A Tale of Two Frogs

I've finally purchased bird feeders for our backyard...now I wait for the birds to re-discover the free handouts...a N. cardinal shot by this morning but didn't stop to eat or check things out.  In the meantime, there's other wildlife in the backyard...dragonflies, squirrels, and -- Hello! -- this cute little frog was on one of the handles on a wheelbarrow this AM.  Maybe he heard about the other frog inside the house.....

...But this frog doesn't do much croaking....I however should be croaking, considering how much frog tape I've been putting down.  Today we ordered our new kitchen counters, they should be installed w/in the next 2-3 weeks.  The price would make anyone croak!  Tomorrow I've got to finish "frogging" the kitchen.....ribbit!

Birding Arcata Marsh

Overall, my one birding attempt during my short stay in No. Calif. was successful, just not when it came to taking photos...it's taken awhile to decide whether to even bother posting about it, but despite the poor lighting and my lack of mad camera skills, a few came out "interesting" due to the lighting...

I visited the Arcata Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary, 

A great place to bird, with ponds and close proximity to Arcata Bay...

Right off, near the trailhead, I found cedar waxwings....

Further along the trail, I found a male and female downy woodpecker...

Neither would hold still long enough for me to get good pics...

Song sparrows were in abundance in the bramble...

...As were the American wigeons at one of the ponds....

Among the flock of wigeons, a lone green-winged teal was spotted...

Near the bay, a single willet was wading and feeding...

Sharing the inlet with one stealthy great egret.

Aloha, Florida!

From Hawaii it took 4 airplanes

Just to get me to No. Calif.,

But it was really, really good

To see my parents and sis (1 of 2) again...

If only for a few days.

It took another 3 airplanes,

And from 3:00 AM to 3:00 PM PST

To get to Orlando, FL,

Where Ru picked me up and

Drove us back to Flagler Co.,

and HOME!!

A storm damaged our one bird feeder stand,

Some time ago,

So I am anxious to get that replaced

And see what feathers will flock

To our backyard...

As for the front yard,

I discovered a dove nesting! 

It makes for easy birding when the current priority is
Interior paint
and
Furniture.

Aloha, Hawaii

Well Great Big World, we made it.

Four months are up and we are DONE

Co-managing the Kona Tiki Hotel,

As of about 4:00 PM HST yesterday.

Right now I still mostly feel "numb".

We met a lot of people who thought

That this job must be a really great gig.

I can say I'm not sorry I did this,

I can say what an accomplishment,

What a unique, amazing thing to do...

But I will never say how "great" it was,

Or how "fun" or any other cheerful, 

Breezy adjective...

And I will never, ever say

That I'm coming back to do it again!!

Honestly, you'd have to experience it

To understand what it's all about.

(Ok, I deleted more whining...)

I feel like I've been deeply conditioned

To deal with this type of lifestyle;

I had to place all of my normal "things"

from my regular life on hold, 

In a mental holding tank...

And right now they're still there

Cause I am still here...

Getting back to "normal"

Will take some time...

How long, I have no idea.

But I do know, I won't start the

Deprogramming

Until I'm back on our

Precious mainland!

We fly out tomorrow evening...

Our final two days.....

This is part of the view from our current room on the top, third floor as we chill out for a couple days...we finally have a lanai and a better view of the wide open ocean after 4 months in the ground floor office/food prep area/bedroom/living quarters that doesn't have a lanai... since that space was used to expand the indoor living space...

Up here we can see the yellow tang fish, and the black fish I forget the name of....which we saw up close and personal the few times we went snorkeling...

...And we can see that there are java sparrows up in the eaves of the roof, making nests somewhere out of sight...we can see them come and go with pieces of grass...and ok we shouldn't but we put some chips out on the railing for a little snack for their hard work.

And always, the roaring sea crashes into the sea wall nearby.....



Will I miss Hawaii?  No, but I can say I'll miss pieces...like feeding the java sparrows and the one family of saffron finches and No. cardinals every morning.  They'll miss me too cause I can see that the current mgr. is barely putting any seeds in the coconut shell feeders....

I will miss a couple people, too...Mike H. the maintenance dude w/ his one-liner tees, great laugh, and good heart...and Meriam, the gentle Micronesian woman who was a housekeeper for a few weeks, and who shared her family with us one night over a bbq that they prepared for us, to thank us for hiring Meriam...her daughters played the ukelele and sang and danced for us, it was magical....thanks to "Bloody Meriam" we got to see someone chewing beetle nut for the first time, too! Yowza!

And, I can say that it's cool that we were able to see Kilauea Volcano, the world's most active volcano...countless beautiful, tropical flowers...sea turtles! ... and I snorkeled for the first time and subsequently saw many tropical fish for the first time...and even a red pencil urchin...and eels!
They really do exist!

And we did meet some pretty awesome, creative people (musicians, artists, writers)...Michael and Barbara, Tom and Rebecca, Tom and Catherine, all great inspirations for me to get re-acquainted with my creative side, so long over-due...this is what I believe was the true purpose for experiencing this crazy adventure...that, and the chance for Ruben and I to strengthen our bond as a couple...not that we thought we needed it but BOY did we get it!


