Turkey Day

Sophie and I chilled out at home on Thanksgiving Day. We observed my usual TDay morning rituals - watching the Macy's Parade in bed and then the National Dog Show while cooking all the yummy standards.

Mr Turkey Before


Mr Turkey After


Sophie Watching the Dog Show


We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Aloha!

Beth's Visit

Beth was here last week, and we all had a ton-o-fun. Sophie fell in love with Beth and demanded Beth's full attention every chance she got.

Beth and I visited many beaches - white sand, black sand, green sand. We played in some really rough waves and took many tumbles in the surf. On one of those tumbles, I lost my prescription sunglasses and enlisted the aid of Strange Men Wearing Goggles. Much to my surprise, the glasses were found! We dumped an amazing amount of sand out of our suits after that adventure. Three days later, I was still digging sand out of my bellybutton.

We saw turtles. LOTS of turtles.



We watched foolish young people jump 50 feet off the old pier at South Point. We were not the LEAST bit tempted to try it ourselves. The wind must have been 50 miles an hour that day. We returned with much dust in our eyes and ears.

We walked a few miles along the old fish ponds - sometimes on sand and sometimes on sharp lava. Along the way, we debated over the need for the "No Nudity" signs that we saw along this path.



We went to the Kona Cultural Festival at Keauhou and tasted many local coffees, ate mystery food, and rubbed elbows with a packed crowd.

We had the mandatory shave ice on Ali'i Drive. Beth insists that this giant pile of sweetened ice before her is only a "medium".



It was the total tourist adventure.

Aloha y'all!

Sophie Standing Tall

She just keeps getting taller and taller.

Kona Ironman

The Kona Ironman was this past Saturday. The cycling part of the race was a 100-mile round trip from Kailua to Hawi (on the northern tip of the island). They closed the Queen Ka'ahumanu highway for the riders. All week I'd seen signs at the bottom of Ka'iminani (my main access road) warning that the highway would be closed at that junction.
So on Saturday morning, I drove to where Ka'iminani was barricaded and watched the cyclists as they went by.
I arrived early enough to see the last of the riders heading north and then stayed long enough to see the first of the riders as they came back. The leaders were at least 3 hours ahead of the tail-end riders.

Other locals watching the leading riders returning from Hawi:



The last rider as he headed north - several hours behind the leaders. He's probably old enough to be the grandfather of the lead rider:



The lead rider returning from the 100 mile trek - and he STILL has to run a marathon after this:



Aloha y'all!

Here Come the Holidays!

Although the weather hasn't changed much here, summer is gone and Halloween is just around the corner. I'll have to learn to get myself into holiday mode without autumn leaves and cold nights to prompt me.  

My calendar shows expected visitors in November (2 groups), December (2 groups), January, and February. I look forward to seeing all of you! You can expect warm weather and sunshine but, if you are lucky, we'll spend at least one afternoon sitting on the lanai and watching a tropical downpour. I LOVE it when it rains here!

Sophie and I both survived my trip to Austin in September. After non-stop playing for five days at Paws, Sophie slept for 72 hours when she returned home. She usually spends one day a week playing with all her dog friends, but I think five days was just too much fun for her. The best news is that she didn't seem to pine away for me that week, nor did she pretend not to know me when I picked her up at 7AM on Saturday (the moment they opened). 

Sophie is now about 65 pounds, long enough to stretch most of the distance across a king-sized bed, and tall enough to stand with her paws on the lanai railing to finish off the breadcrumbs I put out for the birds.

Sophie supervises my ironing on a rainy Sunday...



Aloha y'all!

Magical Geckos

A month ago, Sophie chased a gecko around my office until he sacrificed his tail to escape. The tail was still twitching as Sophie played with it and proudly gave it to me. Ewww.
Yesterday, that same gecko showed himself again, sprouting his stubby, newly grown tail. Ewww again. I guess the replacement tails don't get their normal green color for a while. About half the geckos I see in the garden are wearing a similar short pinkish regrown tail.
And yes, I still have geckos in my office. I frequently dedicate myself to chasing them out, but new ones seem to find their way in. At present, my office is home to both this recovering gecko and another with a full tail. I can only hope they are of the same gender.



A bit of gecko information: these lovely green geckos with the red spots are Madagascar geckos -- only one of many species of geckos on the island. These are the only non native species, and yet have become a symbol of Hawaii -- perhaps because they are by far the most attractive. I'll try to get pictures of the 'other' geckos for you. I've seen at least four other species in my yard.

Aloha y'all!

Daily Sunset Show

When you come for dinner, this is the show that we'll put on just for you! It's even better when you can smell the BBQ and feel the cooling trade winds. Chez Dana is open 7 days a week, with the sunset performance starting at 6PM all year round. Dress is island casual. Reservations are appreciated.

