Kīlauea Erupting!

But as I write this there is no fountaining at the caldera. The Kīlauea eruption started about 2:30 this morning, it now covers about a square mile of the caldera floor. This is the 3rd eruption to occur in 2024, the others lasting between 1 day and 1 week. According to the USGS, between 3 and 4 pm today it appears to have "paused". Which is not unexpected; according to the USGS about 9% of eruptions last about a day & about 24% last less than a week.

Today was the Lapakahi State Historical Park staff & volunteer holiday lunch. We went to the Mauka Bar & Grill at Waikoloa Beach. Dane was unable to join us since one of his kids was sick today; we'll get together with him at a later date. Jaime, Greg, & I had a good time; we found out a lot about Greg who started volunteering at Lapakahi about 2 months ago.

I had the furikake ahi sandwich.

After lunch, Jaime & I went to the park to measure a planned restoration area. One of the grants that Jaime has received is for restoration. We looked at an area across the road from the visitor center & adjacent to the start of the park trail system. The current plan is to temporarily fence the area to keep the goats out while the native plants get established. The plan is to also install a temporary irrigation line to help get the plants established; water would be provided for the 1st year only. After that plants will be relying on natural rainfall events just like they did before humans interfered.

In a very Kohala way of doing things, Becky & I met at the post office to exchange holiday gifts. (There is no home mail delivery in this part of the island.) She was finishing off running errands & I was returning from Lapakahi. The post office is where our paths intersected with neither of us having to go out of our way. 

Homemade cranberry relish from Becky.

The Roomba did much better today with the boxes blocking its access to the sewing room. I like this solution; I don't have to try to remember to do things in order for it to work!

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Jody, Mariangela, & Andrea!