While *some* pixies (ahem, kathy a) are out enjoying a fabulous vacation, the rest of us are here at home, doing the same-old, same-old.
I got griped out this morning for throwing away a very valuable zip-top plastic bag, as well as for expecting a certain Baboo to consume her breakfast and get ready for school.
What are your whines, pixies?
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AW: Gorgeous fall weather! And the day off from school!
W: stooopid cold making me cough
--Neighbor Lady
Bummer on the cold, NL.
Weather: high predicted to be 96 today. Yes, you read that correctly. Fahrenheit.
Sniffles: allergy related, I think/hope
"Holiday:" schools still on, bank still open. You might think that this reveals a progressive bent here in SmallTown, RedState. I think you're probably mistaken on that. The American Legion has also distributed U.S. flags for people to fly (they do this on real holidays, too: Memorial Day, Labor Day, Independence Day, Veterans Day). Columbus had exactly what to do with the United States, again? Pretty sure I whine about this weirdness every year, so forgive me if it's a rerun.
AW: Pixies. I can't remember the last time this happened. Both Baboos in bed, asleep, before 7 PM (which is Sweet's usual bedtime). Mini is either sick or will wake up at 4 in the morning, but I'm just going to revel in the quiet now.
W: This event occurred after one of the most miserable afternoons in recent memory. Both Baboos' (and eventually mine too) behavior was in the toilet.
NL, hope you're feeling better! Yay for the day off.
Esperanza, oh yeah, 2 to bed early = amazing! Sorry about the earlier misery.
It's gorgeous, we drove around half the island today and saw a bunch, made friends with 3 cats so far.
Because of karma or something, we also had internet trouble on arrival, the a/c died last night (it was 96 yesterday), and I am so poorly wired and out of shape that I nearly did not make it out of this posh resort property where we got lost trying to find some seaside feature called dragon teeth. The cheerful advice from a local was to go up to the next road, ignore the threatening sign about only registered golfers being allowed on that private property, and just meander toward the ocean, dodging private security. "Oh, we all ignore that sign," she said. Maybe another day... So father down the road, my husband decided that when the state highway ended, we would proceed on the one-lane road until the state highway picks up again, which turned out to be only about 90 miles. (OK, probably 10-15, but it was all sitting on these steep cliffy hillsides with traffic sometimes coming in the opposite direction.) Hugely beautiful, silly great little roadside stands here and there, and we did not get killed; nor did we figure out until later that if we had crashed on that stretch, our rental car insurance would have been void. And finally, when we stopped in at this tiny historical society museum, the extremely young clerk misunderstood my husband's joke about us not being a few years off from 60 (this side, not that side), and gave us the discount anyway.
Aloha!
* The joke was that we ARE a few years off from the 60+ discount, darn it. The young person gave me correct change for two elders. If I was truly a good person, I should have corrected him. Next time.
Sorry about the cold NL. Bleh.
Yay for early bedtime esperanza!
Glad you're having such a great time kathy a!! I was given a senior discount for the first time when I was 54. I was both horrified and delighted. And I did not correct the clerk.
AW: I'm off today! Yay Thanksgiving weekend!
W: I'm suddenly nauseated, ever since lunch. And am out of the pink stuff, and am alone with the kid for another hour and a half. (Thank goodness for TV, and the fact that she watched very little this morning.) What on earth did I eat that went so badly, you guys? I'm seriously doing deep breathing, trying not to puke.
AW: I had nothing going on yesterday, and managed to vote in the advanced polls! Now I don't have to worry about what to do with E on election day, since it's going to be a busy day for everyone.
Esperanza: what was with the children yesterday afternoon? I forgot myself and got into a shouting match with mine, in the midst of a terrible afternoon. But she was asleep by 6pm.
Kathy: I hope you guys have a lovely vacation, in spite of the few flies (and senior discounts) in the ointment! (I've heard there are some places that give senior discounts liberally, because some true seniors look younger than they are, and get crotchety if they don't receive their discount automatically! But it really would have the opposite effect of the time I was carded at the age of 29 -- in a place where the drinking age is 19.)
W: 99 degrees today, very low humidity, windy....and, not surprisingly, very smoky. I see smoke/haze in the distance and we're getting smoke and some ashes, but I can't find any information on a fire, so I guess we're ok for the moment. Hopefully it's all under control. The wind isn't too strong, but everything is super dry, as we haven't had any substantial rain since the Memorial Day flooding.
Ok finally some official word. Smoke is from a large fire in the county to the north of us, under control now. Whew. There is still smoke in the air, enough to see and to make my throat kind of burn.
QWP, hope your tummy is feeling better. Yuck.
Ugh, I'm sorry to hear you guys are in smoke and heat, esperanza. Never a good combination.