Aloha y'all!

Growing My Own Pineapples!

I started these plants by cutting off the tops of pineapples and rooting them in water (after an interesting "hang them upsidedown for a week" ritual). Some are the usual Maui gold variety, and some are a white variety that I got from my neighbor's plants. White pineapples are hard to find at the farmer's markets and impossible to find in the grocery stores.

They've been growing in pots on my lanai until this weekend when I finally made them a home in the ground. It was not terribly fun digging holes in this lava rubble, and I had to use a pick instead of a shovel. Hauling all that border rock and gravel was also not terribly fun, but it was good, productive, sweaty exercise. And seeing those little pineapples in the ground WAS lots of fun.

I've been slowly working my way around the perimeter of the backyard creating that boulder border for the newly planted podocarpus (that's the fuzzy plant between the pineapples). The podocarpus are 5 feet apart all around the yard (about 35 plants in all). Eventually they will create a tall, dense hedge, but for now I have lots of blank space for things like pineapples.

I have no idea how long they take to develop babies, but in the future I hope to always have fresh pineapples to share with you when you visit.

 

Aloha y'all!

Sophie is 8 Months Old Today

 

 

56 pounds and still growing. As anyone who has ever fallen asleep in that chair can attest, it's a HUGE chair. And she totally fills it.

Best Photo of the Summer

I entered this photo in the Star Advertiser's "Endless Summer" photo contest.

That's Ella and me walking at the Old Kona Airport beach. Emma took the picture.

Aloha y'all!

San Jose Trip Postponed

Thank you to everyone who offered to put me up while I'm visiting San Jose. No fewer than seven people offered me a place to stay!
Unfortunately, late last Friday the trip was postponed. Indefinitely. Budgets and cost cutting and all that. We'll just have to wait and see what happens next.

In the meantime, perhaps these photos will entertain you...

Giant coral knuckle found at Pine Trees beach (5 miles from my house):

Sand from Kekaha Kai (4 miles from my house)
and Pololu Valley (on the Hamakua Coast):

 

Both sand samples were collected by Megan. Our plan is to collect sand from every beach on the island.

Speaking of collecting coral and sand and other beach souvenirs... I'm told that it's bad juju to remove a rock from the island. It angers Pele. Coral and shells don't carry the same curse - you can remove as many of them as you want. I'm also told that people who DO take rocks to the mainland often find themselves cursed and mail the rocks back, hoping to remove the curse. Those who don't have a friend here address the rocks to the Kona postmaster, who displays a pile of returned rocks at the Post Office.

Aloha y'all!

I might be visiting San Jose

Sometime in August (the dates keep fluctuating) I might be stopping in San Jose for a few days on my way home from a week in Austin. Yes, I know... August in Austin will be deadly hot. The timing wasn't up to me.

I'll try to get together with as many of you as possible. I'll be there a weekend plus the following Monday and Tuesday. It could be the 17th-20th or the 24th-27th.

Poor Sophie will be boarded at Paws for about 12 days.  I know she likes it there and has fun playing with the other dogs, but my worse fear is that she'll think I'm not coming back for her. She's spent 3-4 playdays there, but never stayed over night. Do shelter dogs really have lingering abandonment issues? No doubt, our first long separation will be the hardest. Over time, she'll learn to trust that I will always return for her.

 

Visitors !!

It's summer in Hawaii so, naturally, friends are starting to pop in.
Emma and Ella were here for a few days - long enough for us to enjoy several beach outings and shopping trips and eat ourselves silly.
The highlight of the week was boogie boarding with Ella on Kekaha Kai beach (4 miles from my house)...



The following week, Jocelyn and the entire Blair clan came for dinner and my daily sunset show. They were staying at what sounded like a gorgeous resort up in Waikoloa. Their visit to the island coincided with Tropical Storm Flossie's near miss of the Big Island.
In Hawaiian terms, a 'near miss' means that we got only a LOT of rain and wind. Maui was directly hit and got a FREAKING LOT of rain and wind.

Aloha y'all!

Dinosaur Vertebrae

Like most puppies, Sophie picks up all sorts of trash on our walks. Check out this huge vertebrae she found on one of our off-leash walks.

 

I'm open to suggestions about what kind of creature this came from. Sophie and I are leaning toward a T Rex.

Growing Our Own Bananas

We picked our first bananas! These are "apple bananas" -- smaller than the Chiquitas that you see in the grocery stores with a sweeter apple-ish taste.



I gave away many and still couldn't eat them all so, on a rainy Sunday, I baked banana bread. Mmmmmm.

We have two more trees with developing bananas so I'm guessing there will be much banana bread in our future.

Sexy Sophie

Sophie is now sleeping with me at night. She cuddles so nicely and doesn't take more than her share of the bed. She doesn't seem to understand that sharing a bed means sharing the MAKING of the bed in the morning. I'll keep working on that.




