This Is Dedicated To One of the Ones I Love....

Nana and Kirsten

OK, so who could resist this face? Apparently my little grand-daughter has been fascinated by both my "Singing In The Rain" video and the one about the "Big Freakin' Spider" and I just found out tonight. Her daddy, Tex, was the same way as a kid (fascinated about the spiders, I mean) so I guess the apple doesn't rot far from the tree, as Carolina likes to say.

As a result you all get the pleasure of hearing my melodious voice once again and a spider update all in the same post!!!!! How lucky can you get?? This spider is between the shed and the ferns by my garden fortress.
Forgive me, I spent my singing lesson money on Mai Tais!!

Gobble This You Freakin' Turkeys! Oh, and Happy Birthday Prince Kuhio!

OK, let me start with the fact that it is a holiday in Hawaii today, Prince Kuhio Day (and I thought the English had a lot of holidays!) John and I went to a festival at the Palace in Kona this weekend, an early celebration, and here is little video from there.

Garden Invasion

OK, so on to the freakin' turkeys (or Chinese pheasants or doves or whatever)... So vegetables are crazy expensive here and being the dutiful farmers wife I decided to grow a vetetable garden. Besides, gardening should be in my veins... no matter where we lived my Dad ALWAYS had a vegetable garden which I would dare say got more attention than we girls did!! Back to my tale... I've already bemoaned the fact that the turkeys (or whatever) chopped off the heads of my little corn sprouts, though it does look like they might be surviving, and the turkeys (or whatever {I've decided to blame the turkeys since they wander around taunting me with their "gobble, gobble, gobble"}), keep going in the plot despite the fact that there is a fence and they are pulling up my little baby veggies. John was kind enough to remind my that the fence wouldn't totally work since birds CAN FLY, afterall. Well, last night I laid chicken wire OVER the plants, with the exception of one little area, and sure enough, that area was all tore up this morning.... so here is where my Dad would be quite proud, I would think... John and I got in the car and made our 15 mile trek to the Farm and Garden and the ACE Hardware in Kealakekua and got everything we needed to create our GARDEN FORTRESS!! Check this out, a 10' x 20" Anti-Aviary!! If you can't see it, this whole thing is coved with a nylon mesh called garden guard. Don't worry Leigh, John was worried about the birds, too, so you'll see we added strips of foil blowing in the air to warn them off! I just have 2 things to say now; 1.) If those freakin' turkeys have been in there again tomorrow I'm getting John's gun and 2.) I think I've spent way more on this project than the vegetables would cost me but I know my Dad is smiling down!!!!

Garden Fortress

You Eat What???? Are You Kidding Me???



Renn watching the turtles

Hello baby octopus!!!

OK, so I mentioned poke last week but I was thinking maybe some of you don't know what poke (pok-eh) is. Poke basically means "diced". Is is traditionally fish, like raw ahi (tuna) seasoned with things like ogo (seaweed), sesame seeds, sea salt, pepper flakes, onions, sesame oil, soy sauce... There are other ones though, like tako (octopus) and tofu... We went to town last night because we were out of printer ink (note to self {this note list is getting very long} buy the extra large ink cartridges) and since we had made the hour drive decided to have dinner at Da Poke Shack on Alii Drive as we've heard nothing but ono (good) things about it. It was getting close to closing so our selection was limited, I got the sesame ahi....but not John, he went for spicy tako....OMG, I couldn't believe he was eating these firey red baby octopuses... and if you look at the picture the sesame seeds on it looked like little eyeballs and the breeze was making his little legs move!!!! No way was I trying that Keoni (that's John in Hawaiian)! We also got some kalua pork and a laulau (pork and butterfish wrapped in taro leves and then ti leaves and steamed). Everything was great and we had it at there beach side picnic table. As we were eating I saw a couple of turtles in the surf and they were head down having their seaweed dinner.... nice night and we got home just before dusk!   PS: My frind Leigh was very worried about the mama octopus missing her babies...(I'm thinking that many babies must have come from more than one mama and mama was probably served up in a whole different dish)... I told her not to worry!

When the Farmer's Away the Wife Will Play!

OK, John left the Gator keys laying around when he went into town yesterday to work on my car and I couldn't resist my first solo trip.... no Mai Tais were involved in the filming of this video, i was just taking a stretch break!
Look for a longer next post, the damn turkeys got to my corn sprouts so John and I are going into town to get some fence fixins' and I'm sure I'll have some adventures to report!

