ADCD Fishes?

When we went to Hawaii, we took our snorkeling gear. I don't really recommend doing that. It's bulky and heavy and you can rent snorkel, mask and fins in Hawaii for $1.50 a day. I have this weird fear that I am going to suffocate every time I put that mask on.

So, the second day we were there, we headed out to La Perousse Bay to test the waters. I didn't have my fins. It was cold and the water was kind of rough. I couldn't see anything. It was murky and muddy and I thought I was going to drown. I kept at it though, and pretty soon I discovered an area where it was all rocky and there were fish everywhere. As soon as there was something to see, I forgot all about my fear of drowning. Janene didn't really want to be out there, so she went back and sat on the rocks.

Later, we went out the island of Lanai in a big rubber raft and went to three different spots to snorkel. Janene went with me on the second one in Manele Bay, and then when we went to Lighthouse, she was too cold to get back in. Janene says she doesn't mind being in the water. She just doesn't like the idea of all those crazy critters being in there with her. On our way there, a flying fish came out of the water and flew alongside the boat. It was pretty impressive. It flew for about 300 feet in the air. Weirdness!

Another day, we went to a cool looking bay and were on the way down to snorkel when someone advised us not to go. "There's someone dead down there" she said. It was true. Someone had just died down there and we saw the body bag with the paramedics later. We never found out how they died. It was a little creepy, but two days later, we went back and I explored that bay while Janene sat on the rocks. It was pretty cool and there were lots of fish. We don't know what its real name is, but I call it Dead Man's Bay now.

Random sights on a full moon eve

I came home from work to the sight of a full moon rising over the mountains behind our home. I must get out the camera was my thought. I did and then realized that it would be another hour before it came up over our hill. That meant only one thing. I had to hike up the hill to the garden in the snow. I only fell twice on the way up, but once I got up there,there was no good angle on the moonrise, so I got it coming up over Dee Winegar's old home. I built that chimney, so it seemed only fitting.

While I was up there I got to see what happens to Brussell Sprouts if you leave them through the winter. We probably won't be eating any of these now. At least I think the aphids are finally dead.

Turning to the west, I watched the sun set over the Oquirrh Mountains as planes landed at the airport.

And then watched as the urban rats invaded our neighborhood. About ten of these guys were in the field across the street. I thought I was going to get a good picture because I saw two four or five year old boys out on their balcony looking at the deer. Suddenly they disappeared into the house only to return with toy squirt guns - and began firing away. I couldn't get both the deer and their attackers in the same picture, but it would have been pretty cool. Oh well, there is always tomorrow.

On Seeing My Kid Brother 32 Years Ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8sfp_nF7Zc&feature=player_embedded

Whoa! What a trip? I was watching the TV the other day in Hawaii and suddenly there was my kid brother - starring in a Honda Civic commercial. Of course it really wasn't him. It was just an actor. But he was wearing my bro's shirt and driving his old '77 Honda Civic. See the link above and you'll know what I mean. We all lead totally different lives now. My brother is a successful building contractor in Park City. Back then he was driving back and forth from Salt Lake to Park City to work. He needed a cheap ride. The thing got 50 miles to a gallon up the canyon and about 70 MPG down the canyon. My brother got this car after his other car was totalled out at the sand dunes. I never would have thought I would see that old yellow car again. The actor dude had better hair than my brother, but he had me going for a moment.

It's Turtle Time!

Half expecting this turtle to hail me with a " Yo, dude!", I was surprised when this guy showed up at our private little beach. Janene and I had searched the island for some new beaches we hadn't seen. Back in a little cul-de-sac, we found the familiar Shoreline Access sign and headed down the small trail that ran through the undergrowth. We came out , not at a sunny sandy beach, but at a rocky outcropping at low tide. We were there for a while looking at stuff in the tidal pools, when we noticed about seven of these guys feeding on the rocks.

We couldn't figure out what they were eating, but they were pretty intensely focused on it. The waves would crash against the rocks and we expected to hear a loud "Crack" every time as their shells were dashed to pieces on the rocks, but it never happened. Every once in a while, they would have to come to the surface to say hello to us.

Who would have ever thought that sea turtles have teeth? Each one of these guys was a little different. You could tell the difference by the markings on their shells. One of them was a good size, about three and a half feet across. We stayed here about half a day on our last day, watching turtles and watching whales in the distance. We had the whole place to ourselves most of the time.

When it came time to leave, our new friends popped up to wave good-bye and wish us luck on our journey. I never thought I would like Maui. It is the most commercial of all the islands, and definitely the most expensive, but it also seems to have the most abundant sea life. The trade-offs appear to be worth it.

