Ira Heinichen's Blog, page 25

Day 4,097: Waipa

We did an amazing tour today of an ahupua’a on Kauai called “Waipa.” It means, essentially, a subdivision of Hawaiian land. They were basically watersheds, and one group of people—with one person in charge—were responsible for each of these districts that had its own water source. On an island, that essentially meant a valley, because all of the fresh water came from rainfall up on the top of the volcano, and then it ran down into the fanned-out, eroded valleys and then into the sea. So, the Haw...

Day 4,096: Napali

Making this another quick one because we get up early again tomorrow BUT…

Woke up early and caught our boat tour out to the Napali coast…which was SPECTACULAR. We saw whales jumping and slapping their tails, we saw bottlenose dolphins who are apparently dicks, we saw spinning dolphins which are apparently sweethearts—they have babies with them who were doing flips and shit out of the water, it was so great—and lots of incredible, remote beach cliffs, but the coolest part of the tour had to be...

Day 4,095: Goob Night

A quick one tonight because it’s late and we’re up decently early in th morning, but here’s the rundown:

We got up and did a nice, chill morning. Made brekky for each other, then walked along the beach path.

THEN…packed up and set off for our whale watching boat tour. It. Was. AWESOME. We tracked a juvenile humpback whale, and they put a show on for us. So many breaches. Flukes flying all over the place. Tail up in the air. Everything. Just exuberance.

Then Liz and I again went off on o...

Day 4,094: Luau

Today, we went to the shelter and picked up a dog to go and take on a “field trip” around the island. Her name was Crisco, like the shortening, and she was 9 years old. A big girl, about 60 lbs (which is big, at least, for us), and clearly had been a mother to puppies several times. She had white around her face, the softest ears, and she loved the car. It was the only place she fell asleep in, which was so satisfying to see. Otherwise she was pretty much panting all day, ie- she was stressed. B...

Day 4,093: Blazes

The fires continue in LA. The Palisades fire has crawled up through the hills and is encroaching, now, onto the valley pretty close to where I live. Far enough away, fortunately, that the evacuation posts they’re setting up are only a few blocks away from our house, so I think that bodes well, but still…this whole shebang is far from over.

It’s definitely the worst fires LA has ever seen so long as I’ve lived here. Truly catastrophic stuff. I’m optimistic our house will be fine. We’re hosting...

Day 4,092: Island Time

A quick one tonight because I’m bushwhacked…but we’re on Kauai. Travel today was blessedly simple and smooth. Three cheers to my wife for that, because she planned everything meticulously. Very, very appreciative of that.

The Kings are enjoying our house for us while we’re gone. That’s also a blessed relief. They’re evacuated from their own, and the fact that they feel comfortable enough to come and stay in our house in such a time of need means a lot to me. Ever since we got our house, I’ve ...

Day 4,091: Fire

So, LA burned today. We’re very lucky in that none of those flames threatened our home, but they certainly threatened—and in some cases destroyed—many, many others, particularly those in the hills all over the southland. Several friends have had to evacuate their neighborhoods. We almost hosted the Kings today, but they opted for another location…for now. Still might come and stay here. But, yeah. Nobody we know directly has lost their house yet, but the fires are still burning.

I’m optimisti...

Day 4,090: Wind

It’s windy outside like I don’t think I’ve ever seen in LA. We’ll get gusts up to 60mph+ tonight through to tomorrow morning, and they were so bad today that one of our neighbors had her car smashed by a fallen branch. Oof. It’s bad.

And randomly right now…it sounds suddenly silent out there. But it’s been like that all day today. Suddenly quiet. And then the winds rip back a minute or two later.

Big fire danger. There’s one raging out in the palisades. It’s surrounded the Getty Villa, but...

Day 4,089: Three More Minutes With Spade

Whew. Tired today. But I got some good writing done in the end.

I’m making this quick one because it’s sleeeeeepy time. Night night 🙂

Day 4,088: Shelves!

I. Am. Wiped.

But the shed shelves are up 😎 woohoo! They look great. It’s so much more organized in there and so much easier to get to stuff, since anything on the bottom you can just grab now rather than needing to take apart the entire pile of stuff. Oh, they look so good. So happy with that. And we have several containers in there that are basically empty, so we even have a little bit of room in there, even. Great news. Not much space, but a little.

That, as expected, took most of the d...