Category: The DayBook

Just for giggles, I was shooting some plant porn this morning – well, specifically – hala tree porn. When – geckos appeared.

I took the day off from all things physical. I only logged 2 miles on the fitbit. No swimming. Well, I did do 30 minutes of yoga.

Does anyone else think it is hysterical that Chipotle Mexican Grill has to call a timeout to discuss food safety? Tacos and Montezuma’s Revenge. How much more Mexican can you get?

And, are we having fun yet with the stock market? All the “talking heads” are telling us that this isn’t as bad as 2008. We’ll see. I have:

• My money that the money guy manages
• My money that I manage
• Carlton’s money that I am managing using Carlton’s long established guidelines

Carlton’s money is the winner in this this environment. My managed money comes next and the money that I am paying to have managed is the loser.

And, snorkeling was so smooth and so clear – I fired up “movie mode” on the $99 camera. No post processing on the movie – except color correction in Lightroom. It was movie mode that caused the first $99 camera to lock up. I hadn’t tried movie mode on this one. no reason to try something that I really don’t use.

But I love that first photo! So glad I popped my head out of the water to be sure I wasn’t going to run into something/someone. And, that I had the $99 camera.

Finally, at the far limit of my long lens – a whale sighting. My friend, Billy, returned from the mainland last night – and drove me up the coast on a whale hunt this morning. It was fun to go somewhere that I can not get to on foot. The whale was lagniappe.

Finishing sorting and organizing the photos from 2015. Still loving the bats. I am going to learn how to fold a great origami bat this year.

Nice swim today, nice walk, enjoyed watching Obama doing the State of the Union thing. Think about The Donald giving the State of the Union. Or worse – Ted Cruz. It is kind of interesting watching the RINOs (Republicans in Name Only – or moderates – for my non-US readers) wring their hands over a Donald or Ted as Presidential candidate. Which would be worse? Seems to me that either would be the death knell for the “Party of Lincoln”.

Needless to say, the boat didn’t find any dolphins – because I was there.

The waves weren’t really good for surfing. But, they were better than no waves. And by 9am the waves were settled down – but – swimming was still like swimming in a snowglobe. So, no fish pictures today.

Been thinking about resolution #7 – Do one new thing every week. At my age, coming up with new things isn’t easy. I have done a heck of a lot of things. Stay tuned.

A lazy sort of a day. The ocean was unfriendly for swimming. So, I just swam “laps” at the little protected beach across the street. After watching the Redskins lose – I went for a nice late afternoon walk – looking a the ocean. Nobody surfing. It was too junky.

Time to get some New Year’s Resolutions. These are last year’s resolutions.

1. Stay the course to the old folks asylum. I am an old person. 
2. Go to at least one real yoga class per week. 
3. Get rid of all of Carlton’s stuff
4. Back at the apartment – start getting ready to move to the old folks asylum.
5. Do not buy any new/used clothes without getting rid of TWO items. 
6. Keep weight around 115 pounds. 
7. Keep walking.
8. And, this is very important now – COOK real food. 

I did pretty good with last year’s list. The only thing I didn’t do was COOK. But, the asylum COOKS for me. I did such a great job with last year’s resolutions – I am kind of leery about making resolutions this year…

Resolved 2016

1. Go to at least one real yoga class per week. 
2. Do not buy any new/used clothes without getting rid of TWO items. 
3. Keep weight around 115 pounds. 
4. Keep walking.
5. Participate in one activity per week at the asylum.
6. Read more. Facebook less.
7. Do one new thing every week – I am not too sure what I mean here.
8. Have a technology free weekend every month. Even when I am in Hawai’i.

I didn’t take the $99 camera out today. But, I did see some nice fish from the pier.

See Any Dolphins? I don’t either. That thing at lower edge is a canoe paddle. You don’t see any dolphins, because I am a marine mammal repellant. Yes, if I am around, you can be sure there will be NO NONE ZERO NADA ZIP marine mammals. No dolphins, no whales, no narwhals, no seals, no mermaids.

This morning, I saw dolphins from my balcony. I grabbed the camera and rushed down to the pier. The dolphins knew I was coming – so they left.

Really tired today. I think my program of walking fives miles a day, plus daily swimming and yoga have taken a toll on the old body. Carlton was sort of my reality check. He would remind me to take a day or two off from time to time.

