IASA #99

Phu came to visit; I made him pick tangerines for juice the next morning.

 

IASA #98

Lapakahi staff (Dane with dessert, Jaime with new purse) had holiday lunch at Cipriano's.

IASA #97

One of the hazards of making jam; I dropped the canning funnel on myself.

 

2023 Holiday Greetings!

Dear Family & Friends,

For my 1^st full calendar year of living on Hawaiʻi Island, I spent it mainly figuring out the harvest times of the 13 fruit trees Grandpa & Grandma had planted. Being the nerdy science-type, I also kept track of how much they produced. So far in 2023 I have harvested 36# banana, 302# mountain apple, 142# jaboticaba, 10# dragonfruit, & over 128# calamansi (season still going). I hope to have my 1^st harvest of persimmons this year; thanks to Google I found out the key is to pick them when they are still half green so the birds don't get them first!

Last year I learned how to make jam. This year I experimented with Pomona Pectin which uses a calcium solution to gel; it can eliminate the need for sugar & requires less boiling which allows the fruit taste to be more prominent. I made over 40 jars of jam. I also donated fruit to the Kohala Food Hub for the senior & low income food baskets. And I gave a bunch of fruit to Mark who sells yummy home-made ice cream at his shop in Hawi; in return I get free ice cream or sorbet when I stop by Our Founding Farmers. In all, I gave away 84% of the fruit harvested.

 

My 1^st visitor this year was Chris in January. She had originally planned to stay for a week but she developed COVID-19 the 3^rd day of her trip & stayed an extra week while in isolation. Later in January I visited with Will, Theresa, & their family who were staying in Kona. I also had a whirlwind visit with Lani who was in Kona for a day. In mid-March I flew to Moloka'i to visit with Crilly & Martha who were celebrating Crilly's retirement. In late March, Anne came with Catie to help her get established on Hawai'i Island. Catie stayed for about 3 weeks until she found a place in Kona; Anne stayed with me 2 more weeks while helping Catie find a vehicle & furnish her place. Yvonne & Josh stayed for a night in June while traveling around the island. I saw Nawo, Heidi, Carmel, & Eva twice in September when they were staying in Kona. In October Terri was here for a couple of weeks; the main goal was to attend the Hawai'i Island Festival of Birds. Among other things, we also did a couple of birding hikes, went to Pu'uloa petroglyph field, & Ka Lae, the southernmost point in the U.S. 

Kai came for a short visit in February since he didn't really have a vacation last October when he developed COVID-19 the day after he arrived. I went to Washington with him to once again help him find new housing.; the previous place turned out to be a nightmare. The landlord liked him but had frequent screaming matches with 2 other tenants right outside Kai's bedroom window. He is now living in Anacortes in a much better situation with the landlord & housemates though it is far from his providers & friends. He came back in July for a longer visit during Obon. Here he is with Ellen waiting for the service to start.

 

During his February visit, Kai & I had dinner with CA cousins Mona & Mike just before we boarded the plane for Seattle; they were in Kona for only a few days so it was the only time we could get together. WI cousin Tomiko came in July shortly after Obon to do a ceremony for Uncle Orv's 7-year nenki. She made a yukata with help from friend Annie, then coated it with cyanotype reagents & later exposed it to the sun while walking in to the ocean. In early December, I saw cousin Beryl who was in Hilo helping Aunty Doris after cataract surgery; Beryl is now living in TX. 

 

Since I got the harvest schedule figured out, I decided to do some volunteering. I spend 2 half days a week at the Lapakahi State Historical Park as a docent, am on the North Kohala Community Development Plan Advisory Group's subcommittee on Culture & History, & am on the Hawai'i Wildlife Center's Wheels 4 Wildlife and Wildlife Response & Rescue teams. The photo is of the Culture & History group visiting the pōhaku at a sacred site.

 

In late January the house was repainted, the home insurance company's continental office refused to renew my policy if it was not done. I went with the original color, British Racing Green, which is called Parker Ranch Green on this island. In June the house was fumigated for termites. I probably should have done it earlier since it had been 8 years since it was last done! Because I waited so long there has been some additional termite damage from the new infestation. 

