We Dogged a Bullet!

The headlines in the Sunday morning newspaper read "We Dogged A Bullet" referring to the tsunami that arrived on time, but was almost unnoticeable! Civil Defense ordered an evacuation from the tsunami inundation areas Saturday 2/27/10 at 6AM. Since we are in one of these areas, we had to be out of our house and off the closed roads by 10AM. The impending tsunami was a result of the 8.8 Chile earthquake.

A friend called us early Saturday morning to warn us, 2 hours before the first sirens. With a yawn and some excitement, I began to move things off the floor to higher ground. Since the expected waves were to be under 10 feet, we figured the worst that could happen is a boulder go through one of our windows and flooding occur. We also moved any objects from the oceanside lanais and lawn. Scott actually mowed the lawn before we left the house!

We had plenty of time to get ready, so there was a calm in the air. The local HPP Emergency Team was out early alerting residents with their bull horns. They touched base with us three times, "Are you guys evacuating?"! After setting up the video camera to film the impending wave, we departed our house at about 10:10AM. We called a few friends and we all went over to a member of Scott's softball team, Larry, on third street.

Well, 11:05 came and went! Looked like no sign of the wave. A Hawaii news station was showing live video of Coconut Island in Hilo. Around 11:20AM it became obvious that water was coming in and out of Hilo Bay - not normal - like a surge of water (see picture above). We never saw what I perceive as a wave, but the scientists said that we were watching a tsunami wave!

We returned home safe and dry!

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It Wasn't Pretty...

The HUI O NA KOLOHE (Hawaiian for little rascals or something like that) had a double-header on Saturday 2/20/10 at Carvalho Park near Rainbow Falls.  The out come was less than desirable. However, most had fun and we all joined together for fun and eats after the games!

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Zip Line Adventure

Well, Hilo has a Zip Line Adventure to keep all of you thrill seeking tourists (and residents) happy!  The World Botanical Garden (we have yet to go) offer such an adventure.  Here is an excerpt from their website:

Tour Info
You can ride on 7 exciting zip lines and walk across the 150' suspension bridge over waterfalls that stretch as far as you can see. Our canopy tours operate from 9:00 am until 5:30 pm with our last tour departing the base at 3:00pm. Online reservations are preferable and encouraged. Customers are required to be at World Botanical Gardens Visitor Center to register 30 minutes before their tour is scheduled to depart.

We encourage "Walk-Up" customers. Tours can take up to 12 participants, but special tours can be arranged for larger groups. Exceptional rates are available for groups of 10 or more. Call 888-Zip-Isle (947-4753) for further details.

Zip Isle supplies top rated safety equipment such as harnesses, helmets and Zip Line hardware for each guest. Participants, in groups of 12 are escorted by 2 highly trained guides. Ask about Helmet cams rentals and photos of your trip which may be available for purchase.

The bad news - the adventure is very pricey over $100.  I will be on the lookout for coupons...

Come visit and lets give it a try!

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Busy "Leisure" Day Today!

At 9AM we are off to the "Old Man" softball game.  Scott is playing on a 60+ softball team in Hilo,  They allow (2) 55-60 year olds on the team and he is one of them.  Unfortunately, only one can play at a time. So neither gets in a full game if they are both present. Pot luck after the event.

Then this evening back into town for our monthly International Diner.  This one is a Caribbean theme and we will be at the beach!  Should beautiful!  Looks for some pictures tomorrow.

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Master Gardener Class starts Today

Well, I am off to my first Master Gardener class at 9AM today!

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First Synchronized Breach

We just saw our first synchronized breach! We were watching what we thought was one whale breach several times.  Then there were two breachs within seconds of one another and thought, OMG, there are two whales!  Finally, they breached together.

Photo by Nancy Black

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Adult Whale Breaching

Believe it or not there is a whale on the right side of the photo above! We saw an adult whale breach over 10 times.  By the time I got the camera it was moving further and further out to sea. By the time I got it in focus, it was even further out! It was quite close to the sea cliffs when it first started the arial show! Dang, wish I had had the camera ready before we started to watch for whales!!!


This second picture is the same photo, but zoomed in (but not touched up) using photo software.   

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Laundry Room Design

Soon it will be time to finish off the laundry room.  Currently only the washer and dryer are in place.  All the detergent etc. is sitting on the floor.  Our laundry room is not as big as we had in Tempe, but we don't have as much laundry here in Hawaii, too casual!  Anyhow the picture below is what I will present to "Mr. Baker".  It will be interesting to see what the final product looks like!

PS I think we will try to look for a used base cabinet with "character" and build the shelf and hanging unit.

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TIPNUT Blog

I ran across this website the other day - Tipnut. The site has it's share of advertizing, but has information from houshold tips, cleaning tips, crafts, DIY and much more. It has amazing stuff...

Check out the January 2009 Top List to get started!

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Young'n Breach

Just saw a young humpback breach 2X only 5 yards off our sea cliffs.  First activity today!

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Last House Standing - Or Not?

Lava appears to be threatening the last house standing in the Royal Gardens development.  Fresh video shows lava just 150 yards away from Jack Thompson's Royal Gardens property.  Listen to Jack speak about madden Pele.  New Report   Video

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Faux Crown Molding a Success

We finally finished the faux crown molding in the guest bedroom and it looks great!

We used less expensive chair molding and placed a rail on the ceiling and on the walls, leaving space between the two.  We placed the rail lower on the wall then the ceiling.  Finally we painted the rails and the space between them white.  The final appearance is faux crown molding!  

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Noisey Night - The Whales were Active

After a noisy whale night, Scott and I got our cups of coffee and sat out on the lawn chairs to see what whale activity we could see at 6AM.  It was a chilly 67degrees and I had my hoodie on and a lap blanket.  We did see some blows from about 4 different whales.  There were aways out, but their bodies were visible without binoculars.  We will try again at lunchtime.

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Largest Whale of the Season

With only seconds to go in the first half of the 44th Super Bowl, we thought we heard a door slam next door.  Turned out to be a whale breach.  We went outside to witness, I believe a male humpback, breach about 5 times with the last his best!  He leaped nose first high into the air turned almost 360 degrees with fins flapping in the air!  Scott had turned his back to go into the house and missed it.  This was by far the largest whale I have seen off the sea cliffs!  Cool!

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Blog Give Aways

Something I recently learned about is the Blog Give Aways.  I guess it is a marketing tool to get a your blog noticed and/or sell.

Click on Low Tide High Style to see what I mean.  You can win a pair of earrings (left) listed on another internet site  White Flower Farmhouse

All very interesting....

PS Looks like a white-out for Low Tide High Style check it out!

Photo from:  White Flower Farmhouse

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15 Minutes of Fame!

Our solar contractor has selected our house to hang on their office wall and to show other home owners the benefits of potovolatic systems!  How fun!

The cost of this system was not cheap!  Thank goodness for the State and Federal rebates!!!  It feels good to get about 1/2 of our electric free from the sun.  Our electric bill before the PV system was about $140-$180/month.  Our first month on the PV system was $60.

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Write and Self-Publish Your Own Book!???!

The link below is a great Blog posting if you have ever considered such an adventure!  I am keeping it my list of things to do!

http://tarletonink.blogspot.com/2010/02/how-to-publish-your-book-diy-pod-yyc.html

Lulu, one of the many self publishing websites.  Who knew?!

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New "Burger Joint" in Town

Hilo Burger Joint apparently serving grass fed local Hawaii Island beef!  We plan to check it out this week.  Will post a review.  

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First Year Anniversary Celebration!

We popped a bottle of bubbly to celebrate our first year living in Uli Kia Hale!

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