Aloha y'all!

Sophie's Six Month Update

Sophie and I found a new paved road that goes nowhere and is closed to traffic. It's just perfect for our afternoon walks. After several leashed walks, I was brave enough to unhitch her and let her roam free. She never goes far from me and comes back when I call her. STILL... it was a scary thing for me the first few times...



Sophie is 6 months old now and 47 pounds. She's getting really long and tall. There's very little room left for me on the bed. :)



No gardening news or new adventures for Sophie's mom. My project is in the last few weeks before release and, except for Sophie's afternoon walk, I'm working around the clock.

Aloha y'all  !!

Sophie and Makoa Sitting in a Tree

Sophie had her first official date with Makoa, the bad boy from next door. They play really rough, with Makoa demon-growling all the while, and Sophie loves it.

Makoa is a full grown Rottweiler/Labrador mix.
Sophie is only 6 months old, but you can see that she's almost his size.

This is what I mean by "playing rough".

 


Totally making out  -- right in front of her mother!



Aloha y'all!

Sophie the Escape Artist

After all that fuss to build a new fence to keep my puppy safe and secure, Sophie has been finding a way out! She's only recently been allowed to play alone in the backyard, and three separate times she has magically appeared outside the fence. I checked all the obvious things - gates not fully latched, gaps under the fence... it was none of these things. I was starting to think that she was squeezing herself through the fence bars and I would have to fatten her up to solve the problem... when I caught her walking on top of the lava rock wall.

 

The wall is lower at the north end and slopes up at the south end - where there's a gap between the wall and the new gate. The gap never seemed to be a cause for concern because there was no way she could jump the 5 ft rock wall at that end. ((The wall is about 4.5 feet where she's standing in the picture.)) Apparently she figured out that she could get up on the wall at the low end, walk on the narrow ledge for about 60 feet as it sloped up to the south end, and escape through the gap! The access at the low end is now blocked with large flower pots. Yesterday, I saw her sniffing and whining at the flower pots. Curses! Foiled again!

 

My IQ is 147. Hers appears to be 146 - giving me just a slight edge! Humans are in the lead, but not by much!

Sophie Goes to the Beach

Most Hawaii beaches are for tourists, not dogs, so it took a while for me to find the dog-friendly beaches. On Memorial Day, Sophie and I checked out one close to home. It's an adrenaline-pumping hike across lava rubble to get there (keeping the tourists away) and Sophie managed it like a mountain goat.

 

She made a few new friends and behaved herself just fine. Eventually, I'll let her off leash (as many of the dogs were) but not just yet. She's a big girl, but she's still a baby.

 

 

Aloha y'all!

Adorable Sophie

Sophie gets more adorable each day.

Her long, soft ears sometimes forget where they belong, so I've been trying to teach her this:
"When you feel the wind whistling through your brain, shake your head."



Aloha y'all!

Backyard Remodeling

Sophie and I have been working hard to plant Podocarpus along the new fence to replace the toxic Oleander that we ripped out, and we've almost finished. These will encircle the backyard to give us privacy - about 30 plants in all. We've been getting daily rain, and these new plants are loving it.



And just yesterday, the trucks from Soils-R-Us delivered the materials for the next phase of the backyard remodel. It's hard to get perspective from this aerial view, but the larger of these piles is the entire width of my driveway. That's drain rock on the left and a special Hawaiian soil mix on the right. They call it CTH - Cinder, Topsoil, and macadamia nut Husks.



Aloha y'all!

Happy Mother's Day

Sophie gave me this for Mother's Day:



It's a Dyson cordless vacuum. Works great picking puppy crumbs off the bamboo floors. I can't blame Sophie for all the hair it picks up - most of it seems to be mine.

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

More Gardening

I planted these seeds one week ago. As you can see, the cukes are ready to go into the ground. At least I have a little more time before the tomatoes demand to get out of those cups!




I pinched the tops from several coleus and stuck them in water. Two days later, they had roots. I stuck them in dirt. A week later, I had this basket of coleus. Coleus are notorious for being easy to grow, but not this fast!




And here's my plumeria tree all in bloom.




Aloha y'all!

Gardening with Sophie

Sophie is a great garden helper.
She's been helping water the orchids, and just look at our results!



These are all in our yard or in pots on the lanai.
We didn't buy any of these already in bloom!
This might be the first time EVER that I've coaxed an orchid into blooming.

Sophie @ 16 Weeks

Sophie's 4-month birthday will be this Saturday. We're having a small event for just the family. She's made a request for a new harness. In only two weeks, she's already outgrown her "medium" and now needs a "large".

She was such a good girl sitting for this photo shoot... until boredom set in. Yaaawwwn!



When the fast life gets too much for her, it's nap time.



Aloha y'all!