1000 Nails

When we bought our house, the house inspector suggested that we strengthen the garage with hurricane ties. Even though it survived hurricane Iniki that struck Kauai on September 11, 1992, every storm is different and we thought it was a good idea. So earlier this summer we rented a nail gun to install the ties. As you can see in the following picture, they hold the roof to the walls so it doesn’t blow off in the winds. We probably overdid it with a tie on both sides of every rafter, for a total of about 1000 nails. But when you have a nail gun, you have a tendency to overdo things.

Tropical Depression JOVA

While the American Gulf coast is likely going to suffer through another hurricane, the Pacific hurricanes are forming as well. For a while Jova had hurricane-strength winds and people were talking about preparedness, but it has dissipated into a tropical depression going north of Hawaii.

The following graphic is a copy of today’s satellite photo, click on it to see the more current forecast:

Image source: National Weather Service

The remnants of Jova are at the small end of the yellow drop. You can also see tropical storm Kenneth about 1000 miles SE of Hawaii and tropical storm Norma near Mexico.

The fact that hurricanes are generated by warm water seems to fit our experience here. Last year, we would get cold after snorkeling a while, even in the summer, and I don’t recall any hurricane watches. This year, I distinctly noted that we could snorkel as long as we wanted without getting cold, so I would assume the ocean temperature was at least 5 deg (F) warmer.

Ipu Heke

The original Hawaiian hula, called kahiko hula, was accompanied by chanting (mele) and gourd drums (ipu heke). At the wedding last Sunday, we saw kumu hula (hula teacher) Susan Floyd play her ipu heke and chant while her halau (troupe) members performed a hula and accompanied the chant.

I like the sound of the ipu heke, it has both a deep resonance from being bumped on the ground and a higher slapping sound. I think they have to grow the gourds specially for this purpose, and a large one such as Susan’s must be expensive.

I recorded a video on my small digital camera and extracted part of the audio which you can listen to here. It’s not high quality and you’ll have to turn up your speakers, but it gives you an idea of the sound. I’m not uploading the video because it is too large and not good quality. Here’s a better photo:

Sunrise

Living on the east coast of Kauai and having to get up early for work, I often see the sunrise. We are also fortunate to live uphill from the coast, so we can see some of the ocean and have generally open views to the east. Last winter, the sunrises were so impressive that I started taking pictures of them. Now that we have wet weather again, the clouds and rain catch the morning colors more than they did all summer.

Here is how my week started out last Monday:

I didn’t even notice the two birds in the upper-right hand corner until I downloaded the picture. From the silhouette, I think they are the non-native Myna birds, a more common relative of the talking Myna birds.

Kalihi

It turns out that Sonja wants to keep the orphaned kitten she saved from the pound. We ended up naming him Kalihi, since we found him at Kalihiwai beach. One meaning of “ka lihi” is “the speck” or “the crumb” which I guess is fitting while he’s small.

He is very cute and playful, but sometimes he just has too much energy. We usually keep him around us when we’re home, and I take him down to the office to “baby-sit” during the day. So he’s been very good practice for our own baby due in November, but I wonder if he won’t be too much by then. I’d like to find him a nice home.

Here he is climbing the screen door of the office. Fortunately, he is light enough he doesn’t tear the screen (yet!) and he still hasn’t figured out how to use the door handle.