Back in business!

Hiya hiya!
We got the internet up and running at our new house!  I'll be posting frequently again-- if staring at the computer doing resumes and job applications doesn't drive me nuts.

Happy thanksgiving, and goodbye to November.
Beth and I are pretty well moved in here now.  I think Beth is going to do something with some photos she took of our place...  I'm trying to figure out what to do with the comment that the blog is "very domestic."  I think I'll embrace it, but stop short of posting home pics right off the bat.
Here is our address, in case you were wondering to send all that stuff you've been getting for us:

75-192 Alakai St. Rear Apt.
Kailua-Kona, HI, 96740

Best parts of the last week or two we've been floating anchorless without the net:

College buddy Laura came to visit with her man Nick for thanksgiving!  We bumped and rattled their little Hyundai over the 1801 lava field near the airport, then hoofed it over the last section into the remote beach of Makalwena.  It was a holiday weekend, so it was pretty busy for how remote it was.  Still, though, "a little slice of paradise," as Laura said. 

Thanksgiving, of course.  We had two: one with Beth's coworkers, one just the two of us.  I have to report, sadly, that the (in)famous Bevis Green Jello Salad didn't go over well with the locals.  It does, happily, keep well.  It's pretty good with coffee.  Must be the pint of heavy whipping cream.  Now how could anyone not like something with that in the ingredients?

Note: 1) the awesome mugs Beth found us! 2) one of the 4 green coconuts Beth harvested from our front yard.  Them things are hard to get into.  Here she is showing appropriate strain:

Here she is working on other kitchen goodies:

Another highlight: my first taste of the legendary Hawaiian culinary creation Spam Musubi.  Basically, about a cup of white rice and a quarter-inch thick slab of spam wrapped in nori.  It's that simple.  But the whole is bigger than the sum of its parts, right?

This is Spam Musubi in its native environment.  And that, dashboard, cellophane and all, is exactly how it looked when I ate it.  Us bike commuters got to keep our calories up!

I hope to kick off a new aspect to the blog later today or tomorrow:  more posts about plants and animals I see here in Hawaii.  Something to supplement the raw shock value of the spiders.   I hope it interests you as much as it does me. There is some pretty cool stuff here, and I want to document it as much for myself as I want to show you.  Perhaps I will start off with the ubiquitous and cute house gecko, as most people seem to think these are pretty cool!  Stay tuned!

Slowly but slowly

“Slowly but slowly,” as our roommate at the company condo Egan likes to say. “We’re slow, but we’re expensive!” as my uberskilled carpenter cousin Ian likes to say. 

It's all coming together here, but it'll be a while until we're truly cruising. We’ve moved into our new place and are getting settled in. 

We had a *great* ultimate tournament last weekend.  One of the best I’ve been to.  My opinion may be partially swayed by the fact that I felt the best I’ve felt at a tournament for a long time.  This was another story, thanks to lots of stretching and really slow running for the last year or so.  Ah, the discipline I never had in highschool or college.  I didn’t get the least bit injured, as far as I can tell.  That may actually be a first.  But on top of the personal victory, the tournament was awesome. 

We got good beer Friday and Saturday nights, good dinner both nights, a live band and a firedancing performance on Saturday, camping both nights, breakfast both days, great field food, including all the fresh local avocados, starfruit, and bananas you could eat; a pool and an ocean to swim in…all for $50.  Big props to the TDs.  It was really great to meet all the players, too.  Many from Alaska.  Many from the mainland.  I was most happy, though, to meet the other Hawaii players.  Ultimate is going to be fun here.

I’ll try to keep it short.  We don’t have internet at our new place yet, but every once in a while, my computer picks up a signal from one of the coffee shops down on Alii Drive.  Right now, I’m riding their waves and feeling fortunate.  So I’ll sign off and keep my fingers crossed that this actually posts.  When we get a more reliable connection, I will balance the personal posts with some more informative (and graphically interesting) ones.  For now, I’ll take the fleeting connection as a good omen!

It's Beth's Birthday!

Today/Tomorrow, the 16th.  Wish her a good one!

Beach!

Yesterday I went to a beautiful beach with some of Beth's coworkers (she was working...)

