my friend Richard Bohn sent me excerpts from the book “Naming Nature: The Clash Between Instinct and Science” by Carol Kaesuk Yoon.  She wrote about the Tzeltal Maya of Mexico “…among whom a 2-year old can name more than 30 different plants and whose 4-year old can recognize nearly 100.

“No wonder so few of us can really see what is out there… We are so disconnected from the living world that we can live in the midst of a mass extinction, of the rapid invasion everywhere of new and noxious species, entirely unaware that anything is happening.”

She goes on to recommend learning about the life all around …”then find a name for it.  Learn science’s name, one of countless folk names, or make up your own.  To do so is to change everything, including yourself…”

I agree and this new environment is giving me lots of examples.  Luckily a local gallery/bookstore is going out of business and selling their 14,000 books at more affordable prices than usual so we bought a bunch from the Hawaii section.  I’ve been curious about the name and origin of the skinks in our yard (most people don’t even know what ‘skink’ means) and learned from a book that they are Metallic Skinks introduced from Australia around 1900.  Now knowing their name I grew even more interested and caught a small one for close observation.  I discovered holding it up in the sunlight that not only is there a copper sheen over the general bronze color with a slight stripe on each side, as the book says,  but there also is a violet iridescence on the head and neck.  They like to live in the litter under our bananas at the edge of the grassy driveway so I always see them basking in the morning sun when I take out the compost.  Metallic Skinks are 3 ½ to 5 1/2 inches long and so fast at disappearing under the leaves that I never could have caught a full sized one but did manage to grab a juvenile who had strayed too far into the grass.

Our latest new culinary experience was eating a trigger fish that I bought whole at the fish market for 99 cents a pound.  I’ve seen them when snorkeling and noticed how unafraid they are.  Now I know why.  Not only do they have teeth like a piranha  they have skin that is like steel armor it is so tuff.  I was able to barley get a knife in at the ventral edge and then cut from the inside to skin it.  Even then it presented some unusual problems because a good part of the meat was separated from the filet by a big bone descending behind the gill and another good bit was between the bones of the cheek.  If you look at a picture of one you will see the eye is about a third of the length back at the top of the body.  A very odd fish to me but quite tasty!

Yesterday I had a little business in Hilo in the morning.  Afterwards, since it was such a nice day, I went for a swim in the Southwestern corner of Hilo Bay.  The tide was out and since there are a lot of fresh water springs and a small stream that enter the bay in that area the swimming was the opposite of what an Inlander would expect.  The top couple feet were cool water and the bottom was warm water.  I’ve encountered this before here but haven’t internalized it yet so I keep being surprised.  Because the warm Ocean water is salty it is denser that the colder fresh water.  This makes it possible for the fresh water to just flow out over the salt water with very little mixing if there is no turbulence.  If you have a face mask on and swim through the interface you will see distortions that look like heat mirages.

Next I went to ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center because there was to be a free lecture about the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA), which is next to the Kona Airport and in spite of my huge interest in the subject I’ve not had the chance to visit yet.  It turned out I was still an hour early so I considered paying for admission to see the exhibits.  I decided that I couldn’t be there enough hours to get my money’s worth on the daily rate so I ended up buying a membership which will also allow me to bring you there when you visit.  There are a lot of both astronomical and cultural exhibits and it would take a whole day to see them all.  They include a planetarium, three small theatres with short films and a dinning room and gift shop.  So I saw a planetarium show, then the NALHA lecture, then was about an hour into the exhibits when who should walk by but Senator  Daniel Inouye!

I had noticed a bunch of bigwigs gathered at the lecture hall for some event but although I knew the Senator was in town, I didn’t know that ‘Imiloa was one of his stops.  Apparently he either had given or was about to give a talk and decided to have a quick tour.  He had an entourage of a half dozen but as they fell behind I stepped up and greeted him and offered that I thought we ought to keep a public option in the Health Care bill and that in fact I thought we could save a lot more money and lives with a single payer system.  He offered his hand and said he thought we at least need to have some competition to private health care and that he has been trying to convince his collages of that.  So not much more than that was said but it is strange that even when I’m trying to keep out of politics for a year, encounters like that keep happening!