 

Just before the end of 2022, I got a 3-month old puppy! Mo'o is a Catahoula-Airedale-pit bull mix. She & the indoor cats get along well; though she is intimidated by the feral outdoor cats. Catahoulas were bred to hunt pigs & she does a good job letting the local feral pigs know she is here; they no longer come near the fence when she is outdoors. Catahoulas like to chew on wood; she has been learning that door jambs are not OK to chew. So far she has chewed through 3 collars, 2 cone collars, a leash, & a vinyl-coated metal tie-out cable (see photo). She is smart & has quickly learned to stay away from the driveway gate when the car goes in or out; she has chosen to lie down in the shade of either the kokutan bush or puakenikeni tree until the gate is closed again. 

 

The feral kittens have become fairly well-adjusted cats over this last year. 'Ōhuna has warmed up to me & she even let Kai pet her briefly! Siblings 'Alani & Pa'ipa'i are a little chubby, while siblings Ho'okoa & 'Ōhuna are a healthy weight. Pa'ipa'i has subluxated kneecaps so she appears to occasionally limp & 'Ōhuna's nervous nature has caused her to have an idiopathic urinary tract irritation. I let them out of their room for short periods of time; they respond to voice commands in Hawaiian to return to their room when play time is over. Photo is of dog gate in foreground & 6-foot high metal cat gate in background.

 

 Hope all is well with you & your family!

A hui hou! Mālama pono!

IASA #96

Persimmons are still too green to pick.

 

IASA #95

(L to R) Taj from NZ is bike camping & Linda from CA is in leaky camper van; they spent a rainy night here.

IASA #94

Ho'okoa approves of new shelf in bathroom closet.

 

IASA #93

Tooth #31 had deep crack, got infected, had to be extracted. (Photo by Kēhau)

 

IASA #92

Unclogged the bathroom sink, could have made a small kitten!

 

IASA #91

Dog gate = 2 water jugs & curtain rod. Cat gate = 6 foot high metal bars. 🙄

 

IASA #90

Terri & I went to the Hawai'i Island Festival of Birds in Hilo.

 

IASA #89

Terri watches Joey remove meat from coconut we got water from.

 

IASA #88

Had lunch with cousin Jane (seated right)  & (l to r) granddaughter DeeAnn, great grandson Nathaniel, & son Dean.

 

IASA #87

Fourth times the charm at drawing blood for annual check-up!

 

IASA #86

Naughty Mo'o chewed through the heavy duty cable tie out!

 

IASA #85

Kyle stopped at Lapakahi on a bike camping tour around Hawai'i Island; turns out we met in 2018 on O'ahu.

Kīlauea Eruption Pau

At around 9 this morning the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory officially declared the Kīlauea eruption over. This is the eruption that began last Sunday at around 3:15 pm HST. So the eruption lasted just 6 days. The Kīlauea Recent Eruptions page has more information about the eruption, including a chronology, photos, videos, & maps. 

When Kīlauea 1st erupted about a week ago, I got a notice from the USGS Volcano Notification Service (VNS) about an hour after the eruption started. You can subscribe by clicking on the link above & following directions. Notifications are available for these U.S. Volcano Observatories: Alaska (AVO), California (CalVO), Cascades (CVO), Hawaiian (HVO), Northern Marianas Islands (NMI) and Yellowstone (YVO). I subscribe to the HVO & AVO notifications. (Tsunami affecting Hawaiʻi can be caused by earthquakes associated with volcanoes in Alaska.) 

Big Island Now has a great article on living on Kīlauea, which is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. Since the 2018 eruption that destroyed more than 700 structures, there have been 5 more eruptions. The article examines methods to mitigate the damage from lava flows.

Tropical Depression Twelve-E dissipated overnight. There is another system closer to Mexico that has an 80% chance of becoming an organized system in the next 7 days.

IASA #84

NKCDP-AG Culture & History subcommittee visited pōhaku at Hawai'i Island Retreat.

