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Summer (June, July and August) 2008

Aloha Friends.

I have had a number of people notice that I have not been putting photos up recently so here are some photos taken since we returned from our trip to Egypt. We hope you enjoy and find them interesting.

1. Our greeting party of eight is guarding the property.
2. Eddy is just about ready to have his cast removed from his front leg.
3. Sunsets are beautiful from here. I have lots of sunset photos.
4. Three of the banana trees have fruit right now.
5. We still have two pineapples growing but the coconut doesn’t want to sprout.
6. Orchid plants seem to like this location.
7. It is time for the annual Festival of Canoes in Lahaina. Cynthia is standing in front of one of the logs that had just been delivered. These will be hand cut into canoes.
8. Cruise ship anchored off Lahaina.
9. Another day ends with another beautiful sunset.
10. This is a Spider Lilly.
11. Back to Lahaina to watch the people carving canoes at the Festival.
12. This one is coming along nicely.
13. There are maybe fifty people carving canoes, they represent teams from all over the Pacific Rim.
14. Another beautiful end to a day.
15. This is the first time we have seen a Sago Palm do this. It looks very happy.
16. After Eddy’s cast came off it was time for him to be neutered. All the animals get a tattoo for identification. Eddy has a custom tattoo of a Harley Davidson logo with his initials in it.
17. Late spring brought some southerly winds. The Volcano on the big island of Hawaii began to spew quite a bit of ash, which was blown in our direction. This caused some thick haze, breathing problems and very interesting sunsets.
18. Cynthia works the mobile adoption sites for the Maui Humane Society.
19. The young lady is not up for adoption but is eager to help this dog find a home.
20. Heavy VOG (volcanic junk) made an unusual sunset.
21. The next night the sky was orange from the particles in the air.
22. The next night it was a bit clearer but still very beautiful.
23. A couple of banana trees are ready. We donate the fruit to one of the churches that offer meals daily to those in need.
24. These two bunches weigh about sixty pounds each.
25. A banana tree bears fruit only once then dies. After we harvest the fruit we cut down the tree and a new sprouts from the roots.
26. The Humane Society has another mobile adoption at the Maui Ag Farm Fair up in Kula.
27. The kids all love to stop and play with the animals at these events.
28. Here is an adult Gecko on the outside of the window and a little one on the inside of the window. They eat the flying and crawling bugs so they are certainly welcome here.
29. My cousin Mike and wife Linda visited Maui with daughter Tina and her husband D.J..
30. Linda and son-in-law D.J.
31. We are at one of our favorite Kihei restaurants, Café O’lei. Cynthia and Linda say it all sounds good.
32. Jim and Mike giving the Shaka. When driving in California, I used to give something else.
33. Bring on the dessert.
34. D.J., Jim and Mike are riding the waves.
35. We have a new foster family, two puppies and their mom. Eddy is trying to figure out what to do with the new kid.
36. Bubba the cat really doesn’t care about them.
37. Once the puppies are settled in its time for a nap.
38. This is Tina.
39. This is Louise.
40. This is the mom dog, Rita.
41. Another sunset.
42. Rita is relaxing with her kids.
43. Jim and Mike were boogie boarding some good sized waves when a big wave ripped the boards out from under them and they both hit their heads on the sandy bottom. Mike ended up with the bigger boo-boo.
44. Wish you were here.
45. Still a lot of junk in the air.
46. Hannah had a small tumor on her chest and we had it removed. She is wearing a tee shirt to protect the boo-boo.
47. Rain over the valleys with the sugar mill in the foreground.
48. This day had lots of VOG and a strange looking sunset.
49. Its time for the Makawao Parade again. Cynthia worked with the Humane Society and their entry.
50. The kids walked dogs that were adoptable.
51. The little pony’s are very cute.
52. Here comes the Humane Societies entry in the parade.
53. Our friend Sue has returned to Maui and stopped by for a visit. Aloha Sue.
54. Guess what, its another... you know.
55. I sent these out before and everyone really found them interesting so here we are again. When the painters took off the outdoor fixtures they found that geckos had laid eggs in pretty much every hiding place they found.
56. The painters have started sanding and taping off the entire house.
57. Painter Joey is prepping the house and trying not to break eggs.
58. I put a couple of the gecko eggs in a glass to see what would happen. Beside them is a dime so you get a good idea of their size. They are bigger than I would have guessed.
59. We get lots of beautiful sunsets.
60. Little Louise loves to nap with "nana" Hannah.
61. Because my brother Craig does such a great job servicing his customer Mauiscape, they offered us a free air tour of Molokai. Cool! I have never done that before.
62. Craig looks ready but I'm not too sure about the other guy.
63. We head north along the east Maui coast and fly over Kanaha beach which is a favorite spot for kite surfers.
64. Maui’s east coast is rugged and beautiful.
65. This is one of the many pineapple fields.
66. Looking over the north coast with Molokai in the background.
67. Molokai.
68. This is called Turtle Rock.
69. The north east coast of Molokai has lots of waterfalls and steep cliffs.
70. It is way more lush then Kihei.
71. The sea cliffs are the tallest in the world reaching 3,000 feet.
72. The have been carved by thousands of years of wind and rain.
73. Some of the waterfalls drop over 1,500 feet.
74. Molokai is very laid back with few people.
75. Waterfalls everywhere.
76. A closer view.
77. Our pilot flies within a few hundred feet of the cliffs to allow for the best views.
78. The flat area is Kalaupapa where Father Damien worked with the Leper settlement. People who contracted Hansen’s disease, better known as Leprosy, were banished to this settlement for life. When I first moved to Hawaii they were still being treated for the disease there.
