Category: The DayBook

The zebra dove is our little dove. (Our big dove is the spotted dove) This cute little guy is basically considered a huge pest – much like the urban pidgeon. According to the Bishop Museum:

A small group of Zebra Doves were reportedly brought to Kaua’i, O’ahu, Moloka’i, and Maui in 1922, possibly from a Singapore dealer (Bryan 1958). They were identified then as G.s. striata (Munro 1944, Swedberg 1967b, Walker 1967) but the shipment was also reported to have included some Barred and Peaceful doves… Munro collected what he determined to be Peaceful Doves on Lana’i in the 1920s but it appears these were all Zebra Doves. Munro also suggested that populations may have been genetically introgressed with Bar-shouldered Dove, also introduced to Hawaii in the 1920s but all specimens examined to date show no signs of introgression with this or other Geopilia (PP examination). By the late 1930s Zebra Doves had reached and become common on all Southeastern Islands except Hawai’i I, where they soon spread and became established, initially in n. Kona and sparingly in N Kohala (Northwood 1940, Schwartz & Schwartz 1949). In 1946 Schwartz and Schwartz (1949) estimated a population of 237,000 individuals on Kaua’i (ca. 52,000), O’ahu (ca. 70,000), Molokai (ca. 52,000), Maui (ca. 47,000), Lana’i (ca. 10,000), and Hawai’i I (ca. 7,800); highest densities (up to 800 per square mile) were found in dryer areas of O’ahu and Moloka’i. They have since spread throughout Hawai’i I and have much higher populations there (Lewin 1971; Berger 1972, 1981; Scott et al. 1986), and undoubtedly on the other islands as well.

Over 10,000 were shot around the Lihue Airport, Kaua’i, Jan-May 1992 as part as damage control. Although listed as a gamebird (Walker 1967) and actively taken through at least the 1970s (Berger 1981), little hunting of this species currently occurs in Hawaii.

All that being said – I like them. I think most people do. Someone liked the birds in the photo enough to feed them left over rice. BTW – I like pigeons and starlings too.

Today I was hunting for something easy to eat at the grocery. Then I realized – YIKES – my days of Ahi and Avocados were coming to an end. A big chunk of ahi is on tap for dinner. But with a nice orange not an avocado.

 

 

 

I was very pleased when me, my camera, the long lens, the light and the whales all came together just after noon today. What I have here is a 2 second sequence of a single breach.

Went to yoga, my walk was cut short by whale photography, got some new sandals, little swim, little lounging under my palm tree and reading.

Oh, and I made my reservations for next winter. Oct 30 – March 1. See no reason to stop wintering in Kona.

Also, I scanned all the lovely cards people sent me. I put them into Evernote. And, pitched to cards. One less thing to take back to Arlington. And, It is in keeping with my attempt to have way less paper and stuff.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s cold as hell back in Arlington. But, I think it is time for me to be heading that way. I want to figure out what I am going to do and where I am going to do it.

I stopped off at the night auditors room today. It is a hotel room, but she furnished it and it has a more gracious “kitchen” area. Point is, I think I would be happy with a tiny apartment at the old ladies asylum. I just don’t need that much space/stuff. The stuff that I do have, it will be good stuff. Think I’ll keep my bed, my coffee table and my rugs, everything else goes bye. Just playing mind games. I haven’t a clue what I am going to do. Or where I am going to do it.

INTERESTING.

I thought that was my photograph.

See: http://pegbethany.org/weblog/daybook009/020210.htm

I really don’t care. Much.

Sunrise at the old airport. And it is boat day as well.

Lucky you come Hawai’i.

I got an email this afternoon from the apartment management basically announcing the end of life on the planet as we know it because of the incoming cold. Glad I am not worrying about a house.

Time for a nice cup of Kona’s finest – medium roast peaberry.

No new photos today – But, I did delete a bunch of images and got 10GB back. However, I did miss a photo op. A boat ran aground about 1.5 miles south. I walked down that way late this morning – just to keep the FitBit happy. And, I decided not to take my camera. Well, as you might imagine – when I got about a mile up the road – there were two what looked like commercial fishing boats hauling the wrecked boat off the rocks. A couple of fearless divers stuffed floaties under the boat. Things seemed to be going well. I’ll read about it tomorrow.

I have mentioned that our little drinking village with the fishing problem is not exactly 21st century ready. For instance – we can not afford to open the beach/public restrooms on holidays. A little lame – but – this is Kona. What do you expect?

Well, one hopes that Honolulu/Waikiki can keep their public/beach bathrooms open everyday. Usually they do. But yesterday, the biggest restrooms were closed. Waikiki ran out of toilet paper. Yep, we have Costco here in Hawai’i. You would think that someone would have been resourceful enough to just go buy a case or two. But, no, they just closed the potties. Take that beach going visitors. Welcome to paradise.

I went to lunch today with 3 other widow women. There was a thing on TV yesterday about some guy who died last year – but he had arranged for the local florist to deliver flowers to his wife for the rest of her life. We four women noted that we never got valentine flowers from our husbands while they were alive. And none of us felt unloved for lack of flowers either while our guys were alive or dead.

Except for doing my FitBit walking and a little swim – mostly I post processed yesterday’s images. Have I mentioned that my free disk space is down to 71GB. Better find the DELETE key soon!

I really have to address the “going back east” issue. I think I have more stuff than I started with.  Wrong, I know I have more stuff. At the very least – I have the turtle purse project. And, some beach glass, shells, etc. Well, to quote Scarlett – I’ll think about that tomorrow.