 

Kīlauea Still Erupting

Kīlauea is still erupting! This is a great USGS video that provides a lot of information about this eruption. It also has great maps! And notes the closed viewing area & the open areas.

 

These are photos from the USGS Kilauea summit webcams from various points around the Halemaʻumaʻu caldera. These are screenshots of photos from around 6 pm; views after sunset show the glow of the molten magma in cracks between the cooler surface layers of lava.

This is the thermal image taken from the same viewpoint as the previous photo.

View is from the north rim of the downdropped block and looking west.

Here is another video that explains more about the eruption & its potential effects on the community. They provided information about the sulfur dioxide levels as well as potential vog problems for adjacent communities. The video also shows scientists sampling the lava.

The weather this morning looked promising; there were a few light clouds in the sky. As I left for Lapakahi State Historical Park the clouds looked even thinner than earlier in the morning.

1 hour 17 minutes after sunrise.

While at Lapakahi this morning I let tourists know that Kīlauea had started erupting again & found only about half of them had heard the news. Dane had bought Chocolate Banana Cream Pie for dessert with lunch; but since he did not have his cooler today we ate dessert 1st! Jaime came by after lunch. We talked about new interpretive projects that she is hoping to work on this year. I stayed about an hour longer than I usually do so I went up to close of the entry gate at 3:15; Dane & Jaime closed the main park gate later.

This half of the gate has a sign saying entry is closed at 3:15 pm.

There is a disturbance in the Eastern Pacific basin near longitude 125W, about 2100 miles east-southeast of Hilo. This morning it was forecast to have a 60% chance of becoming a tropical depression within the next 7 days; by the evening that went up to 70% chance in 7 days. It is moving northwesterly. 

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Kathleen!

Kilauea Erupting Again!

At around 3:15 this afternoon, Kilauea began erupting again. Here is a USGS live cam of the eruption.

 

 

IASA #83

Had dinner with WA friends Carmel, Eva, Heidi, & Nawo at King's View Cafe.

 

Maui Recovery Resources

A new website recently came online to help the victims of the Maui wildfires. It is called MauiRecovers.org. A lot of information for survivors has been gathered in one place; it includes information on the recovery phases, how to get financial assistance, safety of water resources, which areas are safe to re-enter & what you should do to keep safe when you return to your property, the fire debris removal process & how to get assistance. My favorite part is the maps & data section. 

This detail shows the only zones in Lāhainā currently safe to re-enter.

For some reason, I was very tired today. I did not stay up too late last night. Or do a lot of physical activity to make me more tired than usual. I did get up about an hour earlier than usual. But that should not have made me so tired by mid-day that I needed a nap, which lasted until just before dinner! Auē! Is this what getting older is about?

There was a list on Hawaii News Now this morning about best places for plate lunches on Oʻahu. I've only had lunch from Waiahole Poi Factory, several times; it deserves a place on this list! I've had breakfast at Diamond Head Market & Grill but not lunch; it did look like it had a great lunch selection. I will have to try these out on my next visits to Oʻahu. 

Another thing I noticed about Wordle is that you can repeat letters. Several of the other word search games I play do not allow the use of a letter more than once. Of course, this does make it more challenging to figure out the word since there are no hints that a letter is used more than once. Or if there is, I have not figured it out.

What is going on with people! A woman was shot with an arrow yesterday at Hapuna Beach Park; that is on the opposite side of the road from where Dane's office is at State Parks maintenance department. The attacker is still on the loose.

This headline got me interested in trying their ice cream called Not Fried Chicken, after the Listeria contamination is cleared. At first I thought someone at the FDA needed to go back to English class, but it turns out Life Raft Treats really does have an ice cream flavor called Not Fried Chicken!

Hurricane Jova was a Category 5 hurricane this morning with sustained winds of 155 mph.  The forecast is for it to become weaker as it heads northwesterly, crossing over cooler waters; in fact it decreased to a Category 3 over the course of the day with sustained winds at about 125 mph later in the evening. Currently it is about 2300 miles to the east of us & moving west-northwestward at about 17 mph.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Leno, Charlene, & Grey!