Happy Birthday, Sophie

Saturday the 13th was Sophie's 2nd birthday.

Her California cousins -- Hannah, McKenna, and Walter --  sent her indestructible dog toys, which she promptly destroyed. This made her VERY happy.

This toy:                                                 Quickly became this:

The rope toy presented more of a challenge.
Instructions for playing with a rope toy...

Step 1: Grasp rope with teeth

Step 2: Get a firm grasp with hands

Step 3: Begin pulling...

Step 4: KEEP pulling!

SUCCESS: Notice tiny thread between teeth.

Mele Kalikimaka!!!

It's Christmas time again and I am miraculously ahead of the curve! I have already finished my decorations and shopping, and I'm doing my best to get Christmas cards to everyone.

This year, I went with a small tree and a tropical theme...

In the front yard, we have vacationing penguins enjoying the wonderful Hawaii weather...

Mele Kalikimaka!

Tenting for Termites

I now live in the tropics. Bugs love the tropics. Termites are bugs. Ergo...

Was it a Halloween prank? Did the circus come to town? I'm sure very few people were even curious, as these tents are a common sight. Everyone here gets termites sooner or later.

It took a week to pack up the house, move out for two days, and then move everything back. And by everything, I mean:

• Anything edible from the kitchen and pantry, and also anything from the bathroom that might ever be ingested - toothpaste, medications, cough syrup, even aspirin..., and all the dog/fish/bird food.
• All my lanai plants. Apparently the gas is very hard on orchids in particular.
• I have huge flower pots that serve as fish ponds on both the upper and lower lanais. I had to relocate the fish to a makeshift pond far away from the house. They did not go willingly.

Sophie spent two days at Paws having fun. Except for all the commotion of the packing and unpacking, she wasn't bothered by this at all. I spent the one night at the Royal Kona trying not to worry about a thing. Here was the view from my room:

Aloha y'all!

Queen Sophie

Sophie just gets better and better every day. She is quite queenly, as you can see...

I recently had my lounge chairs refurbished, and of course she had to check them out...

Sophie at the Beach

Most beaches on the island don't allow dogs, but not too far from our house is a dedicated dog beach. Here are pics of Sophie making a new friend, a Rottweiler girl named Isis.

 
  


Aloha, y'all!

Hurricane Iselle

Mahalo to everyone who emailed or texted to check up on me during Hurricane Iselle. She certainly threatened to bring heavy wind and rain to the Kona area, but she totally missed us. The Hilo side of the island got hit pretty hard, and Maui got its fair share, but Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa protected us here in Kona.

We got virtually NO rain, and here's a little video of the most windy afternoon of the entire hurricane.

Nothing to get excited about, huh?

Weekend in Honolulu

Barbara, Megan, and Jeff are on Oahu this week. Last Friday after work, I flew over to spend the weekend with them. We did touristy things: climbed Diamond Head and visited the Arizona Memorial. And we hit several farmer's markets and art festivals.

Enjoy the pictures!


Dana and Megan at the trail head

Barbara and Megan about halfway up

We climbed many stairs

We climbed through tunnels

We all made it to the top! 

Honolulu from the top of Diamond Head

The Arizona Memorial

I had returned home to my real life when Barbara sent this picture from the Honolulu Museum of Art. The horses are made of driftwood. The artist is from a little artsy fartsy community just a few miles from me.

Aloha y'all!

My Ohana is Your Ohana

I now have a spin-off blog dedicated to the ohana. ((Look at the top of the blog archive.))
I'll keep you informed about:
Amenities
Availability
Upgrades
Enticements to encourage you to come for a visit!

Aloha y'all!

Spring Blooms

My hibiscus are in bloom !!!

The blooms on this variety are about 10 inches across:

 The rest of these are normal sized:

Aloha y'all!

Spring Rain

I know the Bay Area is having a pretty serious drought, but here's what my unofficial rain gauge collected in the past 4 days...

Just last week, I planted my Spring garden, and I'm sure all this rain got those little seeds excited. We've now got 3 little pineapples growing. I promise not to pick them until you get here.

While the rain pounded down yesterday, Sophie had to entertain herself indoors.

Aloha y'all!

 

Back to my Tropical Garden

I've been back from San Jose for a couple of weeks, and I'm finally settled back into home life.

While I was gone, my tomatoes and baby pineapples continued to bloom and grow, bloom and grow. ('respect' to those who got that reference)

Here's the newest member of our pineapple crop. Notice that it's still got the purple blossoms attached.

And her big brother:

Other tropicals that I planted last year... these are all crotons, from left to right: Rooster Tail, Duck Foot, and Thai String.

Aloha, y'all!

Aloha, San Jose, Aloha !!

While I was in San Jose, I was able to see many friends and visit many favorite restaurants. It was a busy busy week and, as much as I loved seeing everyone, I'm happy to be home again.

I stayed with Barbara and Steve and Megan (and the furkids, Hannah and McKenna). McKenna (a wire-haired terrier who is stone deaf) slept with me every night and was a great bed buddy! She took up much less space on the bed than Sophie!!!

The four of us went to the Sharks Tank and watched the Sharks play the Kings for their last regular-season game of the year. The Sharks won. And now, as I'm sure you know, the Sharks are destroying the Kings in the playoffs.

If you are one of my many friends whom I wasn't able to see on this trip, I'm sorry. Next time?

It's March ALREADY????

February was truly a short month, and I managed to go the whole month without updating you on the adventures of Dana and Sophie!

Thank you everyone who sent birthday cards and presents! Sophie and I quickly reached our bliss point with all the chocolate and other yummy goodies! For Valentine's Day, we celebrated with all things red... Sophie's California Cousins, Hannah and McKenna, sent her this new favorite toy:



On the household front, the bad news is that the old washing machine I inherited finally died. The good news is that my plans to remodel my laundry room / pantry are now at the top of my To Do list! A propane plumber comes this week to hook up both the laundry and kitchen for gas, and then I'll put in new commercial shelving and the new washer and gas dryer. Yay! The kitchen remodel might have to wait until next year, but I'll be one step closer to cooking with gas!

 

It looks as if I'll be in San Jose the first week of April. I just paid for my ticket, so this time there's no taking it back. I have to work at Thermo all week, but I'll find time to see a few friends and catch a Sharks game.

Aloha y'all!

Baby Gecko

Look who was peeking out at me from one of my giant hibiscus this morning...

Megan and Shannon do Hawaii

Megan and Shannon

Meeting Sophie

Waiting for midnight on NYE

Swimming with dolphins

Paddleboarding

Up close with manta rays

(Megan took these underwater photos with her new GoPro camera.)



Ah... this is living...