My body is so weird today! I think my head is the culprit! The next day will determine this mystery: is it a.) The result of the little sleep I had last night? B) Something I ate? C) The beginning of a nasty bug? D) bonkers symptoms right before Aunt Flo? Anything is possible! Tune in and find out.
Hope you feel better QWP!!!
--NL
QWP, hope you are feeling better! I last got carded when I was 26 and in a state where drinking age (then) was 18; that was hilarious.
Esperanza, yuck about the high heat and smoky air. Bleah. Hope there is some relief soon.
So, I forgot to tell you about the feral chickens on Maui. They are a cross between domestic chickens and some indigenous fowl, and they just like hanging out by the side of the one-lane road. We saw 3 groups with the cutest chicks evah, and a few lone ranger chickens foraging in more public places, like the parking lot for this state park.
I'm on the internet for a legitimate reason, because I overdid and nearly roasted earlier, and here there is both a/c and a view of palms and the ocean. Also, I think we've decided to take our musical son a decent quality ukulele -- not the $17 kind in the gift shop. (He is very hard to shop for. Usually we settle for stuff like this year's birthday present, buying a new radiator for his vehicle.)
xoxo
Maui feral chickens! Oh, I miss that island so much. (One of my best friends lives there, and I spent a while with her, in the time leading up to her wedding. I can't wait to go back, and am living vicariously through your trip!)
New possibility regarding Mystery Blargh: my sister just told me that she had nausea and a headache yesterday, and it was her ears, and today she has a cold.
QWP -- what? Ear thing? Anyway, sending some Pixie dust, but go call or see your doc if this isn't clearing up. OK?
We are completely stunned by the number of babies people bring to vacation here. I guess the babies fly free [or nearly so], and they are cute as can be, every one.
Tonight we went on a small dinner cruise including sunset, and it was great -- good food, gentle surf, perfect temps, fun. My beloved is much more fit and athletic than I (also, he does not sunburn); he is going to snorkel a coral reef early tomorrow. My plan is to go sit in the ocean for a while, explore the area a little, try the hot tub for those ouchy muscles that have not yet yielded.
Looking forward to an update from our candidate Liz!
xoxo
Feral chickens are award-worthy - not as a whine, of course, but a major AW. Especially adorable chicks!!
I spent two days of our only island vacation sitting inside with aloe slathered all over me because I overdid the sun thing. Totally understand kathy a.
QWP, sorry about feeling so icky. Hope it's better today.
I'm now doing sub-cutaneous fluid injections for our kitty. She's not suffering at all, the doc says, but is in the early to mid stage kidney disease. She's eating, drinking, peeing etc... still has a crazy play time every day where she thunders around the house. The fluids will give her more energy and help flush the kidneys a bit more. My lab experience from an age ago makes the procedure easy. I did the first treatment at the vets with a tech teaching me. It's a teeny needle (a butterfly) and she hardly flinched when it went in.
She's almost 17, so we won't do more than this in terms of extraordinary measures, but if this makes her last months better, that will be good.
((( Sue's kitty ))))
Sue, you're a great kitty mama.
W: This Albatross #2 is having little babies all over the place. Each one comes with 250 emails.
Yikes! Is part of the email overload the blatant mis-use of "reply all?"
My husband's been off at snorkling camp since 6 a.m. So, rigorous day for me. Walk. Breakfast. Rest. Walk. Swim in pool; read by pool. Rest. Walk. Buy reef shoes so the rocks don't eat my feet. Go in ocean; read by ocean, under some big tropical tree. Fall flat on face in the sand for the second day in a row -- the sand drops down maybe 30 inches between the lounge chairs and the water, so it wasn't 100% my fault, but I noticed that other beachgoers did not have the same problem with gravity. Rinse; rest. Lunch. Rest. Read some more. Note pee-wee league level of sunburn. Ponder next activity.
It is a lot of "reply all," but it's something that "all" need to see and approve before we send it up the ladder. At least it's not "reply all" for sandwich orders, which I've seen with Albatross #1.
Your day sounds perfect, minus gravity and the sunburn.
When I went to Hawaii the first time, I stepped in a mosquito nest (Kauai).
When I went the second time I came back pregnant. (On purpose).
It's Knocktober, people!! I'm getting my canvass on!!! Also, Daily Kos endorsed me!!
Go, Liz, Go! You're unstoppable!
Go Liz!!!!!
Yay, Liz!
Yay Liz!!!!!!
Also, kathy a., that sounds absolutely delightful (except for the ouchie parts!).
Hope you continue to have a wonderful wonderful time!
:) Neighbor Lady
also, Happy Birthday to KLee!!