My Mai Tai Chieftain

More action, more pictures, so bossy some of you readers are! What the hell Jimmy!

Big Island Traffic Jam

Well I could post a video of the corn growing but you might think it's a still photo.... I have to admit, things don't move as fast here as in the Bay Area where cars go zooming past you at 25 MPH in commute traffic (we only have 2-way roads after all), but let me see what I can come up with. I could tell you how I picked 2 bunches of bananas yesterday and 2 bunches more were ripe today so now I have a couple of dozen bananas and my peeps, who are reading this, are giving me NO HELP with recipes (I did skewer and freeze 2 dozen last night for future frozen chocolate covered bananas rolled in chopped Mac nut use)!

Last night I decided to have a Mai Tai and, in keeping with tradition, John did a chieftain chant for me... John Sr. would always do this as he prepared our cocktails when we vacationed together on Maui and we have continued this and thought of him when the occasion arises... thanks to John for being a good sport and allowing me to record this sacred ritual! I just hope he doesn't ever get it mixed up with his rain dance!

Also, instead of just telling me you want more, tell me more of what!!! You want pictures, stories, specifics??? What? I could tell you about the specifics; we don't get water accept what is caught by the roofs and put thru a filtration system into 3 huge storage tanks or about the care and feeding of cesspools (well, maybe not the feeding of them, yuck)! Tell me what you want to know folks! Oh, and maybe I'll get John to be a guest writer so you can get the "farmer's perspective", what do you think?

Sam Choy's 1st annual poke contest

We are settling in! We went in to town yesterday for our weekend fun and went to a Poke Contest (and had so much ono poke), Costco (got some beach chairs) and the Alii Drive Stroll that they have the 3rd Sunday of every month. They close the street and artisans are on the street.

Corn sprouts!

 Mornings are a nice awakening to the birds all chirping and singing as the sun comes up and the turkeys starting to gobble (yes, there are as many as before Leigh)! I think there are 6 of them and 2 Chinese pheasants.

 

I doing my work throughout the day depending on my e-mails and scheduled evals or meetings and really find it so relaxing... everyone should get to work this way.

 My garden is coming along and I even have 40 stalks of corn sprouted and hope nothing starts to eat them! I have sprouted beans and snap peas and lettuce and zuchinni, too.

Most days we stay home and I do work and putter around in the house and try to find ways to keep up with the avocados, bananas and papayas! So many bananas!! Any ideas you guys?

Last night I made Crab Stuffed Baked Avocados. OMG, they were so good even though they sound weird! I'm posting the recipe on a page at the bottom of the home page of the blog if you want to try it. I'm going to try Guava Cake today.

Good night...

We have to get a car part that should arrive in a couple of days so we'll take a trip into town! Woo hoo!

I'm Working Again... the Office and the Plantation

OK, so today (or 11:00 last night) was my first day back to work. I am sooo lucky

I'm Almost Official, And Isn't He A Cute Little Guy

OK, I'm finding out that going to town basically becomes an all day trip! Yesterday we went into town to go to Walmart,  pick up the car, then it needed 2 new tires so we left it at Costco... from there to the DMV for me to try and get a license (I did study the book) and transfer the registration. Unfortunately even though I had my California driver's license and social security card I needed to have my passport so no license or test for me yesterday! We still had time before the car would be ready so we back tracked into Kona and had yummy plate lunch at the BIG ISLAND GRILL and then got a call the car was ready. When we got there we decided to shop in Costco just a little (not) and then I needed gas so I got in the line and John headed home in the truck. The roads are so dark, twisty and scary (on the first time) at night. No street lights or glowing sky.... just dark, unless of course you get the guy riding your bumper part of the way like I did. We left the house about 10:30 and it was 7:00 when I got home!

This morning back into town to go to the DMV and take the test for my driver's license. The 2 people in front of me failed so i was a little nervous... 30 questions and you can get up to 6 wrong.... whooo hoooo... I only missed 3 and now have my temporary license! Of course, since I was in town I went to Petco, Target and Safeway and headed back the 31 miles to Captain Cook (at mostly 35 MPH speed limit). Left the house at 8:00, got home at 1:00.

I just went out to check the garden and the carrots are coming up. I can probably transplant my lettuce tomorrow and i noticed some of the bananas were just starting to turn yellow so I went to pick some and what the hecko, there was a tiny Mister Gecko peeking at me so i whipped out my phone and got this picture!

Tomorrow night I start back to work with a training call from 11:00pm - 12:30am... this time change thing won't beat me!