Guess who forgot their camera!  I do have to say that the Cellana folks are all really friendly.  Most are about our age, very fun and welcoming.  It is a good community to fall into.

comments

I've gotten some complaints about not being able to post comments!  I don't know what the problem is.  I'll try to fix it!


In the meantime, here are some of my responses to yer comments:

Thanks for the comments!  Glad you're out there checking this out.

The frisbee pickup was fun.  A good group of people out there, playing hard.  Wide range of skill levels. A good family game to get in on.  We are excited to go again this Sunday. We are also planning to attend a hat tournament next weekend north on the Kohala coast with some of the players.  Exciting!

Carl the cane spider left us.  I've yet to see any a 'is kin. I have see a lot of these buggers called orb spiders.  They are much smaller, but more scary looking.  Have a peek.   Also huge crabs?  Easy blog to waste time on.  Kind of like mine?

Here's a new (and accurate) picture of a garden orb weaver spider, on the milkweed bush in our yard. It caught a honeybee, so you can see how big it is.  What a feast!  These things are everywhere.  No problems yet. This milkweed bush is really buzzing with activity. I'll for sure put some more stuff up on it.

this is Argiope appensa, commonly called the Garden Spider or orb weaver spider.  Scientists eh?  Can't even be moved enough by that nasty bugger to give it a unique name!  I bet I can find a Hawaiian name.  In theory, I like spiders.  But the ones around here are giving me the creeps.  Fortunately, I haven't found a dangerous one yet.

Here's a good info page on weaver spiders. It sounds like there will be some interesting spider discoveries in my future here.

homework.

So, today I spent 8 hours working on our apartment, getting it ready to move in.  Mostly trying to clean up the floors.  They are nice oak hardwood floors, they are just really dirty.  We knew this coming in, kind of, we just didn't realize how dirty they actually were.  After spending the morning trying out different cleaners, I got a hold of the landlords... and they were very friendly and helpful. To think I had spent the morning cursing them.  I can say these things because I don't think they have found this blog...yet.  This post may be short lived, so if you want the dirt on my cleaning (and I'm sure you all do), better lap it up while you can.
 
Orange citrus degreaser.  That was the key.  I would have never thought to put that on the wood floor, but it worked wonders getting what appeared to be years of sticky grime off the floor.  I'm realizing this post is going to make me look like I'm renting a dump from a slumlord.  I only hope that's not the case. So far, I don't think it is. I get a good sense from the landlords.  I just wish they hadn't thought that it was a good idea to rub olive oil onto the floor to "moisturize" it.  At least they told me, and gave me keys to the degreaser!

Here are the good things:  2 bedrooms and an office, it's a freestanding house, it's got a lot of storage underneath, it's got a great breeze, it's got a corner full of windows with views out to the ocean and along the coast, it's got fruit trees: avocados, guava, limes, lemons, and lots of other cool stuff in the yard. And we (Beth) can afford it!  It's just being a pain in the butt to furnish! We still need a bed.  We do have a dining room table, and a few other random things, so once we get the bed worked out, I think that we will be able to piece the other stuff together. 


I'll post some pictures of the house and yard soon!

A day off!

Today is Monday for Beth: she had the last three days off, and will work for the next six.  Cellana is on a nine day week.  I took a break from blogmastering so that Beth and I could do the requisite house and furniture searching together, but we also got our first good taste of the scenic Hawaii people vacation here for.

We drove south down the highway for a cluster of Kona attractions: snorkeling and spinner dolphins in Kealakekua Bay, and down farther, the historic Hawaiian religious site and royal grounds of Pu'uhona o Honaunau.

Kealakekua Bay is a sheltered bay formed when a huge chunk of Mauna Loa fractured off of the mountain and slumped into the ocean.  It is now a shallow (40'?) bay, flanked by the huge landslide scarp (cliff), a safe place for spinner dolphins to rest, and a sheltered place with a great snorkeling reef.  It is also where the infamous Captain Cook first landed on Hawaii, putting it on European maps.  He also died here, not long after his first landing.  It's a pretty interesting story.  Here is, once again, a Wikipedia link.  Man, they sure do a good job.  A monument across the bay from the access marks the place of his death and also the best snorkeling spot.