Playtime in the Nursery

Every year thousands of humpback whales leave their rich feeding grounds and come to Maui during winter. I wonder why they would want to leave Alaska at this time of year. They come here for two reasons - to have babies (called calves) and to make more babies. We went out to see if we could find some. And to take pictures of some. At first, every time that we saw something I snapped a picture of the sky or got it too late and just got a splash in the water.

But pretty soon, I was able to get shots of tails with Haleakala in the background. The area between the islands of Maui, Lanai, Molokai, and Kahoolawe forms a kind of shallow warm bathtub. The perfect place to bring up a baby whale. A kind of whale nursery.

Almost every group or pod of whales we found had a little one with them. The baby was learning the ropes (or should I say - testing the waters?) I was able to get a couple of photos of some whale tales. One of them breached and went way up in the air, but I missed it. It was too close and it scared me so much that I couldn't focus the camera.

We found out that whales have very bad breath. Yes, we could smell them. They make a strange whistling sound when they exhale and "blow" all the bad air out of their lungs. Did you know that whale babies will drink about seventy-five gallons of mommy's milk every day? That's almost as bad as our family was when all the kids were still living at home. These kids' mamas don't have to run down to Winegar's to restock on milk - they just have to go back to Alaska. It turns out that there is no food down here for the whales to eat, so while they are here, they are fasting and using up blubber. And I thought the real reason was that they couldn't afford to eat down here. Paying over four dollars for a gallon of milk, that would be about $300 a day. No wonder Shon and Mel came back home from Hawaii.

Holy Hana, Batman!

The road to Hana is nothing like what I expected. One of my coworkers who used to live in Hawaii said not to bother making the drive - it's boring and there is nothing in to do once you get there. I thought that from what I had heard, it was this horrible winding road on the side of the cliff with huge thousand foot drops to the crashing surf below, kind of a Kalalao backpacking trail only with pavement. Instead, we had a nice leisurely trip with lots of fun stops.

We got to spend a little time on a black sand beach kicking back and relaxing. We got to have some fun with a blowhole by the ocean. The waves were crashing and every once in a while, the water would shoot out of this hole in the rock. Even with a sign warning people to stay away, people would walk up and get surprised - or almost killed.

Around every corner there was another beautiful sight. We were able to sample fruits and banana bread and the ocean breezes. We found an old Hawaiin guy fishing along the shoreline. He told Janene how he had put a foot long fish on his line hoping to catch a four or five foot fish. She said "Wow!, then you will have food for a week." "Oh, no" he replied, "we share". That one fish will feed many. A nice lesson we could all learn.

 

At the end of the road are some awesome waterfalls and the Seven Sacred Pools. Of course, with our luck, the waterfalls were all dried up. The nice weather that made all the scenery so enjoyable had turned the pools into the 3-1/2 Desecrated Puddles. That was Janene's name for it. We stopped at Hasagawa's General Store to buy something. I didn't want to look like a tourist, so in addition to a buying the biggest avocado we have ever seen, I bought a pipe fitting, too. I wonder if they noticed my Utah tee shirt. It turned out to be an all day adventure and we loved every minute of it. So much for boring!

Sunrise at Haleakala

First stop in Maui was the top of a dormant volcano called Haleakala. And when I say first stop, I really mean first stop. Janene and I got up at 5:00AM after arriving the night before and started driving to the top of a 10,000 ft. mountain to watch the sun rise out of the ocean. We thought we were the only ones going up there. Imagine our surprise when we came around a corner and found a National Park Sevice employee directing traffic and saw the silhouettes of hundreds of people lined up on the ridge.

When the sun did come up it was pretty much a big let-down. And then this Hawaiian woman began singing in her native language. We thought she was praying, but we found out that she was actually a park ranger when she gave us the weather report in English. Pretty cool, huh?

We didn't think we could hang around for the sun to get high enough to properly illuminate the crater, or what's left of the crater. We couldn't walk too far on Janene's new foot so exploring the crater was out of the question. It was an eerie place to be with so much greenery everywhere else.

We saw a few of the silverswords, a plant that grows only on the top of Haleakala. After we started down, we got to see one of the Nene, the Hawaiian state bird, and the only state bird on the endangered species list. Just looked like goose without wings. On the way down the mountain we worked hard to get our ears to pop. Zero to 10,000 and back again.Can't do that back home in Utah. One of the girls at work was born and raised in Hawaii. She drove up to the top of Haleakala for the sunrise every morning for a whole summer. There must be something different in Hawaiian blood. I think she got a lot more out of it than we did. Then again, she put a lot more into it than we did.

"Vientos" finds a home.

On our second trip to Mata Ortiz, we were able to purchase a signed painting by Juan Quezada entitled "Vientos" or "winds" in English. Juan was the founder of the pottery movement in the central state of Chihuahua, Mexico. He found some prehistoric Casas Grandes pottery as a young man while herding cattle. It occurred to him that if the pottery was there, then all the ingredients must be there as well. Thus began his quest to learn the ancient potter's skills. Over many years, he finally perfected the methods and produced some beautiful work.