At this instant I am hungry. Maybe a little salad featuring avocado.

Note to self: Don’t put origami butterflies in the purse/tote bag.

Yes, here I am wearing the damn white dress again. Function at Carlton’s Palace. I was a worker bee.

It was a long day. Help set things up. Work in the kitchen. Change clothes. Take pictures. at ceremony. Change clothes. Eat. Clean up. Put things away. Take pictures at concert. Final kitchen clean up. Go home (with leftovers). Post process pictures.

About the post processing. Everyone was wearing white dresses. A post processing nightmare. Why didn’t I shoot raw? I wasn’t thinking.

And that is it for today’s post.

Wind is HOWLING around. But, it is just wind. Not a blizzard. We might be getting a bunch of rain this evening. But, tomorrow is supposed to be fine.

There seems to be no phone service (again). A contractor cut a massive cable earlier this week. Most folks didn’t realize that when the landline is cut – you might lose your cell service too. The stores really hated it. They couldn’t take plastic. If you needed 911 you were out of luck. Apparently many folk suffered mightily from smart phone deprivation. The phones are apparently out again this afternoon. At least that is what they said on TV.

No Valentine’s Day grief. Carlton didn’t celebrate Valentine’s Day. He did commemorate the day, however. Captain Cook was killed down the road from here on February 14, 1779.

I gave out my origami hearts, walked to Target, worked on my turtle purse, read, napped just took it real easy today.

A sort of lazy day. Yoga. Walked 6.5 miles. Talk story. Origami hearts. Read a book under my favorite coconut tree. Might not have been too smart since it was very windy.

Yoga was outdoors. Just like in Yoga Journal. Right on the ocean. Under coconut trees. Best yoga venue ever. It was windy and my hair wasn’t all that well secured. When I got home, I found a big harmless black bee tangled up in my hair.

Wind is today’s theme. The wind brings change. It is time. Time to move on. What ever that means.

Enjoyed an All American Day: 2 National Parks, US Post Office, Fine coffee right at the mill, Breakfast at Denny’s and a stop at Costco. It doesn’t get much more American than that.

Started the morning off with a trip south to Pu’uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park. There were whales. I only had the plastic lens, so no photos. No photos of sea spray rainbows either.

Next – Peaberry coffee, a stop at the post office, breakfast at Denny’s and a visit to Costco.

And finally – visit Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park. Most of us old hippies call this park “The Old Nude Beach”.

We (my friend Billy and I) started out at 0630 hours and I logged 4.93 miles on the FitBit. I worked on my craft project, took a tiny swim, lounged under “my” coconut tree this afternoon. An altogether fine day.

BTW – One of “my” financial institutions want me to sign up for visual and voice recognition login options. Sounds fine – but wait – what if said financial institution gets hacked. The cyber criminals would not only have my name, address, ssn and credit card number but a photo too. So, what is to stop them from making their own Peg Bethany Photo ID??? Gotta think about this. Of course there aren’t that many Peg Bethany’s around – so I guess they could come up with a photo anyhow…

As for the voice recognition part – I know I have an awful voice – not sure anyone would want to steal it!

I have just realized that I am getting down to my last couple of weeks here in Kona. A couple of weeks ago, when I got the ticket home, I made a going home “to do list”. Then, I promptly forgot that I was actually going to be heading east.

So –

I took a picture of my fantastic salad. I’ll try to remember it in a couple of months when all the veggies on the east coast have come from hundreds of miles away. This salad was all from Big Island – except for the raspberries. Raspberries from California are cheaper here than they are in Virginia – so – raspberries not tomatoes.

I know that several non-US folk read this blog. Thanks!… So, here is a little run up to the next topic.

In way too many parts of the United States way too many people are “armed and dangerous”. Three apparently upstanding Muslim young people were shot by Craig Hicks in Chapel Hill North Carolina last night. There were rumors that this was a hate crime against Muslims.

Now, let the rant begin… According to the Washington Post:

Later on Wednesday, Hicks’s wife insisted that the shooting was only due to parking arguments and not to any bigotry. “I can say with my absolute belief that this incident had nothing to do with religion or victims faith, but in fact was related to the long-standing parking disputes that my husband had with the neighbors.

Now, exactly how is killing three unarmed people over a parking space better than killing three unarmed people over religion?

Another note to non-US readers. Actually if the killing was over religion – that is a federal offense. Killing someone over a parking space is a state offense.

Which reminds me of one of Flip Wilson’s Reverend Leroy routines – Rev Leroy updated the 10 commandment – to include “Thou Shalt Not Kill – Unless they cut you off on the freeway”. BUT, HELLO, it was humor not how to live your life.

Found this fine old Ford at the old airport this morning. Gotta love anything that is older than I am that still works.

After a walk around the beach and the Maka’Eo Walking Path – it was off to the all day craft project to make a little turtle purse.

This is what the project is supposed to look like when it is done.

However, my turtle purse has a long way to go. Very long. Maybe even impossibly long. I refuse to be discouraged. I also think that my little hotel room is not a suitable for working on the turtle. SO, I boxed the turtle and all of it’s parts up. I’ll just send it back to Virginia. And work on it in my well lighted living room.

Note to Carlton: Yes, I will finish it. I do not need to hear about your first wife and her unfinished projects again. But, it might take 6 months. What say, I’ll try to get it done by the anniversary of your death. Not one day at a time … one bead at a time.