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Things are
pretty quiet here on the ranch.
Except for the weather. We are
getting a lot more rain than we
usually see here. And the winds
are pretty strong. We frequently
are getting gusts into the mid
twenties. Temperature is not
reacting as one would expect
however. Days are in the mid
eighties, and dropping maybe 12
degrees at night. That does not
sound hot, but with the humidity
it just saps the energy out of
you, and the wind drive you a
bit batty. Sometimes we will
look forward to going into town
or down to the main gate to pick
up the papers and mail, just to
get out of the wind.
We have not
seen too many cows on the road
inside the gated community,
which is usually open range
area. But sometimes we will have
a 'reception committee' when we
come down from the upper gate.
These guys
are not 'loose'... they enjoy
the open range as well as the
cattle. But they have gathered
in this area before. And they
are not that anxious to move out
of our way. This time, they took
the hint and as we crawled up
toward them, they reluctantly
moved aside.
One evening
as the sun was setting, we
looked south east of the house
and the setting sub behind our
backs was lighting Mauna Kea and
her observatories on top very
nicely.
These
observatories are about 35 miles
from where we are standing, as
the crow flies. There are nearly
a dozen of them up there, with a
new "world's largest" scheduled
to be added soon. They are run
by many different nations, for
shared knowledge. The mountain
is the highest point in the
state of Hawai'i at 13,800 feet
and change. It is covered with
snow in the winter months, and
you can access parts of the
summit. Considering this
mountain starts at the bottom of
the ocean, from the base to the
peak it exceeds 33,000 feet,
making it the highest mountain
in the world. It is a volcano,
as all mountains in
Hawai'i are, but is considered
dormant with the last known
eruption from 4,000 to 6,000
years ago.
We were
getting bulletins about a
hurricane that was scheduled to
dance across the Big Island, and
discussions were rampant about
doing whatever you could to
prepare for it. There was little
we could do, other than be sure
the dogs were secure in the
house and hunker down. Named
Darby, it was scheduled to hit
us hard on the week-end, and our
friend Darlene that worked with
Rosalee for some years was
scheduled to fly in Saturday
evening from San Francisco. She
had a schedule change that moved
her up to arrive around noon,
which was good. She flew in
safely and the weather was not
that bad.
The
island's east side took the
brunt and suffered some damage
in the Hilo area, but Darby
drifted along the southern side
of the island and headed to Maui
and Oahu to do some damage
there. We got two inches of rain
in less than an hour and flash
flood warnings were flying
about. We are at 2048 feet
elevation, and have no gullys
near us. Driving south to the
airport, however, we crossed a
bridge over a wide dry gully
that was not dry that day.
Massive amounts of water were
coming down through that gully.
We noticed that water was
flowing through there for nearly
a week before it was dry again.
That was
the most we have experienced a
hurricane in Hawai'i. Small
earthquakes... Tsunami warnings
(again, no alarm at 2,000 feet
elevation, but they can be
problematic if we are out and
about.
Caught
another nice sunset. More this
trip than usual to this area.
Darlene was
planning on spending the week
here with us so we did some
moving about the island. We
always have to take a twenty
minute run over to Honakaa (Hoe
- nah - kah - ah ) to visit "Tex's"
where they produce a marvelous
treat from Portugal called a "Malasada".
Think of that delicious and
delicate Spud Nut Donut
...raised donut?... like we
enjoyed as kids. Now take that
same dough and make a 'biscuit'
that is four inches by four
inches by a full inch thick.
Deep fry it (but it is not
oily), cover it with sugar, and
fill it with a filling if you
desire, and that is a Malasada.
Oh My!
While in
that area, we did our annual
visit to Rosalee and my favorite
view spot on the island. Waipio
Valley (Wah - ee - pee - oh).
This is a view of the beach that
is the face of the valley, from
the view point.
We took the
tour down into this valley in
Fall of 2009 with Kent and
Linda. If you would like to see
more about this valley you can
check that under "Kohala Fall -
2009" Hawaiian Travels. We did
the valley again in 2014 with Ed
and Andi.
This is an
image that I took of Darlene and
Rosalee after we returned to the
ranch after picking her up.
