I have to do better with journaling
The website says I haven't written anything in 30 weeks. Has life been so boring? Au contraire, life has been so full that it can be hard for a 70-year old to even find time for a nap, let alone a journal.
Maybe I'll go back in fill in some other days from memory, but I can at least do a brief recap here of the past 30 weeks, seven months.
September 07:
- Our Maui renter opted to stay a seventh month. Not bad.
- I had plastic surgery under my right eye due to more basal cell skin cancer. Not good.
October 07:
- We flew to Maui mid-month and walked into our very own 29 year old condo with the light blue walls. Not bad.
- Discovered a band of homeless people further down our street by the beach access. The Catholic church feeds them dinner every night. They reportedly use their Social Security checks for for liquid and other entertainment. A mix of good and bad. Emery called the church, and all but one of the homeless moved a half a mile away. Better.
- Beach, upcountry, lava fields. Wonderful.
- Shopping. Necessary. New TV from the rent money. :) DSL Internet. VOIP phone. Okay.
- Bought a 2004 very basic Hond Civic with 21,000 miles. I call it 'Posie' because Emery calls it a POS. So we have to roll the windows by hand and unlock the doors wit a key, but we got 30 to 32 MPG as gas rose from $3.55 in October to $3.99 a gallon in March.
- Seems that most of the owners and vacation renters are Canadian. Luckily, we speak Canadian, eh?
November 07:
- Beach, upcountry, lava fields. Wonderful.
- Shopping continues necessary. New Sauder desks for Emery and me. Also from the rent money.
- Tiled the lanai. Used $1700 of the rent money. Looks great but still pools some rain water.
- Invited neighbors - Bob and Arlene - for Thanksgiving dinner. A 13 pound turkey was too much for us, and we missed our usual 20+ person Thanksgiving parties.
December 07:
- Major Kona storm. Flooded roads. Homes swept off foundations. No power for most of three days. Ceiling leaked from lanai leakage above us. Not good.
- My number 3 daughter came for a 10-day visit on the last day of the storm. It was fun to spend some time with Kimberly. She met a new boyfriend, though, so we didn't see here very day. Day?
- The day after Kimberly left, we shifted northwest to our two-week timeshare in Honokowai. We need to get that sold. We spent a few days there doing northwest end stuff, like the Twin Pools and the Blowhole. Some geocaching, too.
- Home for Christmas. Whee. Smaller than usual - only so much we could bring or buy there for small condo living. But we had lots of packages and lots of fun.
- I went back to the timeshare for three days by myself. Had lunch in Lahaina with a T-friend I hadn't seen in about a year. I had pasta, a real treat for me.
- Ordered a manual screw driver antenna and tripod for my amareur radio setup. we aren't allowed permanent antennas.
- New year's Eve. In bed by 10 PM. Yawn. Heard some fireworks. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
January 08:
- Went for a New Year's Day hike and met a parks volunteer and fellow geocacher named Flo. Start of a new friendship. We went geocaching and exchanged dinner visits several times before we wwent back to the minland. Flo is aso a special-ed preschool teacher and sometimes real estate agent. Fun person.
- I flew to Virginia for two weeks of work. No snow. Hooray!!
- Things are busy at work. I volunteered as how I could come back for a few months in spring or summer. The next day my boss said the Navy client thought that was a good idea and asked what months I could be there. We settled on May through early September.
-Back home in Hawaii. Homeowners association decided it was their responsibility to fix the lanai above us as well as our ceiling from the December storm.
- Antenna was backordered.
February 08:
- Beach, upcountry, lava fields. Wonderful.
- 14 February. Hooray. We have been married for eight years. Eight good years, and we hope for many more.
- Antenna still back ordered.
- Met more owners: Jim and Sandi on one side; Gary on the other.
- Started thinking about having to go home. Not good.
March 08:
- Beach, upcountry, lava fields. Wonderful.
- Hiking and geocaching and swimming.
- Antenna arrived, and I did work a few west coast stations and one in the South Pacific. I'll do a ground system next rip.
- But I never did get to use my new fishing rod. Next trip.
- Countdown to the 25th when we flew to Seattle.
- Home on the 26th. Bought a bit of food and picked up the mail.
- 27th. Commissary. SNOW!
- No Internet or TV. Get with it, people.
April 08:
- Doctors and dentist for both of us. Poor Emery had new fillings. I had more skin cancer surgery.
- Our condo rented for seven months. We can go back in early November. Supposedly, the ceiling problem was fixed before Lyn and Bruce moved in.
- Emery's 65th birthday - just us on the 15th.
- Emery's birthday party with about 15 old and new (geocache) friends. The cake said 'Happy Medicare, Emery.' He loved it, and we ate ham, turkey and cake for a week. Gained 4 pounds.
- Did I mention it has been cold and wet? Mid 30s to mid 50s. Three snow days. Yuck.
- Today , 27 April. Bags are packed. Need to disable the cars and do a touch of yardwork. Just a touch, mind you. Tomorrow afternoon the airport van picks us up for our next full time work adventure.