Today I’m getting another estimate on lowering that hazardous tree next to our house.  Then we are ordering solar hot water.  Here in addition to the Federal tax credit of 30% we can get a 35% state income tax credit and a $1,000 rebate from the utility company to install solar.  So why isn’t everyone doing it?  I sure can’t imagine.  Electric costs about 31 cents per kilowatt here.  That makes hot water about $100/month.

USE THAT SUNSHINE!!!

Rico

RECOVERING

                                                         RECOVERING

I’ve been back from my Chattaroy trip nearly 6 days.  The first few days in Washington were so exhausting that I got a return ticket a few days sooner than I had expected.  I only visited half the people I wanted to because preparing our Chattaroy house for a renter was a lot more work than expected both because the water pump was failing and the heat pump wouldn’t work at all, and the fact that the place had fallen victim to looters.  Those of you missed will be at the top of my list for next time which will probably be August, 2010 because now we are landlords.

Being back on the Island was a great relief compared to the cold dark winter that was already starting to settle down on Chattaroy.  Also while the noxious weeds here tend to be much larger, trees in fact, they are easier to control than the those Asian weeds like knapweed that we had been fighting for years in Chattaroy, and yet after one summer without us our previous efforts seemed all in vain.  Of course it helps that I have only ½ acre, or (if you count the vacant lot next door that I also work on) one acre to control.

It was a thrill to see how much our seedlings in the garden have grown since I left.  The sweet potatoes were mere sprouts and are now vines at least a foot in each direction.  Our long beans were just a plan and are now 3-4” tall.  Our largest papaya is now taller than I and the two largest have female flowers (I may take a hike today to get bananas and I’ll bring back some male papaya flowers because I think they are too far away for fertilization and  it will be 3 or 4 weeks before the rest of our plants start blooming).  The cherry tomatoes are up to our deck railing with the tallest being 12’.  The tomatoes only set lightly but they produce enough to keep us supplied.  We gave up and pulled one of our larger tomato varieties because its longer ripening process gave time for fruit flies to invade them.  Lettuce, beets, chard, summer squash and broccoli have all proven to be difficult to start here but the cucumbers and Butter cup squash are doing OK.  Regular potatoes never came up the first try but now we have a small planting that is growing.  Two plantings of regular spinach produced nothing but Malabar spinach is doing fine.   I am mulch growing, just as I did in Washington, even though no one else does that here.  We will see if that becomes a problem but I see it as a way to organically fertilize and to keep the soil a bit cooler.  I don’t know of a manure source here yet but I can use lawn clippings and road shoulder clippings to mulch.  We’ve never had to water here so far.  There looks to be a continuous supply of coconuts on the vacant lot for the next three months.  We’ve been eating more breadfruit. I had put on climbing spikes and a safety belt to pick the good ones.

            Since I’ve returned there has only been one late avocado from behind the property but I know of farther wild ones I can gather.  Yesterday I got a nice purple avocado from the shelf in the Post Office where neighbors frequently share their surpluses.  It seems to be the community hub.

Tuesday I took the dog and went for a walk and swim at Hakalau Bay.  Turns out the bottom of the river mouth had filled up with gravel to where I couldn’t swim unless I went out to the breaks.  As I didn’t feel I’d be safe from rip tide there without a board I skipped the swim part for that day, just lay in the gravel and let the waves wash over me for a few minutes.

The big excitement around here has been the filming of the movie Predator, in the canyon of our other river, Kole Kole.  We had lots traffic on our little road for a few days and we saw part of their set on our Sunday walk.  I don’t know how many others sites they may have used on the Island.

Because Monday I came down with a “Welcome back to Hawaii” cold that I probably caught on a plane, I’ve not accomplished much this week.  I’m hoping to feel up to a Halloween dance this weekend because the last four years we’ve been privileged to attend the fine one that Michael and Cindy put on each year and now it seems like the thing to do.  Please dance one for me!

SETTLING IN

Since I’ve mentioned it twice, let’s finish with Monstera first.  It is a member of the philodendron family and although Monstera itself does not climb very much around Hakalau it does at the lower elevations.  The large vines that do climb 60 feet up around us are 3 or 4 other species of philodendron.  Generally they lack the widows and slits of the monstera leaf but still have very stout vines averaging 2” diameter.  I’ll try to get some pictures soon.

