Thursday 12/22/05

Mele Kalikimaka (Merry Christmas): Well, spurred on by Elva's chat message to give some news, I thought I'd write a bit about what I've been doing lately.  First, I'd like to wish everyone a Mele Kalikimaka.

The weather is, I think, the best part of living here on Kauai.  It's usually between 75 and 80 degrees most every day now.  Significant rain falls mostly at night but we still have light rain during the day (the kind where you don't need an umbrella).  It always smells fresh and you can get a whiff of the plants and flowers often.  The sunrise and sundown are totally amazing this time of year.  I really like the winter birds also.  It's the time that the little java sparrows, the myna, and the cardinals hatch so watching the juvenile birds has been a treat. 

The ocean is very unpredictable so I haven't been swimming much lately.  I still go to walk or look for Puka and Niihau shells but usually snorkeling or spear fishing is not an option, so I don't generally even wear my suit to the beach anymore, just walking shorts and a tank.

The whales arrived around mid-November but everyone says they are still not here in force.  There are approximately 400 baby whales born between Oahu and Kauai every year December through March.  I take my dinner up to Kealia Overlook, just down the road from my place.  I usually see at least some whale spouts but have not seen anymore breaching since the one time at the Grand Slam. Everyone says that soon we will see them so often that people won't even yell "Whale".  I can't believe they will ever come to be so insignificant to me.  Maybe it's my age.

I've done quite a few things since I last wrote but I'm not sure of the order so I'll just write about some of them with as much detail as I can remember.

I had been told by Tina, a coworker, that there was a place that you could float down a cane irrigation ditch through a tunnel in the mountain near 'Opaeka'a Falls.  After many times of discussing it Ralph and I set out around noon on a Friday to get a look-see. We drove up into the mountains as far as we could down an old cane road and then started walking.  The area was unbelievable.  Wild Ginger everywhere, streams coming down from Mount Wai'ale'ale, the islands highest peak and "one of the wettest places on Earth", and trees covered in lichen with all kinds of ferns and orchids attached to the limbs.  We saw the irrigation ditch and followed it along until we saw where it entered the side of the mountain.  Very dark in there.  Tina had told me we would need head lamps and it was now obvious why.  I was so excited I wanted to go home and get our stuff to get in.  We put our hands in the water and decided we'd have to wait until summer.  BUrrrrrr!  The water will get a bit warmer in the summer but I'm sure it won't be much warmer as these ditches are runoff from the mountain rain (over 600 inches this year). We figure at least when we get out during the summer we'll warm up.  This will be one of our first explorations in March.  We walked a path that followed where it seemed the underground stream ran.  Up over the mountain and down to a river with a great swimming hole.  There was a damn and rope swing all enclosed in a small valley.  We could see inside the tunnel here again to see where we would exit from the area where we had seen the entrance on the other side of the mountain.  We walked about 2 hours and I was totally exhausted by the time we came back to the entrance of the tunnel.  We continued on past there to the end of the road where the natural stream from Mount  Wai'ale'ale wraps around the valley.  There were some ponds full of pollywogs and a great view of the mountain.  As we walked back Ralph pointed out a bush that had small black berries.  He said they were Job's Tears that are often strung to create Rosaries.  He picked one off and showed me how to pull the center out to get a hollow bead.  This beadlike seed has a hollow structure (called involucres) in them, perfect for beading.  When these dry they are so solid that when you knock them against each other they sound like they are made of porcelain.  We picked some of the Job's Tears and when I got home I researched them to see what to do with them.  I've been stringing them to create some bracelets.  Yasmin, who works at Movie Tours at the desk, does beading also so we are going tomorrow again to collect more with her Mom.

Jeanne (Ralph's wife) and I went last week to the movie theater (one of two here) to see the newest Harry Potter movie.  Wow!  I really liked it but there is no way I would take young children.  At one point Jeanne jumped so high I thought she was going to fall down the isle.  Scared me to death.  We had a great time.

The Kauai Community College contract with the County was extended this week.  I'm really glad because I have really enjoyed being the "IT Roamer" for the last few months.  I'm really becoming familiar with the county and the great services they provide the community here.  A few of my favorite experiences so far have been:

Getting a tour, from one of my students, of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC).  Screens covering the walls, specially built tables with phones, a room of servers, and amazing communications equipment.

Working with the Victims Witness program employees. They are amazing and caring people.

Interacting with people just off the plane applying for camping permits when I went to see one of my Excel students in the Recreation department.  I loved helping them choose a beach to camp at.

Helping a police officer learn to use the drawing tools and photo editing capabilities of Word to draw a crime scene for court cases.

The services the county provides are amazing, but the best thing is how every employee smiles.  I mean all the time!  Everyone here is just so happy.  Each person has a great Aloha spirit.

When I came here I thought about getting a bird.  There are so many and they are so beautiful.  Gayle (upstairs from me) has 4 very cute birds.  She was on the mainland last month and I took them down to my place to bird-sit for two weeks.  I really enjoyed them but decided they are not as much fun as a cat so I think I'll pass on a bird.  I'll see after awhile if I want a pet but so far I'm really enjoying the freedom.  I still miss my Bunny and really don't want to replace her.  She is doing well with Scott, and his girlfriend has become quite attached to her.  I'm glad she is doing well but I miss her.

On one of the movie tours recently we had a funny thing happen.  We were at a park eating lunch and one of the women was kind of wandering and came by the table to whisper to her new husband.  He smiled and walked her to the restrooms.  When they returned I asked if all was ok and he said that she was afraid of the chickens.  Wendy, the narrator, and I were just so tickled by that.  Later on the tour, when the customers were watching a clip,  Wendy whispered "afraid of the chickens" and I started giggling.  I looked in the rear view mirror and she and her husband were smiling so I knew they heard us.  I said I was sorry but that it was just too funny.  He said yes it is but this one is funnier.  He said remember when you asked if we snorkeled and I said no (I usually ask so we can let them know good places to go)?  I said yes, he said, well when we were at Maui last week, we did snorkel, but she panicked our first day out running around the tide pool screaming because a Tang fish was chasing her.  I'm telling you I thought I'd die of laughter and she was a great sport to share and laugh with us.  It was doubly funny as he is a police officer and the other name for the trigger fish he was describing is a Convict fish.  Just too funny. 

Mele Kalikimaka

I thought this was just too good to not share.  This is my friend Sally from the Corpus Christi Aquarium.  This is her Christmas card picture.  Too cute!