Nte: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland.]
6/29/24
Aloha Guys --
I wrote last week that our solar pool panel replacement had fallen through the cracks and the person who was supposed to finish the job didn't get the word until late in the week. As promised, he and a helper showed up Saturday morning about 7:45 and by 10 am we had warm water flowing into the pool for the first time in several weeks. Of course, it was bright and sunny right up until then, then promptly clouded over for the rest of the day. We still got some heat gain, though, and in the next few days the temperature of the pool increased by 2-3 degrees, definitely into the geezer comfort zone. Yay! This long-term project has finally been finished!
Another thing that got resolved this week was my driver's license renewal. On Tuesday when I got my injection I told my retina guy that I was worried about the eye exam. He determined that I was qualified to drive as long as I wear my glasses and filled out a form for the DMV saying that. Bingo -- 4 more years and maybe by then I'll be improved enough that it won't be an issue.
On Wednesday I played golf with Karen and our golf buddy. My goal in playing golf is enjoy it and not to take it too seriously. Lately, though, I've been getting frustrated when I don't do well, a sure sign of taking it too seriously. I just want to enjoy the outing and hit the ball well enough to appreciate the accomplishment. This time I played "Aspirational Golf." If I liked my shot I'd play it from where it landed. If I didn't like it I would apply an "Aspirational Adjustment," which involves repositioning the ball to where you think it should have gone. You probably recognize this as being in the same spirit as "Kon-a-Lago" rules, which I've described before. AA Golf definitely reduces frustration, though it makes score-keeping kind of an exercise in wishful thinking. I figure that's ok, though, given that our culture no longer seems to care much about reality.
My final tidbit of the week is about the mangos we've been enjoying from our neighbor's tree. Turns out
we're not the only ones who are enjoying them -- birds, mongoose, rats, and particularly the feral pigs in the area, have also. The pigs aren't native, of course. They were first introduced to the islands by the Polynesians who brought a domesticated variety with them for food. Much later wild boar were brought in by Europeans and American settlers to hunt for sport and for food. Without any natural enemies except humans to keep their population in check, feral decedents of the first pigs have become a real environmental problem. Our house borders an undeveloped strip of land that is home to probably dozens of them. It's a pig paradise with plenty of wooded cover and easy access to tasty and nutritious food, especially macadamia nuts, avocados and mangos that drop either from trees in the strip or, as in this case, from somebody's yard that is accessible from the strip. My neighbor makes absolutely no attempt to harvest the mangos, so they are easily available when they drop. We've seen as many as 15 pigs in several groups chowing down, sometimes with loud disagreement over whose mango is whose. There is one pig that we see regularly that is very interesting. It is always in the company of the same feral chicken --- they seem to be buddies, and may have been together since last year, when we spotted a young pig and a chicken that seemed to be hanging out together. Kind of cute, By the way, I'm giving that area a wide birth at night when I'm coqui hunting -- I really don't want to tangle with a wild boar. Wishful thinking might not be enough to keep me from getting turned into a pile of bloody pulp.
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| Somebody Say Mangos? |
we're not the only ones who are enjoying them -- birds, mongoose, rats, and particularly the feral pigs in the area, have also. The pigs aren't native, of course. They were first introduced to the islands by the Polynesians who brought a domesticated variety with them for food. Much later wild boar were brought in by Europeans and American settlers to hunt for sport and for food. Without any natural enemies except humans to keep their population in check, feral decedents of the first pigs have become a real environmental problem. Our house borders an undeveloped strip of land that is home to probably dozens of them. It's a pig paradise with plenty of wooded cover and easy access to tasty and nutritious food, especially macadamia nuts, avocados and mangos that drop either from trees in the strip or, as in this case, from somebody's yard that is accessible from the strip. My neighbor makes absolutely no attempt to harvest the mangos, so they are easily available when they drop. We've seen as many as 15 pigs in several groups chowing down, sometimes with loud disagreement over whose mango is whose. There is one pig that we see regularly that is very interesting. It is always in the company of the same feral chicken --- they seem to be buddies, and may have been together since last year, when we spotted a young pig and a chicken that seemed to be hanging out together. Kind of cute, By the way, I'm giving that area a wide birth at night when I'm coqui hunting -- I really don't want to tangle with a wild boar. Wishful thinking might not be enough to keep me from getting turned into a pile of bloody pulp.
Ok, that's it for now. Stay well, safe, and sane.
2 comments:
Richard, you and Scottie Scheffler have so much in common, except for your better driving record (car not ball). Sounds like you and Karen have the perfect fixings for a nice breakfast: feral bacon and eggs, with a side of scavenged mango.
Great idea about that breakfast -- living off the land!
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