I guess it is getting to be fall around here.  We still get up to 84 or 5 f. when the sun is out but the mornings have gone from an occasional shower to two or three showers per hour.  Usually I would work through showers in rubber sandals, shorts and short sleeved shirt but lately it has seemed a bit too much for that (.3 inches to 9:00 this morning so far).  So I guess I’ll stay in and write instead.  But it is still 74 out and will be very nice to be outside as soon as the rain stops.

Last week we finally got the hazardous Cook Pine topped.  This frees me to finish the terrace for the additional garden space.  I am building the terrace wall from the invasive weed logs I took down in the orchard even though I know they will rot quicker than I can visualize.  The terrace wall had steel posts in front of it so as the bottom ones rot I can easily add a new layer to the top.

Having the pine topped also frees us to have solar hot water installed.  Yes, I said “installed” as in by professionals instead of myself.  The reason for this major departure is that there are so many solar credits available here, 30% federal tax credit, 35% state income tax credit and $1,000 utility company rebate plus free financing, that it can be done professionally with a guarantee for about the same price that it would cost me to do it myself.  Then if it needs work in the future when perhaps I won’t be as able it will be relatively easy to have it fixed.  With these credits and the high power cost here, the ‘pay back’ time will be 2-3 years.  Those of you in the Northwest would get the federal credit, free financing, and exemption from state real estate tax on the increase in your home’s value but I don’t know of any utility credit available and Washington has no income tax to credit.  Besides you get a lot less sun and have cheaper power costs so I expect your “pay back” time to hot water would still be about 6-7 years.  If someone has the current figures for Washington please send them.

Over the weekend, besides working on our garden, we visited the nearby HAWAII TROPICAL BOTANICAL GARDEN at Onomea Bay.   It is situated on a steam and comprises 1.25 miles of trails on one side of 71 private acres.  This was a great help in identifying some of the species around our home but includes plants from all the tropics.  We probably saw 20 species of Heliconia (part of Monday’s work was cutting back the orange 7’ variety that keeps trying to bury part of our driveway) and 50 species of orchids.  Myrna has posted some pictures to her facebook page (under Therese Reed) which I think are cross posted to mine if you do that.  But regardless of a person’s interest level in botany, this park was well worth the time just for its remarkable beauty.

On Sunday we visited the gardens of our realtor and learned more plants and brought 5 home to our crowded half acre (I think I know a vacant lot where I can plant a couple trees).

On Labor Day we attended a potluck/softball game at the local playfield.  Turned out they are a mellow group of about 30 people of all ages who we will be doing things with in the future.   Hope you had a good weekend too!   Rico

MONSTERA

Since I’ve mentioned it twice, let’s finish with Monstera first.  It is a member of the philodendron family and although Monstera itself does not climb very much around Hakalau it does at the lower elevations.  The large vines that do climb 60 feet up around us are 3 or 4 other species of philodendron.  Generally they lack the widows and slits of the monstera leaf but still have very stout vines averaging 2” diameter.  I’ll try to get some pictures soon.

I guess it is getting to be fall around here.  We still get up to 84 or 5 f. when the sun is out but the mornings have gone from an occasional shower to two or three showers per hour.  Usually I would work through showers in rubber sandals, shorts and short sleeved shirt but lately it has seemed a bit too much for that (.3 inches to 9:00 this morning so far).  So I guess I’ll stay in and write instead.  But it is still 74 out and will be very nice to be outside as soon as the rain stops.

Last week we finally got the hazardous Cook Pine topped.  This frees me to finish the terrace for the additional garden space.  I am building the terrace wall from the invasive weed logs I took down in the orchard even though I know they will rot quicker than I can visualize.  The terrace wall had steel posts in front of it so as the bottom ones rot I can easily add a new layer to the top.

Having the pine topped also frees us to have solar hot water installed.  Yes, I said “installed” as in by professionals instead of myself.  The reason for this major departure is that there are so many solar credits available here, 30% federal tax credit, 35% state income tax credit and $1,000 utility company rebate plus free financing, that it can be done professionally with a guarantee for about the same price that it would cost me to do it myself.  Then if it needs work in the future when perhaps I won’t be as able it will be relatively easy to have it fixed.  With these credits and the high power cost here, the ‘pay back’ time will be 2-3 years.  Those of you in the Northwest would get the federal credit, free financing, and exemption from state real estate tax on the increase in your home’s value but I don’t know of any utility credit available and Washington has no income tax to credit.  Besides you get a lot less sun and have cheaper power costs so I expect your “pay back” time to hot water would still be about 6-7 years.  If someone has the current figures for Washington please send them.