When we
went into Waimea (Wah - ee - may
- ah), our nearest town, we
checked out the Parker Ranch
Shopping Center. Darlene caught
us coming out of the bathroom
section, where a man is a Kane (Kah
- nay) and a woman is a Wahine (Wah
- hee - nay).
According
to the symbols, a Kane and a
Wahine has to look the part as
well, so we tried. When In
Rome... and all that.
Darlene has
a real liking for Four Seasons,
so she treated us to a beautiful
lunch at a Four Seasons resort
down near the airport, right on
the coast, of course. Very
lovely. And the food was good.
A strange
day today. We woke up to a
beautiful day. The ocean was
clearer and bluer than we have
seen this whole trip. The wind
was still. Views all the way to
Mauna Loa, and the other way,
clear to Maui. Today was the
first time that we have seen
Maui with Mount Halelakala
standing proudly above the sea,
while we were driving back from
the Airport. We have seen it
from the north bedroom at the
ranch, but this was different.
Darlene got
off and we heard later that she
was safe at home. So we were
going to make a nice relaxing
afternoon of it. We decided to
fix lunch so Rosalee opened the
refrigerator to get out sandwich
material and I opened the
freezer (lower part of the fridge...
a large drawer) to get the bread
out... and all Hell broke loose.
The refrigerator was coming away
from the cabinet directly toward
us, and everything was crashing
out onto the floor.
A huge
refrigerator that is a full
seven feet tall, with the
compressor on the top, totally
caught us by surprise. Four
hands went flying to stop it
from doing a face-plant on top of
us, and as we got it under
control, drawers were falling
out and Rosalee was screaming.
Her thumb was trapped between
the refrigerator and the
cabinet, a sharp area that
totally made a bloody mess and a
purple thumb. Fortunately it was
not enough to break it or cut it
off. We had to pull the
refrigerator back a little to
extricate her thumb. The drawer
and door could not shut with
stuff hanging out of the box.
Broken glass was on the Kitchen
floor and I was bare footed.
Jars of stuff were opened, the
pickle jar was ajar and the
fluid running out. And that
irritating little beeper was
telling me that the damned door
was open.
First aid
on her thumb... first aid on my
foot... keeping the dogs away
from everything... throw rugs
with liquid spilled on them...
what a mess.
Rosalee
could not do much for clean-up
with her thumb throbbing and
bleeding. I started picking
through the mess salvaging the
unbroken plastic bottles,
gathering the broken glass
bottles. With ceramic tile on
the floor the grouting was all
full of juices and two quarts of
tea. We found some rags (did not
find a wet mop) and scrubbed the
floor. A miracle no tiles were
broken, and no glass shelves
from the refrigerator were
broken.
An hour
later and a freshly cleaned
kitchen, and a cleaned and
scrubbed refrigerator... we had
lost our appetite for lunch. I
cannot believe that the builder
that remodeled the Kitchen did
not secure a top-heavy
refrigerator when he installed
it only a couple years ago. With
the earthquakes that have been
in this area, were Donna in the
kitchen when it shook, she could
be seriously injured by this
appliance falling forward. There
is no way I'm leaving here
without securing that appliance
as per the instructions from the
manufacturer.
We picked
up a 2 x 4 and constructed a
triple block like the
installation instructions for
the refrigerator called for and
installed it at the top of the
refrigerator, over the
compressor. It is all hidden by
the cabinetry above the
refrigerator. Now both the
refrigerator door (with loaded
shelves) and the full freezer
door can both be wide open at the
same time, and the refrigerator snugs up against the block
screwed to the wall and stays
put.
BEFORE
AFTER
In the
BEFORE image you can see that
the top of the refrigerator
compressor housing (silver box)
is a good two inches below that
brace (2 X 4 block) above it. If
the refrigerator tips forward,
it will never touch that block.
Plus, the block is not attached
to the silver angle bracket on
the wall... the block is just
sitting on it.
In the
After image you can see that
there are three blocks, and the
one on the bottom is BELOW the
silver angle bracket, but
screwed into the two blocks
above it, and each of them are
screwed well into the wall
behind the refrigerator. If the
refrigerator tries to tip
forward, the compressor box will
hit the bottom block and that is
as far as it will go forward.