Beth and I rented a kayak and made the 30 minute paddle across, stopping to find the local dolphins on the way.  I jumped in with my fins and snorkel, and watched them swimming around, but they weren't interested in me.  Still cool to see them underwater.  I suppose I saw 15-20 of them, the closest about 30' away.    The guy we rented the kayak from said it was like swimming in an aquarium.  True.  This is where my novice blogger status really comes through, though; I haven't trained myself to take enough pictures to make a truly lively blog. You'll have to use your imagination (or come see for yourself).

The snorkeling was great, but we (that's us on the right) had to get out after only about 40 minutes, because the water was so cold!  Most locals here wear thin wetsuits while diving to stay warm.  We don't have an underwater camera, but this was another aquarium scene: lots of lobate and finger coral, lots of jackfish, parrotfish, eels, sergeant fish, pipefish, groupers, and fish I don't know the names of.

Well I've got to head out to do some moving-related work for our New Apartment!  More about that, and Pu'uhona o Honaunau later.

furniture

Who knew furniture was so expensive? We spent a good few hours today looking at various furniture stores.  I think we'll take what craigslist has to offer. We've already found some possibilities.  It looks like the thing to do is get it from people moving off the island, or from resorts that are redecorating.

Highlight of the shopping day: we found two good thrift stores, and were happy with our purchases there.

Best quote from Beth: "You found a bundt pan?  A springform bundt pan? Oooh, good for pineapple upside down cake.  We're gettin it."

Shout out to NordicWare.

bicycle commuter!

This morning, Beth and I skipped sunrise at Honul's beach to ride our bikes out to Cellana.  Once we snuck out of town, avoiding the major streets, we got up onto Queen Kahumanu Highway, and it was a quick little ride along the relatively flat road.  There is a very wide shoulder, but it is a little scary riding next to the 50 mph traffic. It was a quick 40 minute ride, door to door.  Little did we realize that our journey was eased, like so many before us, by strong SE trade winds!  I'm sure that by the time she has to ride home, the wind will have switched to her favor... grumble grumble.

I stopped by Wawaloli Beach Park on the way home.  It is situated on the same 1801 lava flow as the airport and Cellana, and has lots of rocky shoreline.  A little reminiscent of the North Shore of Lake Superior.  Only a little.  The rocks are both basalt, yes, but they are way younger and more rugged here.  Also, the waves are a lot bigger.  Pretty impressive to this flatlander.  I was impressed with the power and size of the waves and the amount of water they pushed up onto the rocks.

The big peach rock in the middle is covered by about 6 feet more water in the bottom picture than the top!  (sorry no scale).

One place, the waves would slam into the porous, fissured rock, and force air and water through the spaces.  The rocks would hiss and sputter with each wave crest.  Almost like they were alive.  It was very cool.  I was spooked the first time I heard it, until I figured out what was going on.  I even saw one little geyser that would shoot 3 feet in the air! neat.

Here is some of the pahoehoe (ropey lava) I saw.  groovy.

 Rainbow! Wavebow?

 The lil geyser.  Ok, maybe not 3 feet.

One of the funny parts about walking on the rocks was that the little rock crabs would go scurrying away like crazy, usually before I even saw them.  Often with so much vigor that they would fling themselves off the 6' cliffs and go spinning into the sea.  I suppose it is so they wouldn't end up like this:

Here is a Honul's Beach crab, so you can see what the living ones look like: well camouflaged.

Kale?

Some personal updates:

Beth and I looked at a pretty nice house yesterday.  We're submitting and application tomorrow.... we'll let you know!

Today, once I finish my chores (Beth ain't happy when she gets home from work and I haven't gotten my chores done) we're going to go to the local pickup ultimate frisbee game!  We're excited, but don't know what to expect.  This is a small town, and I think most locals are more apt to get out the surfboard or soccer ball than frisbee, but it should be fun.  Sorry Robbinsdale.

There is a local fruit and vegetable market/bazaar down in Kailua Town, just a walk or short bikeride from Ali'i Cove.  I went today and scored this:

A bag of Thai chillies, two limes, a tomato, a huge avocado, two mangoes, two peppers, two bunches of bananas. $7.  How them hard squashes?  I haven't found any squash or suitable kale replacement yet, but I think I can make due.  Can you find the frisbee in the picture above?  MN pride?