Over the weekend, besides working on our garden, we visited the nearby HAWAII TROPICAL BOTANICAL GARDEN at Onomea Bay.   It is situated on a steam and comprises 1.25 miles of trails on one side of 71 private acres.  This was a great help in identifying some of the species around our home but includes plants from all the tropics.  We probably saw 20 species of Heliconia (part of Monday’s work was cutting back the orange 7’ variety that keeps trying to bury part of our driveway) and 50 species of orchids.  Myrna has posted some pictures to her facebook page (under Therese Reed) which I think are cross posted to mine if you do that.  But regardless of a person’s interest level in botany, this park was well worth the time just for its remarkable beauty.

On Sunday we visited the gardens of our realtor and learned more plants and brought 5 home to our crowded half acre (I think I know a vacant lot where I can plant a couple trees).

On Labor Day we attended a potluck/softball game at the local playfield.  Turned out they are a mellow group of about 30 people of all ages who we will be doing things with in the future.   Hope you had a good weekend too!   Rico

HURRICANE WARNING

                                                HURRICANE WARNING

For over a week the reports have been telling us to prepare for a hurricane that would hit us head on tonight.  And sure enough the tropical depression they call Felicia did strengthen to 135 mph for a time and did keep heading towards us at 14 mph.  I was of a wait and see mind because the things we can do to prepare don’t take a lot of time.  Myrna , on the other hand is never one to waste a chance to worry in advance just in case she doesn’t get an opportunity to later.  She got all the chairs off the deck, tied down the garbage cans, and put her bicycle in the garage.  I went ahead with my intermittent project of cutting down the “weed” trees in the orchard.  The one thing we really are agreed that we should do to prepare is to hire an expert to cut down the very, very tall Cook Pine that stands at the corner of our house.  We’ve actually gotten 3 bids for the job but the two with the equipment and the insurance to replace our house if they make a mistake were too shockingly high for us to stomach.  We are working on getting a forth now who has the equipment and is considering getting the insurance.  Meanwhile this storm is now only about 45mph and veering off to the north towards Maui.  We did have an inch in the rain gauge this morning but I think that was a two day total and now it is sunny and 85 with a pleasant breeze.

There are so many nice restaurants here and we’ve needed to make quite a few trips to town to get set-up so I’m not surprised that we’ve eaten out more than we usually do.  There is every manner of Asian, Hawaiian and the usual “American” styles and the best part is that most of them are very reasonably priced.  We typically spend about $10 less each for a really nice served meal than we would in Spokane.  Everything else here is way more expensive but I suppose the restaurants have had to cut their prices to keep business in this economy.  You may recall that I wrote about the very unusual Durian Fruit that people typically either love or hate.  For desert at a Thai restaurant I had Durian ice cream recently.  Just like the fruit, each bit tasted different, caramel, aged cheese, pineapple, coconut, etc.  I recently met a man down the road who says Durian is the king of fruit because eating one can mean getting as many flavors as an entire Thanksgiving Dinner!  But truth be told, even in ice cream the smell that most people find repugnant is noticeable.

One of the things that I hate about moving is all that lost effort of learning where the best deals are for the things we use.  The 2nd hand stores here are not as good (which I’ve heard from everywhere else not Spokane), the auctions are smaller and not as frequent and the yard sales don’t have as good a quality.  However, there is a great fish market, a huge farmers market and several smaller ones in the surrounding communities and there are 3 places that culture tofu.  Last weekend I discovered that three mornings a week you can buy end of the block trimmings at one of them.  In Spokane County we rarely bought tofu because we had an abundance of lamb and mutton.  Here we might get an occasional wild pig in our orchard in the future but so far we have tofu/veggie stir fry pretty often.  So I was at the tofu store at 8:00 am this morning and it turns out the prices are $1.40, regular or $1.60/pound, organic.   I bought three bags of about 2 ½ pounds each.  They were very firm (just the way I like it) and when I started nibbling from one of them on the way home I liked it enough to eat about ¼ pound by the time I got home.  So I guess we will be eating a lot more tofu than we ever have.

