And now for something completely different.......

Today I am taking a small diversion from my reporting on my vacation in beautiful Hawaii....and what a diversion it is!!! After you read this blog, you will either have much for respect for me....or shake your head and realize I have officially gone over the hill now.....I'm afraid most will think the later!!
I came home from work yesterday and was minding my own business in the house thinking about and arranging for a nice home cooked meal for my sweet husband Kurtis. As I was trying to decide between BBQ'ed chicken breast on the grill, or good ole fashioned tube steaks..I was interruped by the constant barking of Millie out front on the patio. So, I headed outside ready to give a good scurging to her to shut the hell up...When I looked out and there she had a big coon trapped by the greenhouse (that was the coons first mistake). So, I said to myself "Hmmm this is a good opportunity to rid this neighborhood of one more Coon", the only problem is that I don't know if I can muster up the courage to do what has to be done.
After a couple of deep breaths, I walked back in the house, took down the ole gun from where it was hanging....and stepped outside. I looked at the weapon I had chosen....and thought, now what do I do. I formulated a plan......I'll go out....I'll point it at the creature....and I'll see what happens. You know what??? I crept around the house....Millie had cornered the coon by the front porch, so I called her to come to me....raised my weapon of mass destruction, pulled back the cocker thing, took steady aim.......and boom!!!! I blasted the beast right in the chest and killed it dead!!!! I was shaking like a leaf, and the noise was terrible (Kurt says it's nothing) but it was to me. I stood by and watched as nature took its course...called Millie again, and went back in the house. I couldn't believe it..I shot the damn thing!! Was I proud? Yeah, I think I am. I hate coons and we have too many, besides a coon that is out in the middle of the day, is usually a bad indication. So, when Kurtis came home I reported my big kill. He couldn't believe it! I'm not sure if he was impressed....or now has one more layer of fear for me than he had before. Like any true hunter, proud of their bounty..I had Kurtis snap a picture of me..I will be sending a copy to the "Outdoor Adventurer" magazine at my first convenience!!!
Until next time....MOM (Sorry kids I hope I don't embarass you too bad....but this was definately a good Steve moment!!)

Wwell, you have to admit I am certainly now above humiliated myself for the sake of the blog!!! I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist...look at that ole Coon..never knew what hit him (her?)

Here we are making our Lei's...isn't Kurtis a good sport..there were actually about 5 men having a good time. I think one of the rules for taking the pictures is that they were to be promptly destroyed before reaching home where someone could see them..

There is no doubt...Spring is in the air.....

I have been seeing Robins all around the yard lately, but quite frankly, I don't think they are bright and no matter what they seem to appear about mid February. Before I left for Hawaii I saw several of them sitting on the tree limb all puffed up on a 12 degree day..You could almost hear one of them cussing in their little Robin language "You are such a smuck!!!! I told you it was too damn early to come back to this god-forbidded state.....but nooooooo, you didnt listen did you....you, you, you jerk!!
But, now the Red Winged Blackbird, now thats a different story..when they arrive you can just about figure the weather is taking a turn for the better, and spring is on the horizon. The electric lines are full of them!! They sound so wonderful and spring like! Today is was 72 degrees when I got home..I know because my car told me so... I immediately went inside, changed my clothes and headed for the yard. I opened up the greenhouse and was amazed it was still around 98 degrees in there...I reached in and grabbed my trusty wire rake and off to the mess of a yard I went. I raked for quite awhile, but honestly it still isnt too good of raking conditions, it is very wet and soggy yet and the leaves just clump into lumps...besides that job really does suck. I gathered and threw limbs..and didnt even make a dent in them..oh well, there will more nice days coming..I hate to do all this fun stuff in one day. Now, for more on my Hawaii trip.