:)
Actually, I think I may have mised KLee's birthday by a day..... Hope it was wonderful!
--Neighbor Lady
The book of faces says KLee's birthday is today! Happy Birthday, KLee!!
W: Y'all, this fire is terrible. 4200 acres, only 15% contained, predicted to spread today. The smoke is no longer blowing in our direction.
Happy birthday, KLee!
Happy Happy Birthday KLee!!!!
Travelogue: Yesterday afternoon, we returned to the good ukulele shop and got our son a quality uke -- he had a cheap one, once (his gift to self on a BSA service trip to Hawaii), and he is still a reasonably musician despite the day job. Later, hula performance by the hotel pool. Then a really wonderful dinner -- I had the special, 2 kinds of local fish, a sauce with black beans and a citrusy twist, fabulous coconut rice. (Our waiter grew up within 20 miles of where I grew up.)
Today, there was a giant rainbow before breakfast! We set out on the road to Hana -- the state highway ends about 40 miles from where we are staying, and we went a little over 20 miles from there on another windy hillside road. This part of the island is all tropical rainforest, and deep narrow valleys, and waterfalls -- really beautiful! Parts are too narrow for 2 lanes. Wonderful views. Feral chickens. Two feral cats greeting visitors at a little roadside park.
We bought passion fruit at a roadside stand (featuring a working cat sunning on the awning) -- then we noticed that there were a ton of passion fruit along the roadside, just fallen from the vines. The stand where we stopped for lunch had a sign on the trash bin advising not to put whole coconuts in the bin (lot of coconuts for sale along there, too), because they are too heavy and the trash guy won't take the bag in the bin if they are in there. That's a sign you don't see just everyplace. Aloha!
Happy birthday, KLee!!
Apologies if the travel updates are annoying. It is pretty much an exciting anti-whine week, except the part today where my husband flew out of a turnout and we almost got hit by a jeep coming around the curve. Then I could have used a fast-acting sedative. I didn't have to yell, because the jeep people yelled "DRUNK" and made hand gestures.
I like the travel updates, Kathy! And oh boy, am I glad you guys are safe!
Happy birthday, KLee!
W: I'm starting to figure out what all my illness issues have been this week: a little of everything? A bit of a stomach thing, a bit of a cold, and ridiculous physical PMS symptoms? This body of mine: it is sometimes a frustration.
Ridiculous W: E was playing with an old travel alarm clock yesterday, and even though no numbers were showing up on the display, apparently there was just enough battery left in it for her to set the clock to go off at 2:40am, and then hide it under her dresser. That was a startling way to wake up. And for the life of me, I could hear it coming from the dresser, but it wasn't on the dresser! All of this while using our phones as flashlights, and as the kid slept through it. Until five minutes after we went back to bed, at which point she suddenly startled awake.
By all these powers combined, I was not functional today. E got to watch a LOT of TV.
AW: I'm thankful for TV, on days like today.
LOVE the travel updates!!!! Living vicariously!
and, QWP, how frustrating about the middle of the night wakeup!
--Neighbor Lady
Keep the travel updates coming, kathy a!
QWP, it was definitely a TV day. All that illness ick, with a middle of the night wakeup? Ugh.
W: a skunk must have been right under our bedroom window last night. It was so strong it woke me up in the night, and I didn't rest well after that. I think it has dissipated this morning, but maybe the nerves in my nose are just overworked.
Ew! I think skunk under the window is a worse middle-of-the-night wake-up than hidden alarm clock.
Love the updates kathy a!!! Keep 'em coming! Glad you're okay. I imagine a bin full of whole coconuts would be heavy - but yes, not a sign you see every day. :)
Sorry to hear about the late-night alarms and skunks. Thank goodness for TV!
Yikes! Zombie alarm clocks and Smell-O-Skunk!
Last night, we went across the street to the strip mall and tried this restaurant that had good reviews. On the outside, it looked like a strip mall -- but on the inside? Wow! Walls covered with photos, hangings, artwork, shelves with a hugely eclectic collection of everything you can imagine. Things hanging from the ceiling. Every table different; all manner of table lights, unusual items used as sugar dishes, etc. Jazz playing, except when the live music appears -- last night, an excellent guy playing acoustic guitar, all songs that people of a certain era know. Good food, too! Java Jazz & Soup Nutz.
My sweetie made omlettes with brie for breakfast. On today's morning walk, we saw many large koi in the pond at another hotel, and also met a giant snail on a path. Huge! Later, we're going to Whaler's Village and a whaling museum, because that used to be a big enterprise around here. Then, probably some more ocean, lazing around, etc. Home tomorrow.