As I wrote we got about one tenth inch of rain but now its very pleasant again.  ALOHA!                                                STORY TALK

This week ended a two day drought with 1.8” on Wednesday another .2 this morning.  Tuesday after work I met Myrna to look at 2^nd hand couches I’d seen earlier and we decided to get one.  So we put money down and I promised to get back to town with the trailer the next morning.  I waited till 11 hoping the rain would quit but I need not have worried because the guys at the 2^nd hand store were pro’s at wrapping furniture.  When I got it home I found I couldn’t get it up the stairs without help so it waited standing under the eaves till Myrna got home and it was still fine,

Back to Tuesday, after shopping I took Myrna to the public access for the shore end of the breakwater that protects Hilo Bay.  We’d never been there before and it took some talking to get Myrna to walk on to it in her work clothes.  It was well worth it however as we had arrived at the exact best time to observe the sea turtles feeding amongst the rocks as they got tossed about by the surf.  We had the setting sun right behind us so we could see into the water clearly.  There were about two dozen within our range and five or six of them clearly visible at any one time.  We were amazed that such clumsy looking creatures could maneuver so easily in the crashing waves.  Prior to this we had seen them several times but always just laying in the shallows sleeping.

Yes, we have no bananas!  We have no ripe bananas right now and probably not for a few days so we are getting a chance to eat the ones in our refrigerator and freezer.  Now the over abundance is avocados.  A half dozen fall from our tree every day and they are quite big.

Knowing that I had a lot of pruning to do here I shipped my old McCollough chain saw even though they’ve not been made for years and parts are impossible to get.  It was a good running saw in Washington.  The first time I tried to start it here it broke so I just set it aside and ordered a ‘new’ reconditioned Poulan.  The Poulan arrived Friday so I’ve been attacking the invaders a little at a time ever since.  The end of the lychee “orchard” towards the house now no longer looks like a jungle but instead like a cathedral with the lychee branches forming a perfect gothic arch high above our heads.  It is so pretty that I’ll hate getting around to topping them.  But so far it has been palms and African tulip trees.  I certainly never dreamed back in Spokane County that one day I’d be chain sawing palm trees in Hawaii!!

Politics here is very different.  As I’ve mentioned before this is the first time I’ve lived in a Democratic precinct.  Statewide, the legislature is democratic but somehow they have a Republican governor who is determined balance the budget by cutting payroll (because you folks haven’t been spending enough dollars here).  Governor Lingle has offered to furlough all workers 3 days a month without pay but the unions refused so Lingle is now preparing to layoff 1,100 workers for starters.  The differences that I notice here are that the County does a lot more for people like mow the roadsides as if they were lawn once a month, provide free “2 bin” garbage transfer stations in many locations with each being manned and allowing all recyclables in one bin, except glass in a secondand having beautiful county parks all over the place (which are heavily used on weekends).  There are also lots of recreation fields and halls – each named for someone.  I’ve mentioned the free buses all around the island and they also appear to have a better social “safety net” although there is a shortage of doctors.  Also, anytime I’ve asked a public worker for help they’ve been glad to even if it requires bending the rules.              Aloha, Rico 

HOT ROCKS

                                                            HOT ROCKS

            Up until Monday we had never seen any flowing lava.  Monday morning by 3:45 we were on the road on our way, courtesy of a cousin who lives on Oahu but had just finished a brief work stint here on Hawaii, to meet a small boat that would take us and twenty others on a sunrise viewing of the longest continuous lava flow in the world.  We arrived a little early but my cousin and her co-worker were there. The State park we were meeting at has no dock so after we signed what I suppose was a disclaimer (it was dark so who would really read it all by flashlight) the launch procedure was for everyone to climb a step ladder up into the boat while it was still on a trailer then it was backed down a ramp into the Ocean and when the truck driver stepped on the brakes we were launched!  An exciting beginning but nothing compared to what followed.

The captain turned us bow out to sea and hit the throttle right away and we were lurched about by three or four sharp jolts as the bow crashed through the surf.  Then it was relatively calm when we turned more parallel to the waves.  Occasionally a little spray would hit us but we had been warned to expect that and wore rain jackets with hoods.  Since we left shore at 5 it was still full dark and we had a 40 minute ride watching the waves fly from the bow lit up brightly by bioluminescence – sometimes just a glow, but often with fistful balls of bright light.