79. Beautiful rock formations.
80. We head up one of the valleys to go to the other side of the island.
81. There are a number of waterfalls that sort of squirt out of the middle of the cliffside.
82. Over the top of a cliff in into another valley.
83. We see a stream in the canyon below.
84. As we cross over to the other side we can see Maui in the distance.
85. A small boat harbor.
86. The reefs here are beautiful.
87. As we head back to Maui we can see Ka’anapali and Napili.
88. There are many resorts in Ka'anapali.
89. Looks like it would be a fun place to stay.
90. Lahaina town and boat harbor.
91. From Lahaina we cross over the mountain towards Kahului and the airport.
92. As we go over the top you can see Kahului.
93. Maui is called the Valley Isle. We see why.
94. Kahului and the airport in the distance as we fly over Iao Valley.
95. This is our big mall, Queen Ka’ahumanu Mall.
96. In the harbor there is a cruise ship.
97. Craig, Jim and Pilot Chad.
98. Another end to a great day.
99. The house is coming along, we’ll be glad when we can look out the windows again.
100. With VOG in the air, the rain on the mountain behind us has an eerie look to it. The sun breaking through the clouds makes for a strange rainbow.
101. This is a stalk of the very fragrant Tubarose. They are used for lei’s and floral arrangements.
102. The house is almost finished.
103. The painters are kicking back now.
104. And the day ends.
105. We had lots of friends over for Fathers Day. Eric, Craig, Jim, Cousin Mike and son-in-law D.J.. (yes the wives were all there)
106. Going flying again, this time thanks to our generous friends who donated to the Bark in the Park event last year, Cynthia won a flight for two. Craig and I flew with Sunshine Helicopters down Maui’s east coat to Hana and back. (Cynthia is not a fan of helicopters)
107. We take off over the Sugar Cane fields.
108. We were flying through a light rain and got a very different perspective of a rainbow from above.
109. There are many ranch style properties in this area.
110. This looks like a huge house on the bluffs.
111. The airport at Hana is not one you would want to make a mistake on.
112. The southeast Maui coast is very lush with areas that average around 400 inches of rain per year. That makes lots of waterfalls.
113. There are too many waterfalls to count.
114. One little canyon can have many waterfalls.
115. I could see eight waterfalls in this photo.
116. We flew pretty close to the hillside.
117. The jungle is thick, beautiful and very colorful.
118. Not sure I would want to hike these cliffs.
119. We are in the bottom of the clouds here.
120. As we head back we pass an ultra-light flying in the same direction as we are.
121. Lots of sea cliffs and caves. The spire in the middle is called Liberty rock as it resembles the Statue of Liberty. (if you’ve been smoking da kine)
122. Rugged and beautiful coastline.
123. The little dots are cattle. They don’t need a fence here on the coast side.
124. The road is very windy down the entire coast.
125. As we get back to the airport we come in over both Sugar Cane and Pineapple fields.
126. We have Turtle Stranding duty again and were called to assist an injured turtle. It was really just resting and returned to the ocean when it felt disturbed. People frequently mistake a resting turtle for one in trouble, they don't understand that they stay on shore for long periods of time.
127. This turtle probably weighs around two hundred pounds.
128. This is one of our famous flying Field Roaches. It flew in and we got a photo of it just before it was dispatched.
129. We had a total of four gecko eggs in the glass and one morning discovered that two had hatched during the night.
130. A Green Anole is searching for a meal.
131. We got up to find that the last gecko was out of the egg and still had a piece of the shell attached to its tail.
132. After about an hour the little gecko was gone. We see them frequently in the office.
133. August is very dry here on the south and west side of the island and fire is always a worry. A fire broke out just beyond our culdesac. The helicopter is using a swimming pool at a home at the end of our street to fill his bucket to douse the flames. A fire truck will keep the swimming pool full during this time.
134. The next block over the fire department was very busy.
135. They were working quickly to keep it from spreading or damaging property.
136. The smoke became very thick for some blocks.
137. The fire departments pilots are really good at their jobs.
138. Due to the high winds of late afternoon the fire jumped the highway.
139. They had to call in additional helicopters and bull dozers.
140. It looks pretty scary to hover so close to the trees and houses in a twenty to thirty mile per hour wind.
141. This is behind our next-door neighbors house.
142. The fire spread rapidly but by morning they appeared to have it controlled.
143. Two of the little geckos were hiding behind a picture on the wall, here you can see the small nail that holds the picture.
144. This little guy is only about an inch long.
145. The fire started back up. The Keawe trees are like Mesquite and they smoldered for a few days.
146. It took an entire week to totally put out the fire.
147. Another turtle rescue call from a resort in Wailea. This turtle had been attacked by sharks and lost both its rear fins. Deep bite marks are obvious on the back of its shell.
148. It weighed over two hundred pounds and was still pretty active when we picked it up. Cynthia and I did observe the turtle being attacked by two sharks.
149. We put it on a sling, on its back so that it couldn’t struggle much while being carried and put it in the back of our truck.
150. After talking with the people in charge on Oahu it was decided that if it lived through the night we would take it to an area with few people and release it and hope for the best. Had it been sent to Oahu it would probably not have withstood the trip and would have to be put to sleep. Unfortunately it did not survive the night. We so look forward to a happy ending but life for these creatures is difficult. Turtles are a food source for sharks, and that is just how life is for them.