I got a kama'aina (hawaiian for child of the land) or resident discount on these beauts; I'm learning how to ask for a kama'aina discount and when its appropriate to bargain.  It's a whole new challenge.

sunrise at Ali'i cove!

Nice sunrise this morning.  This place is called Houl's Beach, just minutes from Cellana's condo.

Here is a picture of the condo complex from Ali'i Drive (map).

On the map, you can see Honul's beach in between the vacation rentals and the clairvoyant center. Kind of a metaphor for my life? Anyway, the condo is in the wedge of undeveloped (at photo time) land just inland of the clairvoyant center.  Ali'i is the Hawaiian word for the historic noble class, believed to have had divine origins!

Our unit is on the ground floor, facing the pool, which in this picture is behind the hedge. 

You can see Mt Hoalalai in the background of this picture.

There it is on the map the Easternmost mountain on the big island.
Hualalai is considered dormant, but is responsible for the 1801 flow that the Kona Airport is on.  It has also been a part of 3 seismic/eruptive events since then, most recently in 1929.  It is the 3rd most active Hawaiian volcano, after Kilauea and  Manu Loa.  Doesn't sound dormant to me! Here is a good Wikipedia page on Hualalai.

But all the really active lava flows, the ones famous for flowing continuously into the ocean, are on the coast south of Kilauea.  There is a lot of cool Volcanology here.  More to come to be sure.  But while this picture is here, check out Lo'ihi, in the ocean south of Kilauea.  It is currently the volcano most directly over the hot spot and will be the next volcanic Hawaiian island.    Here's a graphic illustrating the idea:  see how the hot spot is stationary and the Pacific plate moves NW, creating the island chain?  Good.

rude radio

May I please take a moment to reaffirm my love for the twin cities radio scene?
I knew that KFAI, Radio K, KNOW and the Current were special, but I figured that everywhere would have some kind of community or public radio, even if it wasn't up to the TC standards... alas.  I shouldn't neglect to note that I have heard some pretty cool Hawaiian music on the radio around here.

This morning, I've been listening to Rude Radio on Radio K.  How thankful I am that all the stations I mentioned stream live on the internet!  The roots reggae and ska is perty perfect for the Hawaiian climate, in my mind.  Stream it, or, if you're lucky enough to tune it in on your radio, enjoy some aural sunshine beamed from the Caribbean to Minnesota to the South Pacific and back again.

Any other favorite radio stations I should find out there in cyberspace?

heat's on in Hawaii

On my bikeride home from checking out an apartment today, I stopped by Target to pick up some stuff.  I looked in the fan area, but all the fans had been replaced with electric heaters.  How seasonal!  The low is supposed to be 73 degrees F tonight.  Does this say more about Target or Hawaii?

Of relevance: electricity is really expensive here.  The bill at the apartments we've been looking at are around $100 a month.  $0.33/KWH.  I understand it is made predominantly by burning diesel in jet turbines...

DST and daylight in Hawaii

So all my friends back on the mainland will be celebrating daylight savings time tonight by gaining one hour of sleep.  Not so here on Hawaii.  Tomorrow, I will be only 4 hours behind my Minnesota friends.  What's an hour on island time?

The real difference with daylight between here and the mainland is its length.  The sun rises about 6:30 and sets about 5:45.  There's about the same amount of daylight in Minnesota right now, but the weather here is more like Minnesota in July-- when there is about 15 hours of daylight.  It's weird to have such pleasant weather with such a short amount of daylight; so much nice weather when it is dark out.

It's pretty nice, weather-wise here. It gets cloudy everyday around 10 AM, which means the sun is not as intense.  Sometimes there is a drizzle around 4 in the afternoon-- then the sun starts going down.*  Cool mornings, with fresh air from the ocean.  Beth and I have been getting up pretty early (5:30-6), partially because we are still adjusting to the time change, partially to take advantage of the weather.  We have been walking down to the beach to watch the sunrise. There wasn't a spectacular sunrise today, because it was cloudy.  Now it is raining.  Apparently, this is one of the 12 statistical rain days in Kailua Kona.  So we'll appreciate it.  But hard for a guy who has to ride his bike around to look at apartments.