Before we reached our goal we could see where the lava field was showing bright red from either cracks or spots where the mostly subterranean lava was heating the surface enough to glow.  Where the lava actually hits the Ocean what you mostly see is a huge cloud of steam but as the boat circled sometimes the breeze would clear the view of the river of lava hitting the Ocean.  I asked how much the Ocean is heated by this and the steward put a bucket on a rope overboard then brought it around for each of us to feel.  It was like a VERY hot bath and we were a hundred yards away at the time.  The boat was steel hulled and the captain took us in closer than I felt safe considering that periodically lava hitting the water would explode and send pieces flying up to 30 feet.  Occasionally we could hear pieces of hot floating rock hit the hull.  When I looked overboard they were scooting across the water looking like gas propelled hot cow pies zigzagging about.

Before long I was wishing the tour was over because I was getting a bit sea sick from the slow circling.  In fact one person did make the trip to the rear railing.  So when we finally did start back I was very glad to feel the speed of the boat instead of the swells of the sea.

It was full daylight now and the captain kept us closer to shore for the view.  But this direction we were cresting waves and slapping down on the other side so hard that we were not just getting a little sprayed but actually drenched.  Luckily it is always warm water here so that was better than getting sea sick.  We saw one pair of dolphins and flying fish glided besides us twice – both firsts for us.  

The company warns people with bad backs or necks to not come on this trip.  I leaned way forward to protect my back but we ended up with sore necks for a couple days.  That problem would have been less if we were seated more towards the back.  All in all it was a great adventure but one I would not want to repeat.  Myrna, on the other hand, would consider going again with guests which I consider strange because she is afraid of deep water in small boats.  This one was large enough for her!

In fact, we were on the water in Hilo Bay last Saturday in our SeaCycle and had a pleasant tour of the south half the bay.  At one point Myna thought it looked like 3 racing canoes were on a collision course with us.  I was sure that it was not a problem and we proceeded straight after a brief diversion.  Those racing crews are fast and they put on full steam for practice even, so they were moving a lot faster than us!  Next time I go out on the bay I want to fish also.

Last letter when I wrote about politics a bit I should have mentioned environmental politics.  One issue is the opposition to geothermal power.  The best I can make of it is that it is a NIMBY group who fear there will be noise and sulfur in the air because of it.  These seem to me to both be solvable problems, not show stoppers.  Another is that we are running out of landfill space for the garbage.  Efforts are being made to reduce the waste stream.  They do allow the recycling of more things at transfer stations here than in Spokane County with a two bin system – all glass in one bin and all other recyclables in another.  They are way behind in building the sorting facilities and are discussing sending waste to the mainland.  And the private waste collectors are not required to separate their waste stream yet.

Another potential issue is fish farming.  Huge tuna raising pens are being planned a couple miles off shore and so far I’ve seen no discussion of the effects of the waste.  At this point there is only one experimental one.  They hope to raise Big Eye and Yellow Fin, two of the smaller, so far not endangered, species.  Both are found in every market here and even being sold off of trucks on the street.  Sometimes they are sold as “POKE”, a spiced ready to eat diced raw fish.  In fact, lots of things are sold on the street here from trucks or car trunks.  I don’t know if they are legal or just ignored.  I get my fish from the bayside fish market so far!

One issue that gets a lot of press but not much action is food self sufficiency.   They do have a good program for saving future farm land from development but several large tracts of public land are about to be sold to try to balance the budget (while the county commissioners took 15% pay raises  this year.  And I don’t see a lot of interest in community gardens although that is talked about.  I guess it is just a lot more profitable for people to go to the supermarkets and I know we all find it a lot more convenient much of the time.  Here I have a lot less tillable ground than I would like and I find myself coveting my neighbor’s flat lawn space.  But so far I have plenty to do with just our tiny garden.

I’m glad I’m not in Spokane County this week with the 100 degree days.  The 85-87 we get here nearly every day this time of year is a bit too hot for me!  But at least not much of the day is that hot.

Keep Cool!

Rico

P.S.  Myrna has posted a bunch of photos on her Facebook page, if you’re into that.