Holy Crap - Spiders Grow BIG Here!



What the hell???

OK, so I was out getting the second garden bed ready for the seedlings I want to transplant this week and caught sight of something shiny out of the corner of my eye, I glanced over and there was a spider I would consider a candidate for some kind of horror movie crawling towards me!!! OK, so I didn't say "holy crap", but I'm glad no children were around to hear me.... John assures me only the black widow and brown recluse are poisonous but I can tell you this guy is angry and John will have to let him go, not me!!! Does anyone know what this is???  I just know I need a Mai Tai and town is 28 miles away....



Freedom, Furniture and the Farmer's Market

Yesterday we went into Kona town to look at a used car at a place our friend, Bob, turned us on to. We are trying to find me a car and they had just gotten in a Honda CVR. It needs some tires and just a little work but nothing my handy dandy mechanic husband can't handle so I will have mobility freedom starting Monday afternoon! We also were looking around for some furniture and did find some great dining chairs we really liked. They are made from reclaimed boat wood... how cool is that... and they fit in John's little pick-up and look great around the table, too!

Today we got up early and went to Hilo for the Farmer's Market. right before we left I looked out the lanai door and there was a little wild cat looking in the door so I gave him some food and off we went! It was a couple of hour drive but we weren't in a hurry so no worries. While we were walking around town we saw a nursery exchange and found the gardenia plants I have been wanting! Mind you, every time we have tried to grow these in California they have died, we bought 2 and are going to try our luck again!

Once back home we BBQd burgers and I tried a new recipe, AVOCADO FRIES! They were amazing really and i've put the recipe on the page you'll find at the bottom of the blog home page. When you have 42 avocado trees you have to keep searching out the recipes!

Lazy Day.... For Me!

Kalua Pork Tostada

I say lazy day for me because John is the one that picked a couple of hundred pounds of avocados to take to the distributor tomorrow! I spent the morning unpacking boxes and moving the little bit of furniture we have around and trying to figure out where to put things. I also baked some Lilikoi (Passion Fruit) Bars using some of the fruit here on the Plantation.... so ono! I posted the recipe on a seperate page you can find at the bottom of this page. For dinner there were Kalua Pork Tostadas using the pork I cook the other day and guacamole made with our avocados!

Finally, I met a challenge posed to me today by my friend Teri to sing or dance in the rain.... warning to viewers, I can neither sing or dance so watch at your own risk! But Teri, thank you for encouraging me to "play in my playground"

A Little Farming, A Little Fun

John and I took a day to play tourist, sort of... on Tuesday we left the house about 10am to head to Hawi and have plate lunch at Minnie's. We took a side tour to Hookena Beach which is about 8 miles from the Plantation. This would be our local beach. It is a beautiful little black sand beach and bay where there were campers and snorkelers having fun. we took a little detour through Kona show John could show me the new stop sign (yes, I said stop sign) and swing by our rental condo. Check the link on my blog if you've never seen it. From there we headed north to Hawi and got there about 1:30 and had "ono" roast pork plate lunch, meandered through some stores and even spotted some whales in the ocean breaching and having fun! Headed back into Kona we stopped at Costco and the Home Depot and bought some vegetable seeds and plants which I started our garden with.... Carolina, we will have vegetables for you and Layla to harvest! We didn't get home until about 4:30 and I was pooped! I have to get used to an almost hour ride into town (depending on if you get behind a tourist). We had yummy shrimp salad stuffed avocado halves that were so big we couldn't finish them.

Yesterday was our 20th anniversary. We spent the morning and early afternoon planting our garden, riding the Gator all over and picking passion fruit, bananas and avocados and planting a couple of plumeria trees. Then we headed into town to check out a few cars (I am not going to be driving a standard transmission truck all over on these hills and in this traffic for sure) and then look at some furniture and make it in time for our reservation at Huggo's. We asked for "Island Johnny" as our waiter, he is a crack up and calls me "Baby Girl" and John "Daddy". Sounds hokie but he really is the best waiter and makes you feel special. We have decided this restaurant is our "go to place" for a nice dinner treat. It reminds us of some nicer places we've been to on Maui. Best part, Wednesday night is kamanina  (local) night and there was 20% off entrees (of course, I'm not complaining about the Mai Tai, either). We got home about 9:30 after a very full day to the sound of crickets echoing in the air.

Today John will pick 300-400 lbs of avocados and I will unpack boxes and try arranging a few things and if i get a chance, dance in the rain....

Welcome to the Plantation

The driveway turn off the highway - we're here!