About Ted Cruz. There is something very wrong with the man. He reminds me of Richard Nixon. He would be the scariest president ever.

Note to Carlton: Your beloved Theodore Roosevelt NP in Medora, ND is number 5 on this year’s NY Times 52 places to visit in 2016. Right between St John’s VI and Mozambique.

I was sort of moping around after lunch today. It was cloudy and “cold”. Well, I talked myself into suiting up and swimming out. I did come back to the hotel still encased in my wetsuit. No way I was going to take it off out in the cold wind. So… photos from the $99 camera.

 

When I was coming back in, I saw a cute little puffer fish. The one on the right is a spotted puffer and grows to about 12 inches. The one on the left is the Hawaiian whitespotted toby. It maxes out at a couple of inches. Both are true puffer fish and can inflate to complete round balls.

And, when I was getting ready to take my fins off – what should I find – a devil scorpion fish. It is our version of the stonefish. The Australian version of the stonefish can kill you. Ours can just hurt you.

These critters are very common just off our pier. Most of the time, they remain invisible.

Oh, the ocean swim worked its magic.  I out over the moping.

And now, it is dinner time. Soup? Brussel sprouts and hardboiled eggs? Tuna and avocado? Lots of options. I think it needs to be brussel sprouts. They have been in the fridge the longest.

 

What is it about the ocean? Why does even the smallest swim in the ocean make my day 100% better. And, why is it that swimming pools – even ones in Hawai’i – don’t work? For me at least.

And, today’s image from the $99 crappy camera.

Just think how great this image would be with a “real” camera. It was pretty special in person. And no, I am not having “real” underwater camera lust.

Getting ready to “do something with” my 1,000+ photos from American Samoa. This is one of the many churches. Many of them seem to have been built like this one. This is one of Congregational churches left over from the initial missionary assault on Samoa. The Congregational missionaries came from London – not New England like the missionaries that came to Hawai’i. This would be in the 1830’s.

The black stuff piled up on the boat are fishing nets. I did not have a nice yellow rainslicker.

Nice day today. It seemed warmer. Had a very nice swim.

 

 

 

We never celebrated our wedding anniversary. Indeed, the only days we observed were the Winter Solstice and Alex Sikorsky Day (sometime in April – it was a very special day to Carlton. On that day Carlton’s first wife got remarried to Alex Helicopter and alimony stopped. This was before my time.)

However, I am celebrating tonight – dinner at the local micro brewery with friends. And, Carlton is buying.

This is also Carlton AA anniversary. (43 to those keeping score) I remember being astounded by “celebrating AA anniversary”. My exact words were something like “What the F…, they give you a cake, cards and even presents for not doing something that was killing you??? Where are my presents for not scarfing down a box of rat poison?” Amazing that our relationship lasted “until death do us part”. Amazing that it lasted past that statement which I uttered during our 3rd or 4th date.

Still cold here. But, I went out at noon, and promised myself a hot shower and soup for lunch.

This woman was coming back in with her kid/grandkid on the board. But the big dog made it interesting. She has the dog and the board attached to the same ankle. The kid has a life vest.

 

My priorities are a little skewed. I really don’t worry about sharks or dengue fever (202 cases so far). But, box jelly fish scare me. If I see one – even a dead one on the beach – I take it as a sign from the goddess and I stay out of the water. Which wasn’t hard today. Gusty trades and cool temps. Only visitors from Alaska, Oh Canada, and Minnesota were in the ocean today.

I know a couple of people who have seen a whale this season. I haven’t seen any and the whales are reported to be MIA. Normally they would be here in great number by now. Seems it it is so warm in Alaska waters that the whales have delayed the migration.

And, this cute truck belongs to HotSpot Welding.

Big, 30 foot faces, waves on the other islands today. Around here – nothing. And, Paul Allen’s little yacht took off for ports unknown.

Note to Carlton: Remember the Vava II, the futuristic yacht that was here in the winter of 2014, the one that gave you the $100 tip? Of course you remember a $100 tip. Well, I looked it up to see if it was anywhere near. Nope, the Vava II is in Port Antarctica. I didn’t know you could just drive your yacht up to Antarctica and park it.