What did I do while in Hawaii? Did I vacation? Did I sunbathe? Did I stay at a nice hotel? No, no and no. I stayed in a flea-infested tent in a rain shadow on the dry side of Oahu, wore SPF 45 and 60 sunblock as often as humanly possible (I still got burned) and painted the Palehua USAF Solar Observatory tower on Palehua mountain.
No, I don't mean I whipped out the ol' canvas and brush and did a likeness. I mean we got into linemen's harnesses and climbed up that tower, brush and paint pail in hand, and did two and sometimes four coats of paint on that sucker. The tower is 2500 feet above sea level, so it's a bit cooler up there. Thank god. Otherwise, I don't know how I would have survived.
As it was, it was rather grueling, hard, treacherous work. I slipped once, just after it had rained a bit and the girders were slick. I got some lovely bruises on my thighs and upper arms where I caught myself on a strut on the way down. The winds were incredible and sometimes the gusts were such that we had to fight our paint brushes against the gale.
We had a 3rd wheel for a while, till we managed to scrape her off with an offer she couldn't refuse. She was AWFUL! She threw stuff at me, just to see me jump. That's not the sort of person you want to have behind you while you're concentrating on painting angle iron 30 feet in the air over concrete.
The Air Force boys working there were amusing. There was no ladies' room - just a single unisex restroom with a sign on the door that said "MEN" on one side and "WOMEN" on the other. It was hung on a nail with a binder clip so you could flip it over. When we went in, we'd push the door open a crack and say, "Ladies on deck!" or "Halloooo the restroom!" or some other such warning and then flip the sign and go in. There was a shower, which was nice. They also had a tub of "Coco Scrub", a coconut-fiber-based scrubby soap that ended up being very handy for removing paint from delicate girl skin. Good exfoliant, too!
There were two ancient turkey hens that wandered around unhindered. The AF boys fed them Fritos just often enough that they stuck around looking hopeful. The turkeys, that is. Not the AF boys. I think they were given direct orders that fraternizing with the paint crew was a big NO. They studiously avoided us, for the most part, but did a poor job of hiding their curiosity.
And now some photos.
Here's a photo of the tower, with Windy, in full gear, standing on the base for size reference. She's kind of hard to spot, so I circled her in red. The concrete base was about 11 feet high. I used yellow to circle the part we didn't have to paint.
LEFT: Windy, looking competent in her gear. Tanned and muscle-y, she cuts a fine figure in nylon webbing.
RIGHT: Me, luminescent in my SPF 60 sunblock, reflecting the sun and radiating confidence on the tower. These two photos were taken our first full day on the job. We were all smiles and "Righty-O! Let's get this sucker painted!" Ah, to be that naieve again...
Two weeks and five days later, I give a commentary on my current level of enthusiasm for the job at hand.
MONKEYING WITH THE VERY EXPENSIVE PIECE OF HUBBEL EQUIPMENT
Windy, vainly trying to wash some of the day's accumulation of paint off her leg. This was an ongoing task that did little real good. I discovered white paint on my person a MONTH after coming back from Hawaii. A MONTH!
Well, okay. I guess I did have some fun while I was in Hawaii. Otherwise, where did these photos of Windy and I and the tangle tree come from? And how did I get so much sand in my swimsuit? And the sea water in my sinuses - how else would that have gotten there? Yes, we did a little shopping at flea markets. We went skin-diving out over reefs and harassed fish. We went on a hike to a secluded waterfall, removed every stitch of clothing and swam till the sun went down. We bravely hunted and killed a freshwater crayfish-thing with scary long pincers. And ate it! We went boogie-boarding and Windy mowed me under in the surf and I got the ocean up my nose. We drove all over the island and I saw things I'd never seen before. Such a blue sea! If you've never seen the sea around Oahu, you don't know the meaning of the word "azure". We strolled down Waikiki Beach and quickly tired of it (tourists). Evidence of our fun:
There's a story that goes with this picture. Windy and I had been boogie-boarding at the beach for a good long time and when we came in for the day, we were wiped. As we collected our stuff on the beach, I thought I saw movement on the beach, out of the corner of my eye. I looked, but saw nothing. A wave came and went and again I saw a flash of movement. It was a small fish! "Look!" I said to Windy, pointing, but another wave had already come and reclaimed the fish, and it was gone. Windy didn't believe me. We were just about to walk up the beach when I saw another little fish on the beach, flopping around. Evidently stranded by a retreating wave. This time, Windy saw it too. "Go get it!" said Windy. I hesitated, certain that a wave would get to it before I did. No wave came. I ran down to the fish and then hesitated again, disbelieving this little fishie at my feet. "Get it!" urged Windy, again. Finally, I scooped it up - just before a wave washed over my ankles. I carried it up the shore and Windy konked it on the head. We brought it back home and I cooked it up and we shared it with the cats. In this photo, I am showing off my "trophy" before gutting it.
Copycat and Hunter; the kitties that live with our host family in Hawaii. They visited us and shared their time with us in the evenings, after work. Poor Hunter is alergic to fleas or something, so when the flea plague hit, he got all moth-eaten and skinny and miserable. He got a new flea collar and a flea bath, though, and things got a little better afterward. He's a sweetie. Copycat is a big lug. He's HUGE and overflows even the most ample of laps.
A "cane" toad, I'm told. Full of toady goodness. The toad slept in the poor dog's water dish. I myself shooed it from the dog's water a minimum of ten times during my stay. Finally, one night I just reached down and picked up the sucker, stuck it in a tupperware bowl and took it's picture. The hand is for size comparison.
A momma praying mantis. She lived in the gazebo and I was always worried that she might catch and eat the little green anole hatchling that also lived there. One day, I was brave enough to coerce her down onto my hand to photograph her. She sat very tamely. I was impressed with her self-posession.
The baby green anole I mentioned along with the momma mantis. Baby greenie here was just SO cute that I stole him and smuggled him back to Seattle, where he is currently alive and well and growing. You'll find pictures of him on his page. I named him Nikolai.
Dorsal and ventral view of two of the dozens and dozens of geckos that lived on and around our hosts' house. At night they fought, hunted and sang on the windows, walls and eaves of the house... inside and out!
Well, that ends the pictoral of my visit to Hawaii. I really regret not having taken lots and lots more photos. What was I thinking?! I should have photographed the beach and the tent and the hill behind it and our hosts' house and Waikiki and Palehua mountain and the turkeys and the ginger plants and the waterfall and the hike and on and on. Sigh.