Monday and Tuesday

Well, you know that you are out of shape when you only walk 2 days and you're stiff when you get up after being in the car for half an hour. Pathetic! I haven't even tried to run yet! Just walking up and down these hills is tiring! I don't know how those athletes can do the triathlon! They are truly amazing...obviously a gift from God! I called about being a volunteer for the Ironman and was told to sign up online. I did, but I haven't heard anything from them yet.

The last couple of days haven't been too exciting. I've spent some time researching car and renters insurance. AJ is looking at buying a truck, so we've looked at a few of them. His boss will be back from vacation this week, so we will need to give the truck back. We've found a couple that he likes, so hopefully we will have something by the end of the week.

Today AJ went to Hilo, a city on the other side of the island. He had a meeting for work. Within the past 6 months or so, beekeepers have discovered mites on the bees in Honolulu (on a different island). Recently, mites were found in bee hives in Hilo. This is a big deal because before this, there have never been mites in Hawaii. Mites are a parasite-type pest that can get on the bee. It feeds on the bee and eventually it can cause the bee to die. There are treatments available to kill the mites, but the people in Hawaii are not real familar with this because they haven't had to use it before. I may not have my information exactly correct on the mites, but AJ is in bed so I can't ask him. I'll let you know if I need to correct anything. Anyway, part of the reason he was hired over here is because of his experience with working with mites. He mostly listened to what people had to say at this meeting but he also offered his opinion. I think that he will become more involved with the treatment and control of the mites if it becomes a problem on the Big Island. I think that's pretty cool! In my very biased opinion, I think he is the perfect man for the job!! :)

Ok everybody...I need your help!! I spent a little time online today looking for a webcam. I didn't realize how MANY there are to choose from!! Is anyone familar with webcams? What is a good brand? How many megapixels should I get? What specs should I be looking for? I really have no idea what I'm looking for, so if anyone has any ideas, I would be open to them! Thanks! I look forward to your opinions. Until next time...aloha!

Monday

Taking a day off. See you tomorrow! :)

This Weekend

This weekend we got a little more accomplished. We went to a few sales on Saturday morning. We bought a patio set. It was in great condition and it was very reasonable. We thought we got an early start, but we learned that if we want to get a chance at any big furniture, like living room or bedroom furniture, we need to be arriving at 6:30 or 7am or else everything will be gone. So we will try again next week. We went to a fruniture store and found a bedroom set that we liked. We put a down payment on it that we can get back if we want to. We want to look at more sales before we buy anything new. So, hopefully we will find something next weekend.

This afternoon we went to a beach. I can't remember the name; it was the first time that we had been to this beach. Jenna and I called it "the airplane beach" because it was just north of the airport and we had airplanes flying above us the whole time we were there. It was actually pretty cool to see. Because the planes were getting ready to land, they were really close to the ground. I saw one plane that said "Hawaiian Airlines" on the side of it. It had a light burned out on the wing! The beach was nice. It had a really long beach of pretty nice sand; not as nice as some other beaches I've seen, but OK. It was windy today, so the water was kind of rough. We weren't able to go snorkeling, but Jenna and AJ built a sand castle. It started to rain about mid-afternoon, so we had to leave. Jenna was pretty disappointed about that. Hopefully we can try another beach next weekend and hopefully we can stay longer. The beach is about 1.5 miles off of the road (actually 1.6 to be exact. AJ checked it). The road is not paved and it is VERY, VERY, VERY rough!!! We had a truck with 4-wheel drive, thank goodness or I'm not sure we would have made parts of it. It took us 15 minutes to drive the 1.6 miles to the beach! I told AJ I would give the beach one more chance, but I'm not sure the drive is worth it! It's a quiet beach, so that is one advantage! There aren't too many people willing to drive their vehicles on the road. We did see a few tourists on the road though...hopefully they don't hurt their rental cars too much!

Well, tomorrow Jenna begins her second week of school. I'm so grateful that she likes it! Today at church she saw one of her classmates. They were both pretty excited to see each other. Her name is Angelic. Jenna said that Angelic was the first new friend she made in Hawaii. Before we moved Jenna said to AJ and me, "I wonder who my first new friend in Hawaii will be?" Now we know! What a blessing!!

Well, I'm going to go to bed. I'm going to get up early and walk in the morning. I haven't done any form of exercise since I finished the triathlon at the end of July. (Well OK, I guess I have run once since then!) I'm feeling really out of shape and I don't think that I could run right now. I need to get back into exercise mode again. As you know, Hawaii is basically a mountain...an island still being formed by the volcano. Because of this, the roads are either UP or DOWN. There are very few, if any, flat roads! I'm not kidding. It's tough to walk, much less run on these roads! When we move into our house, there will be a road by the ocean that is relatively flat. A lot of runners and bikers use this road and I plan to join them as soon as I can run a little way without dying!