I forgot how big it is!!! Yesterday, after we got here from the airport John took me on a tour in our John Deere Gator all over the place and showed me the mango tree he just discovered (with little baby mangos on it) and a, Jackfruit tree, even a tangerine tree to add to the list of things we have available to us! He showed me how the nut cracker works and I ate nuts fresh out of their shell. I took my first tumble on the nuts under the trees which are the same as walking on ball bearings (lava rocks are not fun to land on), picked up some passion fruit and pulled some onions in the garden... I could get used to this! There are so many boxes to unpack and arrangements to figure out, my mind is spinning... almost don't know where to start but think I'll tackle the kitchen first.
We went the 28 miles back into town and had plate lunch at Chubby's at the bowling alley and then did some grocery shopping and back home in time to see the sunset off of the lanai. I am planning to cook some Oven Kalua Pork using the leaves from one of the banana trees today! How cool is that? I added a recipe page to the blog and included this one. The link is at the bottom of the page!

An Adventurous Trip

Ready -People, Boarding Pass and my iPad

First let me say there will be 2 posts today, but I had to tell you about my trip and was just too tired yesterday so here goes the first.

My brother-in-law took me, my four 50 lb suitcases, a carry-on duffle bag, my laptop backpack and the cat to the airport this morning and waited for me to get all checked in which was a feat in itself. THANK YOU JIMMY! All was well as the plane was loaded until I noticed I seemed the be in the part of the plane where ALL the small children were! I was happy I had loaded a movie on the iPad and plugged in the headset. We were getting lots of turbulence and then something I had only seen in movies, a call over the intercom "will any doctors or medical personnel make yourself known to a flight crew member", happily a doctor was on board and came the the assistance of an older man who had shortness of breath and fainted 2 rows behind me. Soon all was well and then came the call again and I glanced around and they had him on the floorrior over 30 minutes. I know it was wrong of me, but he was in good hands and all I could think of was the flight being diverted to another island and what that would do to my poor Mailie cat who must be horribly traumatized at this point as she is in the belly of this very bumpy plane. You see, cats have to have a special permit issued by the state and it is only for the island they are going to and they have to be met by a vet which is set to happen in Kona. Eventually they were able to let the passenger return to his seat and the crowd of crew and on board medical personnel dispersed. At that point I can only hope it goes well as now all of the children are getting restless 3-1/2 hours into the flight. We were met at the airport by paramedics who came aboard and checked the old guy out and then we off the plane and out the gate where I got a traditional Hawaiian greeting from my Johnny , 2 beautiful leis and a big smooch! Everything got loaded into the truck and we started our hour drive to the house. I forgot how big it is and boy do we have a lot of work ahead of us!

Made it!

Funniest thing of the day, (Leigh, you'll appreciate this), our 7 year old cat Mailie has never walked on carpets and she is not so coordinated with her claws... it is like she is walking on velcro or something, everytime she lifts her feet they are stuck!!! Time for the nail clippers! More later everyone... right now I am watching the sun come up and listening to the rain on the metal roof... so peaceful!

Time to say ALOHA!

OK, so after the farewell party yesterday and packing 4 large suitcases (that's 200 lbs) of stuff I can't live without, but couldn't ship, today.... I have been wandering around the house and the yard and remembering everything we have done in the last 15 years in this house (I have never in my life lived 15 years in one place) it is hard to leave. I grew up in a military family and we were raised to be able to leave things and move on, but when we moved we always had our family. Now my family has extended to my friends after all these years and I won't have them. I can "keep a stiff upper lip" and have been telling people all weekend about amazing technology and Facetime and Skyping and it will be like we are not gone... but we are. I have always been the strong one in my family, the core of my family. So now allow me to ramble....today, my 86 year old neighbor Isabel was taken to the hospital with a possible broken hip, my wonderful friend and neighbor Monica's mother is in the hospital with major complication from diabetes and Kelly across the street let us know she is 21 weeks pregnant (we saw them married and through the birth of their two sons)... I will miss my neighbors so much and the buyers of our house are so lucky... my daughter and son in name, Celly and  Josh dropped by to say good bye and tears rolled... Monica, I will miss you and Gary so much and I am sorry you were crying and i know you wish us only the best, Carolina, my beautiful daughter is so sad I am leaving and I'm not sure she will come out of her room and say good bye, I went through my nightly ritual with Layla one more time "Layla, I hope you have the SWEETEST dreams ever" (and she echos it with me), My son seemed so sad and I can't fix it, Astrid thank you for bringing me snacks for the flight and I will see you in August... I hate causing pain to those I love and yet I hope it can be mixed with joy for my future.... I get to see John tomorrow... Wednesday is our 20th anniversary.... I have no idea what my future holds but if it holds people who I have come to care for so deeply and they keep holding me close I will consider myself fortunate. For now, thank you for reading my ramblings and I wish you aloha for now and this picture of the sunset from our lania yesterday is my gift to you. I will be in touch... I promise (and I am usually one to just let things go) I promise.

