Why does this keep happening? Why do we keep stealing cats?

We were both so sad to leave “our cat” Skunky behind in Wailuku but I guess that feline void has been filled by our latest acquisition, Sophie. Sophie is a neighbor’s cat who recently started hanging out by our door and meowing at us. That’s about as hard as a cat needs to try with us before the front door is open. With Skunky, we at least waited 3 weeks before we started letting her in, but with Sophie we were like “why play games, just let her in now because we know it’s going to happen eventually.”

Sophie’s real owner is a very nice woman who lives down the street, so at least we know she has a home this time. But do you think that’s going to stop us? Hell no, we are professional cat seducers now. Our lease states we are not allowed to have pets but it says nothing about having OTHER people’s pets. LOOPHOLE!

Like Skunky, Sophie is incredibly sweet and has big clumsy thumbs. Also like Skunky, who was missing a chunk from her tongue, Sophie has a notch cut from her ear from some past battle. The other day I saw her with a lizard in her mouth and said hello. When she meowed back her meal ran away and I’ve never seen a sadder, more confused look on an animal. I felt bad that I made her loose her lizard, but on the other hand we love all our little lizards so it was kind of an emotional wash.

Welcome to the family, Sophie!

P.S. Skunky is well taken care of back in Wailuku, our friends feed her twice a day with the cat food we supply them with :)

We’ve been told these trees are nicknamed Filipino or Australian Christmas trees but their fancy pants name is Bursaria Spinosa. Who cares what they are called because after almost 4 days in bed I’m feeling better and looking forward to becoming human again. I think Darlene saved my life with the most amazing homemade chicken soup ever and a hefty dose of sympathy. I’m a guy, I need sympathy to get well.

Anyway, the trees are blooming and they smell as pretty as they look.

I’m sick, Darlene is sick, the entire island is sick. Although I was desperately tired, I didn’t fall asleep until 5am and that sleep only lasted a couple hours. So I’m stuck on the couch all day, fighting the urge to punch the TV. Wow, daytime TV is DUMB!

Michael Y. from San Jose, CA is a JERK.

Our first ever Haleakala sunrise was amazing. Seeing the sunrise above the clouds while walking around what feels like Mars, in mind-numbing cold temperatures during even more mind-numbing early morning hours was a wonderful experience. Definitely a five-star-on Yelp experience.

We decided on short notice to make the trek to the summit of Haleakala, the volcano we live at the base of. The night before our trip I worked until 9:30pm and when I got home we started to think that it would be near insane to wake up at 2:40am. We thought we should be more prepared, but in the end, we bit the bullet. We were asleep around midnight and surprisingly enough were able to wake up in just a few hours. We left the house in total darkness, except for the full moon, and went to pickup our friends. After a pitstop to feed Skunky and another pitstop to meet some new friends vacationing from Chicago, we were all on our way.

As we drove up the winding roads, the temperature gradually started to drop. Once we reached the top, it was just over 30 degrees. Thankfully Cheya brought some extra jackets, because wearing every long sleeved and long pant-legged articles of clothing we owned, we were still numb after just a few minutes of being subjected to that very familiar feeling of cold. I really don’t miss that feeling at all.

Wrapped up in blankets and borrowed jackets and every layer of clothing we could possibly fit onto our bodies, we waited for the main event. The sky gradually changed from a star-filled deep blue to yellow to orange and pink, and as that bright sliver of light came up above the waterfall-like clouds pouring over the opposite side of the crater, we knew that even with the lack of sleep and the uncontrollable shivering, this was worth it. It’s hard to describe, but seeing the sunrise as the moon set behind us, all while standing above the clouds in such a beautiful place had put me in a beautiful place. Yeah, you can stop making fun of me now. It was a great experience, OK?

Yeah, and Michael Y. from San Jose, CA gave his Haleakala experience TWO stars on Yelp. Two! It is Haleakala National Park’s only two star review. JERK.

OH! And we saw a giant double rainbow on the way home. The bottom rainbow was the brightest I had ever seen, it looked like giant neon tubes bent across the sky.

Darlene and I have been scouring Craigslist for a good, but affordable, paddleboard because a full new setup is not cheap. The paddle alone costs a couple hundred dollars new. We have been talking to a lot of people and tried out several used boards but we were striking out. Until today when we got VERY lucky! This board and paddle set had been on Craigslist for a few weeks but for some reason nobody snatched it up.

A very nice couple was selling their boards because they were no longer using them enough to warrant the space they were taking up in their living room. That’s one of the best things about this board, it was always stored indoors and therefore avoided any sun damage. The sellers live pretty much right on the beach so they let me take it into the ocean for a quick test ride. I was praying that I would like the way it felt to ride because we loved the way it looked so much.

Clocking in at a whopping 12’6″ tall, it’s not a tiny board but long boards glide much better when doing the kind of cruising we do. We decided we might continue the tradition of storing the board indoors but we may need to rethink that. Twelve and a half feet doesn’t look that big in the middle of the ocean but inside your house it takes on a whole new perspective. I think we will still keep it inside though… maybe.

Hurray, we finally got to use the centipede spear!