The world championship for the Ironman Triathlon is held in Hawaii in October. I'm thinking about doing it! No, I'm kidding of course!! I am thinking about volunteering to help in some way. I'm calling tomorrow to see where I might be needed. I'll give you the scoop later. Right now, I'm going to bed, so until next time...aloha!

Sales and Huggos

Today I went to garage sales. I found a few things for the kitchen, some TV trays and a bed for Jenna. I thought it was a futon, but it doesn't fold up to a couch, so I'm not sure how the lady could call it a futon, but oh well! I also got sheets for her bed and a lamp. Tomorrow we are getting an early start and hope to find living room furniture and a bed for AJ and I. It's pouring down rain here right now. I hope it's done by morning. It will be no fun looking for stuff in the rain! Tonight we ate dinner in town at a restaurant called Huggos. It was a nice place to eat. We sat outside under huge umbrellas and the "floor" was all sand. There was live entertainment - a guy playing the guitar and singing Hawaiian songs and a Hawaiian lady doing hula dances. It was pretty cool! We decided that this is definately a place that we will take people when they come to visit. Jenna finished her first week of school. She absolutely loves it! We are so happy about that. Her teacher told me that Jenna is fitting in nicely. What an answer to prayer!! Praise God! Well, that's all I know for now, so until next time...aloha!

Politics and Wheel of Fortune

What do politics and the Wheel of Fortune have in common? Well, nothing. But they have both been active on the Big Island. The Wheel of Fortune crew was here this week taping a week's worth of shows that will air in February. I knew they were going to be here and I was hoping to get to a taping, but I forget exactly when they were coming and when I found out, I was too late. I learned that Pat and Vanna and the crew were taping the shows on Monday and Tuesday of this week. They were at a resort just north of Kona. It was the same resort that Gus and Sandy got married at 3 years ago, and AJ, Jenna and I were here for it. It would have been cool to see the show live. Oh well! Maybe next time. As for politics, supporters have an interesting way of campaigning here in Hawaii. In the morning while people are driving to work, supporters of the candidate stand along side of the road with signs and wave at everyone passing by. It's not only in the morning, sometimes they are out there during the day and in the evening too. Jenna says she is tired of seeing those people everyday! Parent's night at her school was cancelled for tonight. One of the teacher's husband is in the hospital in Oahu, so parents night was rescheduled. I'm thinking about going to some sales tomorrow, and we are going on Saturday for sure. Please pray for success! Until next time...aloha!

Not much to report on today. I found a little shop that has gently used furniture, household items, and clothes. There was some really nice stuff there and I found a few things that I liked. The owner gets new things in every week, so I might be checking it out frequently, just to see what's available. I also was able to go to the house to take pictures and measure the rooms. We hope to go shopping for furniture this weekend at some estate sales. I was having a hard time knowing what to get for furniture because I couldn't exactly remember what the rooms looked like. It should be a little easier now. I will email pictures when we get settled into the house. Jenna really likes school, but she is still adjusting. She is very tired after school! Tomorrow night is parent's night. We get to visit the school and see what she has been doing. Of course, we only have this week to look at, but it will be nice to talk to her teacher and meet some of the other parents. Well, I'm ready for bed, so until next time...aloha!

vog vs. fog

Today I went furniture shopping. Not a very fun job! I don't know my way around very well so I waste a lot of time and gas trying to find things. It's very frustrating!! I don't really know what we want either, so that doesn't make things any easier. We're going to go to some sales this weekend. Hopefully we can find some nice stuff for not a lot of money. That will probably be a challenge! It was hot today...upper 80's. It was a little clearer today than the past few days. It has been really voggy. Vog is kind of like fog in that it makes it look cloudy and visibility is reduced. Vog is the result of gases that are released from the volcano that mix with water vapor and very small particles, primarily sulfur compounds and sulfur dioxide. The sulfur dioxide can be a health concern. It can cause burning of the eyes, coughing, difficulty breathing, and a feeling of chest tightness. I'm not an expert on vog. I just know it's been in the news a lot lately because there have been air quality warnings out. In fact, I'm getting all the info I'm sharing with you from a brochure that AJ picked up at the fair on Saturday. It says that the further away you are from the volcano, the less likely you are to have any problems, (which seems obvious) but the sulfur dioxide can still be in the air. We are pretty far from the volcano where we live. I haven't noticed any problems with any of us. We haven't been down to see the volcano yet. The last time we were here the lava was running on top of the ground (instead of under the ground), so I'm anxious to see what it's doing now! We may wait to see the emissions from the volcano decrease, or I guess we could wear a mask if we felt it was necessary. Well, not much more to say. Jenna had another great day at school! She really likes it and I'm so thankful for that. She gets out early tomorrow. She'll probably want to go to the beach! It's been all of 5 days since we've been there. She is such a deprived child!! Well, until next time...aloha!