2020, whale season, and what a crazy year so far

Returning to Kona after a nice holiday on the mainland with our daughter and her family and other friends, we dove right into moving into the house and taming the yard. When Judy was bemoaning the lack of progress on all fronts, Judy's youngest brother reminded her that we have been in the house only 2 months. Nice to bring some perspective to that.

We had some nice walks with our daughter and her family. Although cold with some snow in Carson City, we did get some fun pictures.











Of course Jan and Feb are ideal whale watching months. So, we took one day off to see what we could see. We went north a bit with no luck.


The surf was incredibly rough so any chance to see a whale from shore was diminshed significantly by the strong surf and whitecaps. Therefore, we headed to South Point and the Green Sand Beach hoping for better luck.


No luck there either. But it was a nice outing and a nice hike. Judy decided we should go out on a whale-watching boat, which we did. We saw a number of whales and spouts so hopefully these images capture some of the excitement that we experienced seeing these wonderful mamals.




Judy has decided that she wants to be a cacao farmer and is studying about raising cacao. She started over 30 seedlings and we are now in the process of clearing an area in the yard to allow space for these interesting plants. They look quite prehistoric when first they emerge from the potting soil.


Mike is trying to carve out time to be more active in the Kona Camera Club. The event he was preparing for was time-lapse photography. Unfortunately, the old Sony camera, which he has hated for years, is not compatible with any intervalometers on the market and thus, Mike had to get a new camera: Nikon Z7. Of course, it takes time to learn a new camera and with the time-lapse outing, he never got the settings correct. So, more to learn. But the pictuers of the whales are with the new camera. 

Our first outing with the new camera was Valentine's Day (also our Son's birthday). And Mike was able to capture a loverly picture of Judy. This camera so far surpasses the old Sony!


Mike hit a milestone this month: 15 years cancer free. 

We took a walk on the new road below our property and finally saw our house from the ocean side. We had not really gotten a good view before the house was finished. Each side of the house looks completely different. We are gradually trying to tame the back hill. We have been pulling weeds and creating planter areas. But we do have rocks:  LOTS OF ROCKS.


We have also been visited by an unusual-looking pheasant.


The retaining wall in the front yard was finished in January. We have started planting around it and eventually will put a waterfall at the base. More work; more rocks. But we now have a party area in the front yard.


Unfortunately, it seems our country is in a serious constitutional crisis. All of us must vote in the upcoming election. Not just for president, but for all the down ballot candidates as well. Please, make sure not only that you vote, but that all of your friends and family do so too.   

Comments

  1. PaulMarch 23, 2020 at 8:11 PM

    Judy and house both look great, and thanks for some wonderful landscape photos. We are hunkered down hoping to avoid the coronavirus

    ReplyDelete

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