So, aloha, Hawaii.  And aloha great Pele, Volcano Goddess and fierce ruler of the island.  You are a force to be feared and revered.  May you find peace some day from all that fury over a love that was not to be.

And finally...aloha, Kona Tiki. 

So quaint and serene on the outside,

A haven to so many who seek escape.
(But that just wasn't my own perspective.)

I will remember you well.

It is time to climb back into "the box".
And I am so ready.

(Edited: 10-2-12)

Well we are just about at the 2 week mark...

Two weeks (as of Sat.) until our last full day as managers...

We switch the new/returning managers over Sept. 30.

We'll have Oct. 1st free and clear,

And most of Oct. 2 until we fly out that evening,

Landing in Phoenix, AZ on my 52nd birthday.

What a gift!  Yay!  I can almost smell the freedom!

Ru and I go separate ways from Phoenix...

He goes on to Orlando and home,

I'm going to San Francisco, 

And then on to my hometown,

For a six-day visit.

I haven't seen my folks

In 1 1/2 years.  It's time!

Anyway, back to the here and now...

I don't think we'll be going out to any distance

At this point due to an issue w/ the hotel vehicle,

So I doubt I'll see any new sights, 

No new birds...

Oh well...to be honest, I am beyond anxious

To get back to the mainland, see my folks,

And then get home to Florida

Where a new-to-me house awaits

Paint, furniture, and homey touches...

We were only in our new house

For 4 weeks 

Before we came to Hawaii

For what turned out to be 4 months

(Instead of 3 as 1st planned)....

So, to put the focus

Back on feathers, new or not....

Besides seeing No. cardinals here in Hawaii,

(I was surprised too!)

There are also plenty of house finches

And house sparrows, as on the mainland...

Case in point, this male house sparrow, looking quite sinister

With his dark mask and goatee....

As he eyeballs me from straight above my spot in the shade at a beach...

The sparrows get fairly close, looking for crumbs...

The lone ruddy turnstone appeared again a couple days ago,

Strolling down the seawall past the back of our hotel room...

Getting decent shots of the java sparrows

Is no easy task for some strange reason...

Probably due to the poor light below the tree canopy,

And the fact that the birds and feeders are always in motion....

I did get a better shot of the Pacific golden-plover recently, 

The same day as the leering house sparrow incident at the same beach...

This plover was fairly close compared to the last one I tried to photograph.

Kalapana & Lava Tree State Park

I get some interesting, 

Strange,

Annoying,

And downright ridiculous

Phone calls

In the hotel reservations / inquiries

Department...

But recently an extremely cheerful,

laughing (at his own cuteness, for one),

and downright colorful guy called...

And eventually he put me on

Speaker phone so he could

Sing and play the Ukelele...

He sang a really nice tune

About Kalapana,

A town that no longer exists

Thanks to a lava flow...

I found this esp. touching

Cause Ruben and I had taken a quick look

At Kalapana pretty recently..... 

...Or more like, what was left of it.....

This is pretty much it.

Pretty eerie.

We drove on to Lava Tree State Park, 

South of Hilo at the far east side of Hawaii.

The park has a loop trail...

This cool tree wasn't labeled but you can see it has the fluffy, lacy type "needles" ...

The lava trees, like this one that resembles a goofy face,

Are formed when hot lava pours over a tree,

Creating a mold of the tree.

The park had some of these pretty leaves...

Here's a better perspective w/ the leaves growing up this tree...

That's hubby posing...

Last but not least,

There are some Jurassic Park sized ferns growing in the park...

Ok, how's this for a better perspective?!

The park was eerily quiet and I kept looking over my shoulder,

Wondering if I would come face-to-ankle w/ T-rex...
But only the mosquitos were chomping that day.

The Hotel is Becoming a Zoo

It's beginning to look as though the local critters

Are trying to move in on us here...

This mongoose was sighted slinking around the front garden a couple days ago...

(Ruben's photo)

We've had a No. cardinal pair at the front feeders,

I think this is their offspring...either that or a rebellious, mohawked female...

Ok so maybe she's molting...

The java sparrows are always dining at the coconut shell feeders all morning,

I feed them around 6:30 AM daily...they get pretty restless by then...

We do have occasional, brief visits from a ruddy turnstone...

(Besides the wandering tattler)...

And the black crabs appear fairly often, 

patrolling the sea wall...

Then there's Smokey...

The neighborhood cat...

We feed him ea. morning and evening...

It was a part of our training,

Feeding the birds and Smokey that is...

We only see him those 2 times a day...

The geckos continue to scout bugs in the front office area...

This one is filling in my position for me,

Looking to check a new guest in....

And now we have a duck.  Yep, a duck!  This fella (or gal) appeared a couple days ago,
And is currently residing at Room 101's lanai...
When it isn't waddling around the back lawn or along the seawall.