Getting the Routine Down

I've been scolded for going 10 days with no blog. Mostly I've been working. **Clients reading this will be pleased. I found an old desk in the garage and dragged it onto the back porch and set my computer up so I could keep an eye on the dog while she roams the backyard.

We're still in explore mode on the weekends. We haven't gone more than 30 miles East or West of our house. On Saturday, we drove about 6 miles west to the Ka'u Desert trailhead. We hiked about 2 miles in. At first the trail is very obvious-it's a well-maintained gravel path leading to a building that preserves footprints in the hardened ash of a warrior party that died when Kilauea erupted 150 or so years ago. Then the path ends and the trail is marked with lava rock cairns that look alot like all the rest of the piled up lava rocks. On the way back we met a couple who had moved here about 7 months ago-they were walking their rather large Irish Setter. We exchanged air cargo horror stories.

Sunday (Father's Day) we had hula dancers at church, and a big lunch afterwards. This is not trashy touristy hula, more like a group of people doing very rhythmic sign language with ukelele accompaniment. Dean and Dash went home and I did my weekly Hilo trip. I discovered Home Depot. I had the strangest feeling that I'd walk out and be on Capital Circle instead of Puainiko St.

We went to dinner at some friends Dean made when he first got here. There's a group of about 15 people that seem to all know eachother from the park service, or the neighborhood. I met a woman who invited me to the Volcano Rotary Club-it meets at 6:45am at the Volcano House in the park. I think it will be a good way to get involved in the community.

This weekend I want to go to Kona (about 100 miles away) but I think I'll save it for a rainy week. We are going to see a play at the local theater called "Once Upon One Time"- a pidgin musical. I think Dean is taking Dash to volunteer at a community-wide fountain grass-pulling over in Ocean View. We're also meeting with our realtor to put our lot on the market, if we can sell it soon we're going to try to buy in this neighborhood.

Here's my list of obervations about Hawaii so far.
Things you can't get in Volcano:
Postal delivery to your own house.
Trash pick up.
A decent meal for 3 under $70 without driving to Hilo.
A jar of olives for under $5.
Mosquitoes or red ants. None.

Things in abundance:

Rain and mist.

Breathtaking views while jogging along the crater rim trail.

Very friendly people.

Wild turkeys with their chicks wandering through the streets.

Ahi tuna-mountains of it at the grocery store. Really cheap.

50lb bags of rice and gallon jugs of soy sauce.

Lychee fruit trees.

Rainbows.

Millions and millions of stars right down to the horizon at night.

Spectacluar sunsets over Mauna Loa, right out my backdoor.

Quirky beaurocracy:

Every car must get an annual inspection for $15 to insure all the blinkers, brake lights, headlights, horn etc... are in working order. You can't register your car without the sticker. I think it's all a ploy to prop up gas stations. I'm sure you've heard of the powerful gas station attendant's lobby. No?

Overall

Some combination of the quiet, misty rain, sound of wind in the trees, being able to lay in the grass in my own backyard, has allowed me to stop taking Prevacid and Zantac. I've stopped freaking out.