Juan was not protective of his newly learned artistic skills, even after he began to earn worldwide fame for his work. He realized that if he taught his family and friends, he could change their lives as his had been changed. There are now over 300 potters in this small adobe village. Many earn a very good living, even by U.S. standards. Each one works in much the same way that their ancestors did, making pottery from the native clays, decorating them with pigments from local minerals, and firing them with cottonwood bark or dung. Every time we have visited, Juan takes time to talk with us. Here he is with his son and Chelane, when she purchased one of Alvaro's pots.

Juan's pottery never sells for less than five or six thousand dollars for a small pot. Many sell for much, much more and are placed in museums around the world. For this reason, we never thought we would be able to own a Juan Quezada work. Juan painted four of his pottery designs on paper. We purchased one of his paintings years ago and have never been able to show it until now. We tried to get it framed when we came home from Mexico, but they wanted over $300 dollars to have it framed. We finally found a frame and modified it ourselves last week. We can now enjoy the beauty of Juan's artistry at home. No longer do we need to risk our lives travelling through areas controlled by the drug cartels to see the incredible skills of one of the world's greatest living artists.

Thoughts on being addressed as "Sir"!

Today, I helped my Dad install an instant hot water heater under his kitchen sink. During the course of the work I had to go to the hardware store. "Where is your copper tubing?" I asked. "It's right down here, sir" "Ok, thank you - and don't call me sir" "Yes, sir! Oh - sorry, sir" On three different occasions, I was called "sir". I stopped at Carl's Jr. to get a drink. "Sir! You forgot your change!" I didn't have the heart to tell him that I was trying to get away before he could call me sir. Sir is what you call your sargeant or what you say to your dad when you're in big trouble. Sir! is how you get the waiter's attention. It is not how I am supposed to be addressed.

It bugs me a little that I have reached the age where young people feel that they need to use the prefix. What's next? "Hey! Old Man?" I once fired an employee who insisted on calling me sir. Of course, the truth of that situation was that he didn't seem to have the ability to pass the occasional random "tests" we had. Using that dreaded epithet had not been the reason I fired him, but that character trait did make the firing much more enjoyable (for me, that is). I much preferred it when I was addressed in a more Lincolnesque " Oh Captain! My Captain".

When I was at the gas station, the very young man at the counter asked "How is your day, sir?" I told him I was fine, but added "It's kind of scary that you called me Sir". He gave me a thoughtful answer. "I'm sorry. I was just trying to say the right thing. I just want to be able to keep my job in this hard economy". I guess I should be more careful and let them address me the way they want. I am now to the point in my life where I would hate someone to lose their job over it. As he gave me my change, he said "Thanks Bro". Now that's more like it.

The Joys of Christmas

One of the joys of Christmas is the chance we get to see all of our children and grandchildren together on one day. We are lucky parents. We have all of our children living within 10 miles of our home. We get to see them often, but we rarely get to see them all at one time. It is a hectic and chaotic time, but it is also a joyous time, a wonderful time.

Everyone has a smile on their face. We all love each other and love being together. I know that there is a chance that this is only a small moment. Someone will move away. Lives will change. But for now, we have to enjoy every moment of it. Every year some grandchild breaks some treasured ornament or decoration, but this is a small price to pay to be able to enjoy these times together

Years ago, I would go with my family to my Grandpa and Grandma Morton's home for Christmas Eve. We loved being with our cousins and aunts and uncles. Now, I would be lucky if I were to be able to recognize one of my cousins on the street. The tradition was too difficult for them to maintain as the families grew, moved away, and relationships changed.

Every year, I am thankful that we have the close and loving family that we do. This is one of the tender mercies in our life. Every year I pray that we can remain together, that the eternal relationships we are building here will grow stronger, that the bonds of love will continue to strengthen as we show love to each other.

Rambo Freebairn

Lots of you have asked which grandchild got the staples in his head. Some even asked which child put the staples in Mikey's head. Just so there is no confusion, Mikey got injured playing with Cy up on the loft. They were rocking on the banana chairs and somehow Mikey appears to have hit his head on one of the newel posts on the railing. He cried for a few seconds and then went back to playing with his cousin. Later on, he came down and sat on his dad's lap. His dad looked at the blood on his head and then passed him to Grandpa to see if he needed stitches. Grandma said we should superglue him back together. Steve called his doctor, who didn't like the superglue idea, so it was off to Primary Children's where Mikey got three staples to sew his head back together. He got them taken out this week. Mikey was a real trooper and didn't cry until the last one came out. We had a little bit of cleanup to do on the loft. Mikey kept playing even though he had a gaping head wound. Of course, none of the other kids thought it was the least bit out of the ordinary to have gobs of blood all over the chairs. Go figure.