We drove to the Pu'u Wa'awa'a Forest Reserve for an annual cleaning.
Down this road.
We saw a pheasant.
And some sheep running across the road.
Many of them.
This looks like the parking area.
There's a 6-mile round-trip hike to the top of this old cinder cone that lets you see Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa, Hualalei and North Kohala. Maybe we'll have to do that some day.
But today we're going the other way to clean. Alcohol to clean off our shoes.
Then scraping them.
Ogii by some flowers.
A short hike along the road to this building.
They had many gloves.
And tools.
We split up into different groups with different tasks. These people were planting.
While we were clearing a trail.
Time to start cutting.
We removed plants in the way and then put down rocks along the edges.
Ogii pulling some weeds.
Carrying them out.
Many oher plants in the way.
Me dealing with some of the larger roots.
Cutting them out.
Ogii found this centipede.
It tried to dig back into the ground.
But someone grabbed it using some sticks like chopsticks and moved it off to the side.
Most of the roots we could simply pull out, but some of the larger ones had to be dug out.
There was a big pile of rocks here.
That we used for the path edges.
Ogii putting more rocks down.
Carrying more plants out.
It's a bit more open here, making it easier.
We got some larger rocks from other areas, too.
This group is pulling weeds and planting over here.
Planting.
After a couple of hours of work, time for short a snack and water break.
Another group from the other side.
Our trail is looking pretty good.
Ogii in it.
Now time to finish it off. Still carrying plants out to the truck.
And then loading them.
Others planting.
We curved around the little newly-planted trees or incorporated them into the rock path edge.
More people here.
Digging out a big root.
Using their tools...
... to make holes for new native plants.
This was the picture of the start of the trail at 9am.
And now at 11:30am.
Walking along the path.
It curves back and forth.
Through this open area.
And here.
Then curves here to end.
A video of me walking it. It's amazing we made that whole thing in just a few hours.
There were still people pulling weeds here.
So we helped them out.
Pulling weeds off of the small trees.
Uh oh, this branch broke a bit.
Ogii tied it back up using the weed as rope.
The time for lunch.
With fruit.
Sandwiches.
Eating under the shade of a big tree.
The hiking along the road back to the cars.
A tall plant.
Butterfly on a flower.
More.
Neat flowers.
Geese.
And then on the drive back out, more sheep.
With a baby.
You can hunt here, but you have to check in.
And afterwards, record what you got.
Goats on the way home.
Ogii getting some dirt at Home Depot.
They have dwarf citrus trees there if you don't have room for a big one.
Ogii chased this butterfly and got a great picture of it flying.
Tiny flowers.
Anti-ICE protestors on the side of the road.
Another large aurora storm, with northern lights seen in Oregon.
It looks pretty big.
Although Hawaii is too far south to see them.
We can see whales, though.
A video.
Many sheep on the drive back from Hilo.
And a fire near a military base.
With a helicopter above it.
Sunset.
Have to watch out for goats crossing the road.
The little one is a little slower.
Sunset.
Zoomed in.
With a crescent moon.
Pretty clouds the next morning.
A pig by the side of the road.
More of them.
I hope nobody runs them over.
And then goats by the parking lot at work.
I don't see them often, but it's fun when they are there.
For Christmas, one of my coworkers gave me a gift card to Izakaya Shiono.
Some alcohol.
Spicy garlic edamame.
Arabiki sausage.
Gyoza dumplings.
Char siu.
Chicken katsu curry.
Chef's special sushi.
Ogii ready to eat.
Matcha shiratama senzai for dessert.
This area is called Brew.
Some of the shops.
More.
A climbing gym.
Kona Brewing Company.
More stores down here.
Including indoor golf.
A pickup outside.
With their business cards on the back.
Olivia Clare Boutique.
Has items made by many local vendors.
A small second story.
Looking down.
Ogii found a dress in the discount rack.
Jewelry.
They sell my wallet here.
Puna Chocolate Company's Big Chocolate Island.
That was the guy who gave our farm tour.
A nice picture.
Another one.
Upstairs.
With our drinks.
Ogii tasting one. The door behind her looks like a chocolate bar.
Neat wallpaper.
We like this guy's artwork.
Multiple geckos.
Interesting clouds.
Everyone pulls over...
... all the way back...
... for ambulances.
At 11:40am, Target had some Pizza Hut pizzas.
And the bread bites.
I bought this shirt online, but now I saw it at the Goodwill for much cheaper.
Sunset.
Nice colors afterwards.
Watching the new Frankenstein on Netflix.
Planning our April Japan trip. There's a site that will calculate your total train fare so you can see if it's better to pay for each individual train or buy a multi-day pass.
The train stops in all of the cities we are going to.
Then we had to find hotels. This one seems really cool.
But the price increased a lot while I was looking at it. That's not cool.
I had seen these Oakley Lizard frames and liked them, but couldn't buy them. I found a few online for around $150, though, even cheaper.
I could have bought the frames on their own, but this EZContacts also let me put the prescription lenses in fairly cheaply, so I did that.
We finished of all of the hidden animals for January in Wordscapes.
Neat clouds.
Before yoga.
Why isn't Ogii paying attention?
Ah, she saw a whale.
More stretches.
More whales.
Happy baby pose.
Some local drinks.
Episode 41 of the Kilauea volcano eruption started.
at 9am just a tiny amount.
Just after 11am it started.
It got pretty big.
Double.
They actually closed the highway and entrance to the park due to the ash and tephra. Good thing we didn't drive all the way over there only to not get in.
Many of the people who were already there ran to their cars for cover.
Most of the tephra is very light and hollow as it's filled with gas bubbles, almost like cotton candy, but the larger pieces can be heavier. And it also ends up having many tiny shards, like glass.
You can see all of the ash.
Then it got smaller.
And finally stopped.
at 7:30pm, so it only lasted for around 8 hours.
Uh oh, what did Ogii see?
A bug.
She's much happier out on the balcony.
Looking for whales.
There's one.
Along with some sheep.
And a rooster.