The refrigerator can still be
slid/rolled forward out of the
cabinet without detaching
anything.
When we are
headed "back to the ranch" we
either have to drive the
mountain road up above the ranch
or we drive the coastal road
which goes right through
Kawaihae (Kah - wah - ee - haw -
ay), a small town that contains
one of the two sea ports on the
island. The other is in Hilo.
This small strip mall has
several shops, restaurants,
etc., including the best ice
cream place in the area. As we
were leaving I noticed these two
white cars. Exactly the same
car. OK, curious. But look
closer. Look at the plate
numbers. These guys are twins.
They most likely belong to a
rental company and when brought
to the island they were licensed
at the same time and were issued
consecutive plate numbers. But
intriguing how they ended up
parked next to each other. This
is a large island. Likely, a
large family rented two of them
and they all stopped for a
burger or an ice cream cone. We
saw this happen one other time,
back in 1991, our first visit to
this island, when at the end of
the road at the overlook to
Pololu Valley (Poh - loh - loo),
where two matching blue Geo
Metros were parked next to each
other, with two consecutive
plates just like these. Islands
are small places. Sort of like
growing up in a small town.
Do we have
room here for another sunset?
:-)
At the
north end of the Island of
Hawai'i is a tiny town named
Hawi, and pronounced by the
locals as Hah - Vee... yes, V.
In some instances a W is
actually pronounced as a V, and
other times it is accepted
either way. It depends upon
which vowel is nearby.
At one time
the bustling center of sugar
production, Hawi is over 165
years old, and in the 1970's the
sugar cane farming literally
left the islands to go to the
Philippines, where labor was
cheaper. The town of Hawi was
fast becoming a ghost town.
Enterprising locals picked
themselves up and turned it into
a tourist-oriented town and it
is now on most Hawai'i Island
visitors' wish lists to visit.
This is a view of the main
highway going through town. The
owners are trying really hard to
fix up the buildings and make
the town inviting.
It has been
a unique visit. The Browns will
be returning from their cruise
in two days. The house cleaner
that Donna has come in every
week has been in and out of the
hospital, so we will be doing a
housecleaning tomorrow before
the Brown's return.
The Brown's
made it home from Japan and we
had the chance to spend a full
day with them before we had to
head back to Pleasanton. They
usually have long flights to get
home from their travels, and
need some time to unwind and let
their body clock catch up with
the right day and hour, but we
enjoyed our time with them.
The following day Donna took us
down to the airport in Kailua
Kona, and we headed home.
On the
plane I was reading from our
Kindle, the story of Colton
Burpo , the 4-year old that came
out of surgery with a wealth of
knowledge about God and Jesus
and members of his family that
had died long before his birth (Heaven
Is For Real by Todd Burpo).
I had just read that he had
mentioned to his dad, an
assistant pastor of a small
Midwest church, that he had seen
Angels. He described them as
having a bright light about
their head. His dad, who was the
author and narrator of the book
described how he tried to tie
each new comment from his son
that described what he had seen,
to what he could remember in the
Bible. He thought about how the
Biblical teachings described
Angels. The dad describes “The
apostle John in the book of
Revelation wrote that he saw a
“mighty angel coming down from
heaven, surrounded by a cloud,
with a rainbow over his head,”
and that the angel’s face “shone
like the sun.” “
It was at
that moment that I happened to
look out my starboard window of
the plane to see this scene:
That is the
wing of our 737, and we are
flying home, away from the
sunset over the islands. So the
sun is behind us, and is being
reflected off our wing tip. If
you have not flown in a while,
most of the passenger aircraft
are being refitted today with a
turned up tip of the wing to
give what is supposed to be
better control of the aircraft,
a smoother ride, and better fuel
efficiency. With the tip ‘bent’
upward like that, it is catching
the sun’s rays nicely. I had
never seen the sun catch on that
tip before. Yes, it did make me
think rather deeply for a moment
or two, as it 'shined like the
sun' .
Arriving at
the Oakland Airport at the
strike of eleven pm, our driver
was an 'old friend'... Tim from
Ambassador has picked us up at
least a half dozen times and
driven us home. It is always his
last run of the day and he just
goes on over to Livermore to his
home.
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