Brush Fire Extinguished

The fire was mostly out by Monday morning, but hot spots were still burning on Tuesday, probably the larger wood that caught near the ridge. Today crews were still extinguishing the last of the smoldering piles. I went to the edge of the field near the marina today and saw a crew coming back and put out the last one of them. Over 400 acres were burnt accornding to the newspaper. All in all, it was a mostly harmless fire: no people or buildings were threatened, the fire crews got some easy training, only the weeds in the abandoned cane field really got burned, and the forest reserve on the ridge was spared. Here is what it looks like now:

On a related note, almost the exact area in the photo is slated to become a Hawaiian Homeland neighborhood. This is land held in trust for the descendants of the native Hawaiians since the time of the overthrough of the independant Hawaiian nation. Once it is parceled out and utilities are installed, people who can prove at least half-Hawaiian blood can rent the land for $1 per year for a long-term lease and then build their own house. While it is relatively far from shopping and town amenities, it should be a rather low impact development. And I guess the last people you can fault for developping the island are the Hawaiian people.

The Garden Island

The Garden Island is both the nickname of Kauai and the name of our only local newspaper. It’s a small-town newspaper with decent coverage of local news and opinion, as well as state, national, and international news from the wire services. I like the paper because it’s focused on Kauai and doesn’t have much intrusive advertising. When I want in-depth international coverage, I go to the Internet.

I’ll be linking to the newspaper a lot in this blog, just because they’re better at reporting the news than I am. We receive their paper daily, so I have to give them credit when they break a story that I’d like to comment upon.

I also like the fact that the paper doesn’t take itself too seriously and prints headlines such as “Man scrambling to purchase egg farm”. Behind the pun is a good snapshot of island life, highlighting some of the environmental and economic dysfunctions that are probably universal, yet more salliant here.

The writer is Andy Gross, a business journalist who seems to be a relatively new to the paper and also to the island. However, he has done a great job of making contacts and publishing interesting stories that show how business, environment, and politics are all intertwined on a small island. From one Andy to another, keep up the good work, I hope my readership gets to be as large as yours.

Andy’s Guacamole Recipe

I know this is not authentic, but over time, my recipe for guacamole has turned into this:

1. Fly to Kauai and buy one large avocado at the farmer’s market*. Wait a day or two to let it ripen perfectly.
2. Spoon avocado into food processor, squeeze half a lime onto it.
3. Add a half-bunch of cilantro leaves, without stems.
4. For variety, add any or all of the following: green or red peppers, a few cherry tomatoes, green onions, roasted onions and garlic, hot peppers or hot oil.
5. Be creative, add something else that’s lying around the fridge.
6. Blend coarsely, add salt to taste, blend chunky or smooth as desired.

Consistency should be thick, not runny, but it has to be thin enough for the processor to chop and mix. Peppers and tomato can be used to add liquid, and they also provide a nice touch of color.

* I don’t mean to imply we have the best avocados here, just emphasize that great-tasting guacamole starts with great-tasting avocados. Tree-ripened is always best, but when not available, shop around for the creamiest, most flavorful avocado you can find.

Island Blind Snake

While hiking on the Sleeping Giant last night to look at the fire, I got to see Hawaii’s only established species of snake, the Island Blind Snake:

While I’ve often heard of it called a legless lizard, it appears to be a true snake. The one in the photo above is about the size of an earth-worm. Here is a more complete description (source not for ophidiophobes):

Ramphotyphlops sp.

These tiny worm-like snakes have extremely reduced eyes evident only as tiny dots on the top of its head. The head is not set off from the body, and the short blunt snout must be carefully examined to distinguish it from the stub tail, which has a tiny spur-like scale on the tip. Most animals have a body girth comparable to that of a pencil lead, and the species rarely exceeds a few inches in length (maximum is about 1 foot). The color is often dull black or slate gray, but some individuals can be pinkish gray.

R. braminus is an inconspicuous snake known from many oceanic islands (e.g., throughout the Marianas, Carolines, and Hawaiian Islands, as well as many other areas of the tropics). It is an all-female species (i.e., the females lay eggs without benefit of mating with males), and thus every female could potentially found a new population. These snakes are commonly encountered in soil and litter and have colonized many oceanic islands when moved in the loose soil associated with potted plants. Other blind snakes might be encountered, but it will be difficult for anyone but a snake specialist to distinguish between these species. This harmless species and its relatives are predators of termites and ants, and are not considered to be threats to island ecosystems even as introduced species.

Brush Fire

With only a half-inch of rain so far this month, it was only a matter of time until something caught fire. Last night, we noticed an orange glow in the sky, after sunset and brighter than the usual lights of Lihue. Driving to the edge of the neighborhood, we gathered with others to watch the fire on the other side of the Wailua river, in the old sugar cane fields between the highway and Kalepa ridge. As a new homeowner, I was glad the widest river in the state was between our house and the fire.

Later, I hiked up the Sleeping Giant trail to get a better view:

According to the newspaper, the fire started near the highway on the left, around the Wailua River marina. Driven by the wind it spread uphill to the right and south, away from the photo. I was certain it would go up the ridge, but fortunately, the vegetation was still moist enough. At the bottom, you can see the lights of the Wailua Houselots neighborhood where we live.

While hiking, I could see how dry the vegetation was and realized how vulnerable a hiker would be in a wind-driven fire. I felt barely reassured by the fact that the neighborhood is well-watered.