Our backyard

Mom took this picture on her way home...Sam and I worked hard oiling those teak chairs!

Mom took this picture on her way home...Sam and I worked hard oiling those teak chairs!

Went on a nice hike today to some tide pools and did some whale spotting with a friend and her kids. In retrospect, I found it easier to spot whales from a horizon-level vantage point vs up high as we usually do. We could see the dark flippers breaking the horizon very clearly as they breached. It’s humpback birthing season here, then they’ll head back north when the babies are strong enough to make the trip. Dave finished up a paper today, leaving only two classes left to finish up his degree. We are all headed to Kauai in a couple days for New Years – looking forward to escaping the bombing here that accompanies the holiday. The M80s shake the house and put so much smoke in the air we have to close all the windows. We’re going to a remote spot on Kauai on a military base (Pacific missile range) so I am thinking we’re going to have some peace unless someone decides to launch missiles! Obama continues to cause a stir here – yesterday I kept getting caught behind the motorcade (they block traffic at intersections so his motorcade doesn’t have to stop). We found some secret service agents who had just come off duty yesterday and chatted with them a bit. They wondered how I knew they were secret service and had just been “on duty” – ummm the having a cigarette and drinking a Coke in the middle of the commissary parking lot perhaps? They looked relieved. I asked why not just chopper him around the island and apparently there is only ONE presidential helicopter. They strip it down and completely rebuild it with each use. Getting it here is problemmatic, they said (I didn’t think fast enough to ask why not put it in a C5?). They really appreciated my efforts to show the boys the world through space-a travel, and teach them about a life of service that they wouldn’t otherwise see (such as how they manage to land a C40 in a war zone – details I will not publish here but which continue to impress me). I am fascinated by the behind-the-scenes efforts made to facilitate a president’s trip. I asked if I should encourage the boys to consider being an agent (it does seem soooo cool) but they said no. It gets pretty boring after the second or third year, and you’re away for unpredictable lengths of time. However, they noted, it’s not like long deployments so it could be worse. One poor guy had lost his regulation sunglasses…we wondered if there was a GPS tracking chip in them? Nah… As we waved off, one of them gave us some neat pins with their emblem on it. I carefully stowed them in the stroller, then transferred them to the truck for the ride home after our run, then brought them in the house, and now wouldn’t you know I can’t find them ANYWHERE? Dave wonders if the agents sneaked back into the house and retrieved them!!!

One Comment

  1. Pamela 11 January, 2010

    Hi this is my first year on the island, can you tell me the best spot for spotting whales? This is a great page, thanks Pam

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