Day 2 February 19th. We got up bright and early at 5:20 a.m. to catch the shuttle to the Pearl Harbor museum. We checked out of the motel at 6 and left our luggage with the porters. The museum was fabulous..really a very sombering place. You start out with a video of the events and actual footage from what happened on that day that the harbor was attacked. The ferry out to the memorial is sad, but very important to see. I wish we would of had more time to take the second tour out to the Missouri, but unfortunately that will have to wait for another trip.
We arrived back to the hotel around 2 or so and went to a beach front restaurant and had lunch. Kurtis spotted the bartender making a beautiful red and white drink and quickly ordered one for me. He asked the bartender what it was, and he told him it was Pina Colada and strawberry, that it was called a "Lava Flow" ..Kurtis said "Oh, get one of those for my wife...that sounds like something she would just love", and guess what..he was right. I sipped away on my new founded drink, had a hawaiian buffet lunch of fresh fruit, seafood and breads and enjoyed the beautiful beach at Wikiki. Oh, I may just mention too, that despite all the documentaries we watched previously to taking this trip.....all the females on the beach are not "georgeous"..I may go so far as to say.....some of them make me look pretty good!!!
After lunch we had about a hour to kill before the shuttle returned us back to the airport again and a flight to Kauai, so we got in on a Lei making class...I am still in shock as to how they can have so many orchid blooms available at all times. Everywhere you go there are piles and piles of them. I was determined to eventually see where these are grown, and when we got to the big Island..I got my wish...more on that later.

This is a picture of some of the black oil drops that are slowly rising to the surface from the ship below. They are known as black tears, from the men buried there. There is somewhere between 20-30,000 gallons of oil still on board the ship and as it deteriorates, it is slowly being released.

This is the wall containing the names of all the shipmates who were buried on the USS Arizona, I was interested to see there were three Lynch's listed. Would be interesting to know where they were from. This was a very quiet and sad place, kind of brings the reality to life.

This is a picture of the entrance to the Pearl Harbor museum just as they were raising the flag in the morning. We were there by 7 a.m. or so, and there were already somewhere around 3-400 people standing in line.

Not much I can say about this one....yuk..but Kurtis made me do it....haha

Our first picture we took on the trip..in our hotel room in front of the picture of the Lei..I think you can see Kurtis was about spent in this picture...But, oh, the adventure was just beginning.

Aloha.......and mahalo!!!

We are back from our two week excursion to the Hawaiian Islands! We had a most wonderful time...I am glad to report that two middle aged (not going to use the term old) midwesterners traversed the tropics and returned back home without a snag. From the stories I am hearing, it doesn't sound like everyone we left behind here in Iowa had such a nice time since we left. Now, while in Hawaii you hear alot about folklore, gods of the volcanoes, sacrafices..that sort of thing. Maybe, just maybe when Kurtis and I left, the "Midwest Gods" became angered and bestowed all of the rain, ice and snow upon the lands in protest of our leaving....and now since we are back things seem nice and sunny .. well, almost "happy" for our return.....but then again maybe it falls under the category of just "shit happens!" Whatever the case we couldn't of asked for a better time, and I have lots and lots and lots and lots of pictures to show off...I think a total of 780 or so. Kurtis didn't allow me to take all of my photo equipment claiming it would be too heavy and bulky, which I think he was right, so all the pictures were taken with a little Sony digital..I don't think it did too bad of a job actually. So, here are the first of some of photos, I will try to keep them in order of the trip....until next time....MOM


Day 1: Sunday Feb 18, 2006: Arrived at Cedar Rapids airport (CID International) via our taxi driver Marsha. Departed at 8 a.m. for Minneapolis Minn. then on to Honolulu on the Island of Oahu. The flight was 8.5 hours from Minneapolis but was very pleasant...other than a couple of obnoxious passengers which is a given on any flight. We were greeted at the airport by the travel agency in charge of transfering us to our hotel. I was so impressed when we got off and there was a hansome gentleman with a nice big card with our names on it....gee, just like in the movies. He welcomed us to the Island and yep, you guessed it, put a Lei around each of our necks.....again, just like in the movies. We stayed on the beach at Wikiki. We have a nice supper next door at Planet Hollywoods and headed back to our room...we were more than a bit tired..and tomorrow was scheduled for a early morning to Pearl Harbor.