Not-so-adventurous adventures with Baboos: we went to our nearby state park (we had other plans but had to change them due to smoke from the big fire--4500 acres, 48 houses lost, still burning). We had a picnic and "hiked." We saw our second armadillo of the week (in the daytime? what?), some vultures, two white ducks, and a bunch of flies.
My skunk-disturbed night is catching up with me, and I am worn out.
Mmmm....omelets with brie.
Hubby let me trim his hair today. It was overdue. He was approaching Elevated Risk of Comb-over territory. Not to worry - I took care of it. :)
Sue gets Elevated Risk of Mullet for "Elevated Risk of Comb-over territory" hahahaha.
Yes, on the Mullet! And good work, Sue -- you are a woman of many talents.
Esperanza, glad you and the Baboos made the most of things, but hope tonight does not feature smell-o-vision. (So, armadillos are more nocturnal?
Whaler's Village was mostly upper-end mall stores such as you could find anywhere. Sending y'all virtual macadamia nut cookies, a bunch of which we snagged for gifts.
They are closing the whaling museum in 3 weeks, so we got there in the nick of time! The clerk at the museum is also an underwater art photographer whose work is featured in the gift shop -- and one of several people we've met who got marine biology degrees, came to Hawaii, and ended up doing more mundane / less scientific jobs to make ends meet. Lunch at a popular local place. Some wandering around.
My very active beloved is out for a hike on the beach. I'm again restoring in the cooler hotel room. Think I need to see about some PT or something when I get home -- using advil for lower back pain (arthritis, she is such a heartless bitch) but it isn't quite cutting it.
You know what's weird? All these tourists rent motor scooters and ride on the road with no helmets.
I think I saw the chapel where my parents got remarried for their 15th anniversary. Need to go find it again and take photos for comparison. That was the first and last time I was on Maui; we knew a retired minister who moved here, Dad brought us along for his 2 weeks of Army Reserve duty in Honolulu; and we took this side trip. I was 14, sophisticated, and the only member of the family who refused to dress in aloha garments for the occasion.
My husband just saw 3 sea turtles! Smallest about 2 feet. Aloha!
sea turtles! Way more interesting than armadillos. Which are, indeed, nocturnal. We have seen TWO this week, and I've never seen one in the daytime in my entire life, unless it was smashed flat on the side of the road. The other was in our neighborhood, just after sunrise, so maybe it was headed to bed. This one was at the state park, in the hottest and brightest part of the afternoon. Beats me.
It's a damned hard life full of toil and strife we whalermen undergo
And we don't give a damn when we drink our rum how hard the wind does blow
I don't remember the word to this line but I know it ends with "free"
And this next line goes dada dada with the girls of old Maui
Going down to old Maui me boys! Going down to old Maui
And this next line goes dada dada with the girls of old Maui
Liz with the obscure whaling ditty! She is a fount of diverse information!
Seems to fit the history portrayed at the museum. Lahaina was just a port where whalers stopped -- on these dismal cruises of 3-5 years. Between fewer whales in traditional fishing areas, the discovery of petroleum fields in the mid-1800's, and the loss of a good many ships within a few years (stuck in arctic ice, lost at sea), whaling went by the wayside.
Back home! Small delay because they were unable to unload luggage for a half hour, for reasons not really explained. The house is still standing; the pets are insanely happy to see us; daughter is good and likes her presents.
Pixies, we need your prayers. Mr. E got a phone call tonight that his 12 year old nephew has died by suicide. He is on his way to be with his brother.
I am mostly doing ok--I hadn't seen this nephew in quite a few years--custody issues and Baboos and etc. My head is swimming at the number of logistical details that I'll have to take care of here in order to make it to the funeral, whenever that is. I also have an important Albatross meeting that I should be at on Friday, if at all possible. This will also require Baboo juggling. Mr. E and I were supposed to be leaving tomorrow for a few days at a clergy couple conference, which we were both really looking forward to.
So sad. And, horribly, probably preventable in this case.
((( Esperanza ))) omg. and 12? that is so unthinkable. sending so much love to all, because everybody needs some right now. xoxoxo
Oh esperanza, I am so very sorry. Sending love and prayers and so much love. xoxoxxox
(((((((((((esperanza and mr. e and mr. e's brother))))))))))))))))) Oh no! So very sorry to hear this. Much love to everyone there. Will keep you all in my thoughts and prayers. xoxoxo Neighbor Lady
Thanks kathy a and Sue and NL. Awful though it continues to be, I've reconsidered my memory, and I think he was actually 14. Mr. E made it to the big city last night, but he is resting at my parents' house and will see his brother today. (They live near each other)
Thinking of your whole family, Esperanza. I am so sorry. Sending love.
This is so heartbreaking, Esperanza. So much love and prayers.
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