Hawaii in April

Well, yet another long trip to Hawaii. Let's begin at the parking lot, where we have always had many chickens. My colleague S has always fed the chickens, and recently his friends had babies. Unfortunately, by the afternoon that this photo was taken, we were down to only 3 chicks from 5. Something ate two of them, probably cats we are thinking. Anyway, the remaining three have stayed alive for a couple weeks now, thanks to S care and feeding.

New Chicken Family 

S hails from Romania, and last trip we offered him some Kimchi, cautioning him about the strong taste. He tried it, and said it was very similar to a Romanian dish. Well, this trip he brought us some of this dish, which his sister had painstkingly prepared. It was delicious.

Romanian Stuffed Cabbage Dish 

Another day, we had a Hawaiian style meal, featuring Taro. Here are some photos.

Boiling the Taro Roots 

Taro Root Peeled and Ready to Eat 

Here it is Made Into a Taro Salad 

Hawaiian Pork Wrapped in Tea Leaves 

Let's Eat 

The medicinal salt below needs some explanation. They take the salt which they make here locally in the nearby salt beds, and some special red rock which had medicinal properties. The red rock is ground up and mixed in with the salt, making "medicinal salt".

Hawiian Chili Water and Medicinal Salt! 

My Avian Visitor, Just Outside My Balcony 

To the Zoo

Between my Desert and next Hawaii trip, we drove down to visit YS#1 at college, and we all went to the zoo. Then, we took her to a delicious dinner, which was reportedly much better than the cafeteria food at her school. Sorry, no photos of the foods - what was I thinking? Anyway, here are some exciting shots from the Birmingham Zoo.

But the first photo needs some explanation. Mrs. Stumbler reported recently that YS#4 came running inside, and said that there was a ship going down our street. Since YS#4 often tells some tall tales, she was not believed. But, sure enough, our neighbor really did bring a ship and park it on our street! YS#4 was telling the truth.

"Mom, There is a Ship on our Street" 

Now the zoo photos:

That's the Stumbler's Style 

New Stumbling Career? 

Long Skinny Neck... 

Long Fat Neck. 

The Stumbling Girls at the Zoo 

I don't know What we were looking at 

Young Stumblers #1 and #4 

Young Stumblers #1 and #3 

And, speaking of animals, we have two new pets at the Stumbling House:

New Family Pets - Stumbling Guinea Pigs 

Just Babies, Very Small 

Desert

Well, the Stumbler has been on the road quite a bit this year. After Hawaii, I headed for the western desert in Nevada. I expected hot, dusty, but for most of my time here we had SNOW!!!! It was crazy, one night we had about 4 inches! Also incredible, the desert is SO dry, usually by noon the following day, the snow had melted and been sucked into the ground. There was no evidence that it had snowed at all, and the dirt was, well, "dirt dry". I wish I had some good snow photos, but I was not allowed to bring my camera to work, and I was dead tired every day due some unusual working hours. As I write this, I am still here, but will be leaving tomorrow. I plan to take a few more photos on the drive to Las Vegas, and will post them in a few days.

Desert 

More Desert 

Desert Essentials 

A note about those boots - I have had them since my Dad bought them for me in High School (I can't pin down the year, but say around 1977 or so). First thing to note is that I obviously don't hike much, because they haven't fallen apart. Second thing is that they still fit me! Even though The Stumbler has grown considerably in size since High School, apparently my feet have retained their 1978-size. Looks like a cleaning is overdue...

Hawaii in March

The only reason for so many photos from Hawaii this trip, is because I was playing with my new camera. Otherwise, it is the same boring, yet beautiful, place, as always. Actually, this trip was unusual, because they were having some record breaking rainfall. I was lucky that my trip happened during 1 week of no rain - it resumed raining the day I left the islands. Even now, a few weeks after my visit, I hear heavy rains continue to be a problem.

Off To Hawaii - Again 

Here is the house I stayed in this trip. It was a very nice place, except no internet access. The rental company owner wouldn't let me move to a new place, so I told them I would never use their company again.

Hawaii Home, View 1 

Hawaii Home, View 2 

Hawaii Home View 3 

A few interesting sights around the island.

Where's The Gold? 

Study It Closely - Very Funny 

Now THAT'S a Tree 

Waimea Canyon (See the Waterfall)