Wednesday, April 23

Throw Back Thursday....


Thought I would join in "Throw Back Thursday". Today is the 7th anniversary of our catastrophic office fire. It was an electrical fire completely destroying a dental clinic/business of almost 20 years.

The clinic before the fire
 
 The morning after the fire
 
 
Yes, we are smiling, that's not to say we didn't cry! There were many tears and sleepless nights after the fire. Dealing with insurance and the task of putting our lives back together was daunting. We felt blessed that no one was killed or injured and that it wasn't our home. So many helped following the fire and we are forever grateful.  The volunteer fire department was amazing.  In the wee hours of April 24, 2007 many doors were closed for us, but then other doors were opened. We listened to the small voice giving us guidance and followed HIS prompting. Has it been easy??? No, but it's been a journey that we could have never imagined prior to the fire.
 
Like they say...what doesn't kill ya, makes ya stronger!!
 
Happy Thursday

Tuesday, April 22

Earth Day...

Everyday should be Earth Day!! Found this little fellow while doing a monk seal survey on Earth Day. As I looked at him and he looked at me, I thought....we should treat everyday like Earth Day!!


This is RN44, a one year old Hawaiian Monk Seal. His momma is RH58, (aka Rocky) she lives on Oahu and comes to Kauai to pup.  Wednesday I will be taking Noreen, a blogging friend from the mainland out to try and find him again.

So for  his sake, let's treat everyday like Earth Day!!

Friday, April 18

oh that cleaning stuff can wait.....

The fridge was calling.....CLEAN ME!! So today it was going to be a quick walk with the girlz. Actually the walk was shorten due to the fact that somebody forgot the leashes. So we did an abbreviated version and I headed back to the call of the fridge. Cleaning house was going to be my priority today and the fridge was on the top of the list.  It's been awhile and it amazes me the things your find in the back of the fridge.
That crazy task was finally completed when I got the call!! I was summoned to jump into my car and proceed directly to the beach to look for seals. Heck yes I yelled, the kitchen counter(next on my list) could wait. Off I went. I arrived at the corner that I was suppose to turn left and found myself going right. What the heck?? I drove a short distance and stopped at an area where seals are found but my first look I saw no seals. Next I'm jumping out of the car to survey the cliff below....I looked, and looked and then there he was my little pal 4DD fast asleep on the rocks as the water lapped upon him.  Bingo, I had found the little guy that I had been sent to find.


and yes, I did manage to get the rest of my house cleaned too!

Thursday, April 17

The last shot....

I took 45 photos today. This was my last and favorite shot. A juvenile White-Rumped Shama. He reminds me of my bluebirds back in Nebraska. He sat so still as I snapped away and then momma gave the signal to MOVE and away he flew.

Monday, April 14

Blood Moon...

Aloha, the following are my "Blood Moon" shots.
 
 
 The beginning
 
 about a  1/4
 
 3/4
 
 almost full
 
so close.....and then the clouds came.
 
It was a beautiful night and I didn't have to get up at 2a.m. to watch!!

Wednesday, April 9

Not the day I had planned....

Ever had one of those days that just didn't turn out like you had planned??? Today was one of those days. My intentions were to go and survey a couple nearby beaches for seals and look for sea glass. I thought I'll only be gone a short while because the past two days I've done this trek I've been "skunked" in the seal department. I loaded up a small day pack and headed to the beach. Little did I know I would find this cutie when I popped out on the first beach. They just make me smile!!

 This is 4DD, the little male seal that arrived on Kauai 3 weeks ago.
 We've been searching for him for the past 2 days.
 
 He was just having a nice snooze on the beach. I set up SPZ (seal protection zone) and proceeded to do some outreach and some beach cleanup.
It's only 1:30 p.m. and I realize I could be "seal sitting" until dark. It would give me time to experiment with my new camera--that's cool. 

 At 3p.m. he began to stir with the rising tide.
 
 
He rolled around in the water like a playful puppy.
 
 or maybe he'll just go back to sleep...
 
nope, it was time to hit the water... and away he went.
 
Now seal sitting was fun, but the real adventure began after 4DD left the area. I met some new friends while doing seal education. This is the part that was totally unplanned. Meet Jennifer, Reed and Van(pictured below).They are vacationing here from Seattle. Reed squealed with excitement watching the small seal play at the waters edge and I loved witnessing his enthusiasm. Once the seal left I asked if they would like to hike to 2 other coves to see if we could find our little seal again. The three them were eager to see the "wild" side of Kauai. You know, places where most tourists don't go. What adventurers they are and get this, they had just gotten off the plane not two hours prior to our meeting and now they were hiking Kauai with me!! 
Unfortunately we didn't find anymore seals, but we had a delightful time exchanging stories and exploring. Reed told me when we said our alohas that this was just the BEST day ever.
Now that made me smile....a totally unplanned encounter, meeting new friends, sharing my love of the Hawaiian monk seal and the island. Yep, I'd say it was a pretty good day.
 
Just want to give a shout out to this fun family. I hope that our paths will cross again one day.
You guys made my day!!
 
Jennifer, Reed and Van
Kauai's newest seal fans!!
 
Coincidence or divine encounter!?!?!

Tuesday, April 8

Mom....



You've got some explaining to do.......



It's here.....

My new camera arrived yesterday after work. Now to charge the batteries, review the operator manual and start shooting. This replaces my Canon Powershot (which I loved). I still have the "big girl" camera, that's really my hubby's, that by the way still challenges me!! 
Why this one ???   I chose this one for the zoom power and for  being light and compact. This type camera will be much easier to haul around when doing monk seal monitoring and for seal identification than the Nikon D90. The zoom will allow me to get the id without getting too close. Now to find a seal. 

Sunday, April 6

R.I.P......little camera!!

 
I seem to be in a bit of a funk. You see, my favorite camera has died after taking 1000's of photos over the past 5 years. I knew it was bound to happen, but I keep hoping it was just a silly phase the camera was going through. It no longer wanted to zoom and things were just  fuzzy. I love that little camera and hate to part with it. Reading camera reviews on line almost felt like I was betraying the poor thing. Last week I read my last review and bit the bullet.  I have a replacement coming but living way out here in the middle of the pacific does have some disadvantages. I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my new pal and  hope that it lives up to the reviews!!

p.s. the Girlz are fine and probably happy the camera has died so I'm not in their faces with the snapping beast!!

Hope you have a wonderful week.  I'll just be here waiting for the postman.

val