Here is a beach picture from this morning:

If you'd like to see something less blurry, you can mail your requests on the box of a Cannon PowerShot SX30 IS

*This is all different for the folks who live up the mountain-- a lot of people here live around 1000' elevation, where it is cooler and cloudier and wetter all the time.  These mountainsides are a new thing for da flatlander, too.

trouble in paradise

While I was laying on the floor doing some back exercises, I glanced up and spotted this guy:

uhgg.  I had to know they were out there, being as we're in the jungle, but...
4" of spider hanging out on the wall over my head.  Yikes.  Maybe the reason I haven't seen any of these yet is the condo association's guy wearing a VOC vapor mask and spraying all the plants around here... yes, my fellow association members, living in a photograph of suburban american paradise plopped into the tropics takes upkeep!

Here is as close as I could venture for some scale.  I was half amazed I didn't have a spider in my face for doing this.  

The furry fellow appears to be a cane spider.  Look how their eyes reflect the flash!! Creepy!  Apparently, it is friendly and going to eat the roaches for me.  I'll call him Carl the Cane Spider.

Well, time for something else.  I won't tell you that I'm going to go for a swim and read a book poolside.  That would make me and all other homemakers look bad.  It's just that I've already got dinner taken care of.

 If you like these posts, you better pray I don't make any friends down here!

local fauna

So who moves to Hawaii and doesn't give their friends any idea what the place looks like.  All in good time.  For now, here are the few photos I have taken.

First, a Hawaiian Hawk, or I'o

or

Look at his little flamingo leg lift!  Apparently, that's in here in the tropics

There he is, up there in the palm tree outside of our condo.  Beth spotted him while getting ready for her first day of work.  As you may have read in the link above, these guys are very rare.  A good omen!

These photos were taken from our lanai, the Hawaiian word for patio or deck.  As we've been looking at apartments, I've come to realize how common they are around here.  In fact, a house without a good outdoor living area is pretty much lacking.  Some of the nicest places we've looked at have a bit of an extra kitchen outdoors, with bbqs, stoves or sinks in addition to the requisite shade and chairs.  We're hoping to land in a place with an outdoor shower.  A nice amenity, when da wedder is always 85 and partly sunny!

Lanai is also the name of one of the many (more than I thought; 18 is commonly accepted) Hawaiian islands, just west of Maui.

fresh off the boat!

 We arrived in Kona and made it to the nice little retirement/condo gated community where Beth’s company has a condo on Tuesday afternoon.  Its super cheesy, and I wouldn't want to live here,  but a nice place to land in!  We woke up at 5 Wednesday morning (5 hours behind MN here) and walked to the beach (5 mins!) to watch the sunrise with our coffee.  It was longer than I expected from what I've heard of the tropical twilight.  This is big sky country! nothing but the ocean out there.  There was a rainstorm moving through somewhere over the ocean, so there were plenty of clouds to make all pink and purpley.  There were already 3 surfers out-- I think beth and I are going to like stand-up paddleboarding.  It looks like a good intro to surfing, using some of our canoeing skillz. It's already getting warm here at 9 AM.  The sun gets up high and zaps down around here, I think.  

The flight over here was wild.  We flew over the insanely dry and rugged desert between Phoenix and LA.  That is not a place for people.  Then north along the coast just long enough to get a really good view of LA, the valley, and Catalina island. that was cool.  then 6 hours of nothing but massive impenetrable blue ocean with a few clouds poofing up in places. Then, there is this mountain just sloping super gradually up out of the ocean, like it was just feet below the surface the whole time.  Very casual. no indication it was coming.  like it could have been anywhere it wanted  Not what I expected the tallest mountain in the world to look like.  it was very cool. 

Then, the lava flow where the airport is built looked like the moon, or mars, or some kind of desolate nuclear wasteland.  Just jagged brown and black lava flows over jagged brown and black lava flows.  with lots more topography than I expected.  20 foot tall collapsed caves of lava in the essentially planar field. very few plants.  Beth thinks it is 10 years old.  I would think it could be over 100 and still look the same. (Update: the map says “Lava flow of 1801.”  Maybe I misheard her)

This is a crazy chunk of planet, from what I can tell so far.  You'll have to come see for yourself! (all we've seen of the town so far is a very typically american big box edge of town drive from the airport, and a very touristy downtown)