Limit 3 Eggs

 We were shopping in COSTCO today and encountered this sign at the entrance and in the dairy cooler. I knew things were bad, but this seemed very extreme. Even the Pancake House announced today that they would add a 50 cent fee to any order that included eggs. It turned out the COSTCO people were just lazy and the sign meant three cartoons of eggs.

I did talk with the local guy while laughing at the sign. He said that the bird flu had reached Kauai and I should purchase the limit if I wanted local eggs. I asked how birds got this far to bring the disease and he was not sure. I said I knew that wild birds infected chicken farms. He claimed the Nene were in trouble and might go extinct again. The Nene are Hawaiian geese related to what we know as Canadians. We see many Nene and while they were near extinction they have recovered to the point they are now a nuisance. New menace in these difficult times.

Much wind, no whales

We were supposed to go on a whale watch yesterday, but when we arrived the captain said the waves were still to high from the storm and it would be difficult to see any whales. Spotting the spouts is part of the process and with white caps the spouts are difficult to differentiate. Because it was clear we were warned to wear a long-sleeved sun shirt to protect the skin. We were visiting a farmers' market before our sea departure and I found this. Pretty gangsta. I can hardly wait to wear it to my Wisconsin backwoods coffee shop. 

Storm

We were alerted to an approaching storm yesterday. We were to experience heavy rain and strong winds that would hit all of the islands. The storm delivered as advertized. We had no cable and no Internet for an extended period of time. 

The following images include a photo of a cruise ship close to our beach. We don't see cruise ships so we thought this one may have been sheltering on our side of the island. The second photo is a nice rainbow - mid storm. The final video should be self explanatory.

 

Nene

 The Nene is the state bird of Hawaii and is supposed to be, or at least recently was on the endangered species list. We see so many of them and they are so dirty (geese are like that) the endangered part is difficult to believe. Perhaps this is the case on the other island.

I see so many of these birds that I seldom bother to take a photo. I took the following picture because I thought the message on the sign with the Nene standing at attention behind the sign was interesting. I took several photos and moved around a bit and the bird did not move. When I told Cindy that this bird would not move she told me to look behind the bird. If you look carefully, you may be able to see momma Nene sitting on a nest. The bird out front was on guard duty. Cindy just had cataract surgery and has been on me to have the same procedure. This incident will be told and retold to bolster her case. 

Temporary?

 Temporary seems to have a different meaning in Kauai. I started writing about spending time in this library several years ago. The books on the shelves don't mean much as I read everyone on a device, but I like to sit and use the wifi in the library when I can't find a place to sit at the coffee shop.

They closed the library down in 2023 and added a small pop-up along my walking path. Still looks the same two years later. I stopped by the pop-up in 2024 to say hi. I wondered if the idea was to request a book from the catalog they would find for you. Nope. The books on the shelf are what they have available. One computer the locals could use if they needed online access. 

Maybe next year.

Hanalai National Wildlife Refuge

 Things don't move quickly here. We have been watching an area very near Princeville for a couple of years. The area was hidden behind a fence covered in plastic. We learned last year that it was a wildlife refuge of some type. It was not a large area, but I assumed it was a parking area for a trailhead.

The area was open this year when we returned and we visited today. Cindy had a conversation with an employee working at the site, 

 It is not a trailhead but more of an overlook with labeled vegetation. The land below the overlook is government-owned and part of the refuge. We have visited the taro fields you can view from the overlook. They are government-owned and leased to local farmers. The site is officially known as the Hanalai National Wildlife Refuge.  

Masubi Truck (original)

You can get spam masubi at a grocery store, but the Masubi Truck is supposed to have the best. The Hawaiian use of spam goes back to WWII because it was available. Search this blog and you will find several references to the ways we have eaten spam here. You could easily make Masubi yourself - nori (the seaweed wrapper), rice, furikake, soy sauce, and spam combined into a convenient to carry, and hold in your hand food.

The photo of the masubi is not great. The sun was bright and I should have noticed at the time. 

We are back

 The temps in the midwest are now falling below zero daily and the scenery is bleak with little snow cover so it is time to journey to Kauai.

It takes a few days to adjust and slow back down to Kauai time. We took in a farmers' market today to get our vegetables and made a COSTCO trip for everything else. Kauai has a great food truck culture which offers unique and less expensive food. After dropping Josh and Lynn who are visiting off at the beach we tried a truck open only on Friday and Saturday that specializes in Huli Huli Chicken, This stuff is excellent when prepared well and the grill guy did a great job. We purchased one plate (a traditional thing with rice and salad - often macaroni) to share for $14. Half a chicken made for plenty of food.