1001 Frogs, Stealth Birthday, Travel Plans, Golf

[Note: This is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland. Since much of my news these days relates to trying to age gracefully, this series might be called The Geezer Gazette.

7/18//26

 

Aloha Fellow Humans!

 

I reached couple of significant milestones this week -- one wanted, the other not so much.  First, I caught my 1000th coqui frog on Sunday night (plus #1001 just for good measure), a rather oddball achievement of which my inner macho-man is nevertheless rather proud.  One...Thousand...Coquis! Even though these

Stuff 'em?

are very small critters, 1000 of them would make a pretty big pile.  They also represent enough collective noise to rival the decibel level of a jumbo jet engine at full throttle.  To remind you, coquis are an invasive species that was accidentally introduced to Hawai'i from Puerto Rico in a shipment of nursery plants.  Without any natural predators, they quickly multiplied and spread.  Besides being noisy, they also prey on beneficial native insects, making coquis a serious environmental threat.  Contrary to the mistaken belief that many people have, they do NOT control mosquitos. Coquis can be killed by mild solutions of citric acid or by dustings of baking soda, but they must be thoroughly coated for these to work, a difficult task because they often hide in sheltered places between leaves of bushes or in leaf litter at the base of plants.  The surest way to kill them is the way I do it -- by hand catching them, putting them in a plastic bag, and tossing the bag in the freezer.  This method is also the most humane.  Over the years I've become quite good at hunting them, even with my recently reduced eyesight.  I use a headlamp at night, which helps me to locate them and to blind them long enough for the "Hand of Doom" to grab them.  I've developed a good sense of where they might be hiding, so that I can be successful even if they go quiet.  Anyway, do you think a good taxidermist could  mount these guys for my study wall?

 

The other milestone this week was the one I'd rather not have reached -- my xxnd [censored] birthday.  As you recall, I wrote recently about a couple of early presents; my new guitar case and my new AVR.  This week was my actual birthday.  I'm to the point where I really wanted to keep it low-key rather than make a big deal out it.  I view this as a celebration only in the sense that I'm still alive and doing fairly well compared to many in my age cohort.  Anyway, I planned the day to my liking with as little fanfare as I could.  Lunch was at a favorite dockside restaurant in our small-boat harbor.  Very picturesque, informal. fairly inexpensive, good relaxed service.  We shared a burger and a beer with fries and coleslaw.  How's that for fancy?  The afternoon was spent mostly in my "osmotic information transfer position" -- aka taking a nap with a book on my chest.  For dinner I barbecued a New York strip steak.  I imagine this sounds like I'm just another meat-and-potatoes guy, until I tell you the rest of the menu:  angel hair pasta with truffles and freshly grated Parmesan cheese, sauteed mushrooms, blanched fresh broccoli, mixed green salad with crumbled gorgonzola cheese, and strawberry shortcake for dessert.  All, in all, a good birthday!  To top it off, Pele took pity on my dismal fireworks experience on the 4th of July and popped off  a present for my benefit.  At 8:30 a.m. the morning of my birthday lava fountaining began for the 51st episode in the current eruption and lasted until just before 5 p.m. hitting almost 1000 feet high at the peak. Thanks, Pele!

 

We're moving along with our travel plans for next Spring's trip to Portugal.  As you may recall, we've already booked a river cruise on the Duoro in the northern part of the country.  This will be June 8-15.  The cruise itself is much too short to make the trip worthwhile, so we've been working with a travel company based in Lisbon to make custom arrangements for another three weeks.  This outfit specializes in putting together u-drive itineraries, but they also do other forms of transportation.  We've opted to do a combination of trains, buses, and private drivers to get us between locations.  The company has suggested hotels and activities along the way, and we're now going back and forth to make the itinerary fit our travel style, past experience, preferences, and geezer challenges.  At the moment we plan to fly to Lisbon, stay a week, then take the train north to Porto, where we will do the cruise.  After that we will make our way south, staying several nights in towns along the way.  Some of these towns with be on the usual tourist track (like Coimbra and Tomar), but also places less visited, like Portalegre in the eastern side of the country.  We will end up on the southern coast and then take the train back to Lisbon for the trip home, for a total of about a month -- our usual.  We're making sure that we have a lot of time on our own to enjoy these places, but also to have some interesting  pre-arranged excursions and activities (like a private tour of megaliths in the central part of the country).  The mix of transportation modes should be interesting as well.  So afar the agent we've been working with (a young Portuguese woman in Lisbon) has been very good at interpreting our wishes. One very positive aspect of this company is their payment and cancellation policy, an important consideration since we are making these plans so far in advance.  They require a deposit, of course, but the final payment isn't due until a month before the trip, and we can get a full refund up until just 5 days in advance.  I'll keep you posted as this progresses. 

 

My final bit of news is that yesterday I went with Karen and her friend to Makalei.  I didn't attempt a full round but I wanted to test whether I could still hit the ball.  The answer is "sorta kinda."  In fact,  given that I haven't played for five months and that my vision has degraded since my last outing, I did surprisingly well -- three bogeys and a par!  I also enjoyed revisiting the course itself, which is one of my favorite scenic places on the island.

 

Ok, that's it.  I hope you are staying cool and dry, though that's somewhat difficult these days.  Btw, we're watching the wlldfires in Canada and Colorado with a feeling of deja vu -- it was two years ago that my birthday trip to the great outdoors turned into a perfect storm of health problems, heat, fire, and smoke.  I'm keeping my fingers cross that our trip next month isn't a repeat.  Take care, everyone.  Carpe Vitam!