The Ruse That I Fell For...

Aloha surprise!

Ok, so the ruse... "Mom, Celly and I want to take you to get a pedicure as a treat before you leave, OK?" Sounded good.. then Tex and Norma (my son and his wife) wanted to take me to the movies after that and would meet me at the house. We were just about to leave for the salon and Shadow, who had hip surgery on Monday, told Carolina his foot was numb and he needed her to take him to the urgent care because they had told him that could be a symptom of a blood clot.... curse Shadow, now Carolina couldn't go with us! I was thinking, "Sissy boys, why can't they take themselves to the doctor anyway?" So off we go, Celly, Layla and I to get out nails done... Carolina texting Celly all the while. We finished just in time for me to get back for my movie date and it wasn't until I was half way up the walk to the porch that I noticed the curtains were closed and said "Hey, is this a trick?". i opened the door to a house full of family and friends to my total surprise, NO LIE! Carolina pulled it off. Our wonderful neighbors, (Monica, Gary, Mil, Maggie, Anna, Kevin and Tara), my Fab Five Girls (Joan, Leigh, Teri and Dinah) my oldest friends and maid-of honor 20 years ago (Gina and Scott), wonderful Colleen, Big Dave, Eddie, Uncle Dave, Cindy and her little ones, Jessie, my sisters (Robin and Rhea), Brian, Jimmy and my nieces (Alyssa, Caitlin, Grace, Faith and of course the BEST KIDS in the World, mine (Carolina, Tex, Shadow, Norma) and  last but not least my beautiful grand-daughters (Layla, Kirsten and Kayla). They had all brought amazing dishes to share from chicken with long rice and poke to ice cream cake and seven layer bars! I could not have been more surprised or honored and I can never thank them enough. Thank you one and all for creating this special memory for me as I start a new adventure. Y'all come visit, hear!

Technology, a curse or a blessing?

I arrived at the Burbank Airport and was told "go to the phone and dial extension 30, someone will answer". I announced my arrival at the baggage claim to the man on the other end and he said, "I have you here. I want you to turn around and cross the street, go to the stop marked 'shuttles', a white van numbered 121 will arrive and the driver's name is Brian". At this point I was feeling a little 007 or Mission Impossible like.... Following my instructions I was met about 15 minutes later by "Brian" and rode in a van for 50 minutes in near silence, the only conversation (possibly in code) asking me if the temperature was comfortable, finally arriving at my destination not knowing what was in store... I should also mention he was chewing his knuckle the whole ride so he obviously has a high stress job (like a secret agent or something).

Thank goodness for imaginations being able to wander without technology as evidenced here! I left MY PHONE AT HOME and couldn't believe how naked I felt without it! I can even remember when we got our first color TV as a kid and now I am lost without a phone. But, oh yeah, I have my iPad, I Skype called my daughter, texted my husband and downloaded an app so I now have my work phone on my iPad... Now I can call on reinforcements if I need them in the mission. My mission, should I choose to accept it, meetings in southern California all day with a fun "aloha lunch" thrown in.... this message will self-destruct (when my computer does).

Technology, a curse or a blessing?

Let the farming begin!

The week is going quickly and I leave for Hawaii in just 4 more days! So much to do... Tomorrow I am going down to southern California for some work meetings and an "aloha lunch" with my team members, the house is getting it's appraisal and inspection by the buyers and the financing should pass the 7 day mark for the buyer to verify the down payment. I hope all of that breezes through.

First Avocado Harvest

That's Mailie hiding behind the scale!

 
I got the final health certificate for Mailie, the first of our cats to make the trip with me on Monday. Hawaii has such strict guidelines and regulations for importing pet I am happy to have this step completed... She is not a happy cat at the vets!

Today John made contact with the avocado buyer and picked about 100 lbs of avocados off of just 1 of the 42 trees! He is making his first delivery tomorrow after he picks another 1/2 day... He can now officially be called "Farmer John" to his great pleasure.