Yard

Two years ago we took the quaking aspen out of the little mound alongside the driveway and replaced it with a "golden chain" tree. It was pretty when we bought it and then last year, there were almost no chains on the tree. It was disappointing!

This year more than made up for last year! Wow! It is covered with chains and is just gorgeous!! And is smells wonderful!



I felt bad all summer last year because I didn't do much in the garden. So I decided this year would be different. I may be gone a lot, but I wanted the yard to look better. I got three loads of bark and refreshed all the bark beds. They look way better and the ground cloth is now covered again.





When we put the fence and arbor in several years ago we talked about planting something that would climb up the arbor and be really pretty. We didn't buy full-grown plants then and have not gotten anything since. This year I decided to surprise Lauri and went and bought four honeysuckle plants and put them in. I figured she would come right out and see what I had done, but I had to bring her out to see them a couple of days later. She was really excited!


These growboxes are great! I bought two of them when I was in the apartment in Oregon a few years ago and we have bought others since. We have eight of them now. We have started using four of them over on the side of the house and four others for peppers and basil.




Our "herb garden".

The hanging baskets of petunias, planters of impatiens, and the planters on the patio have become a tradition in the backyard.

May 9, 2009 Dives - Mahi & Makaha Caverns

On Saturday, May 9, 2009, I dove with Brad and Shawn (divemaster) from Ocean Concepts. We did two dives, the Mahi, a 95 foot deep dive on a ship that was intentionally sunk as an artificial reef and Makaha Caverns, a 50 foot deep dive on a shallow coral reef with lava tubes and swim-throughs.

I dove solo, sort-of. Shawn was the divemaster for our group. There were 9 divers and two "guides", so they paired up all the divers and the two guides each took a group. Our group was the first in this time, and Brad and I were the first in the water. Brad disappeared as soon as he got in the water. He dives a lot with Ocean Concepts and has a huge camera setup. He just goes off on his own and they keep an eye on him, but he is always first in and last out.

Shawn and I were in the water waiting for all the others to show up and he said to me, "you really didn't think you would dive with Brad did you?" I said I figured not and he said, "see you on the bottom." So I headed down and was the first one on the wreck. That gave me a chance to see what was hanging around and get a few photos before the crowd showed up.

There were several Spotted Eagle Rays hanging around the wreck and before the rest of the divers got down, I managed to get a couple of good photos. As the rest of the divers showed up, the rays simply glided away. Not far away, but pretty much out of photo range where they hung out for the rest of the dive.

Spotted Eagle Rays

Even though I did not have a buddy, I was not really diving solo. I did enjoy my dive even more than normal though because I was not trying to keep track of someone else, and could concentrate on moving slowly and looking for things to photograph. I took many more photos than normal because of that.

Here are a few of the highlights:

Juvenile Psychedelic Wrasse

School of Bluestripe Snapper and Goatfish

Orange Cup Coral

Shortnose Wrasse

Pearly Soldierfish

Scrawled Filefish

Milletseed, Blacklip and Bluestripe Butterflyfish

Agile Chromis

Orange Cup Coral

Yellow-Spotted Guard Crab

Diver Below on Ascent

When I ran out of bottom time, I slowly ascended up the mast and did my safety stop under the boat. This was one of my most enjoyable dives to-date. I really enjoyed the slow pace and just hanging out watching what the critters were doing.

The second dive played out pretty much like the first one. Brad was in the water and gone as soon as we were moored, so Shawn said "see you on the bottom" and I headed down under the boat. I was taking some photos when everyone else descended and they all took off on the tour of the site without me. I know this site very well and could have caught them, but decided to just hang around near the boat and take photos. I got some pretty good ones.

Female Spotted Boxfish

Ornate Wrasse

Banded Coral Shrimp & Spiny Brittle Star

Needle-Spined Urchin

Banded Urchin

Rock Boring Urchin

Hawaiian Whitespotted Toby

As I was swimming along, suddenly this guy showed up to my left swimming right with me. He was close enough I could have reached out and touched him, so I had to lean right to get the photos and the video.

Green Sea Turtle

After swimming for a little way with the turtle, I took a few more photos as I swam back to the mooring line.

Bluespotted Cornetfish

Male Spotted Boxfish

Green Linckia

Flea Cone

Back under the boat, there was a large antler coral head that I checked out. It was full of little critters. I spent the rest of the dive, even after all the rest of the divers returned, taking photos of what was inside it.

Speckled Scorpionfish and Yellow-Spotted Guard Crab

Speckled Scorpionfish

Leaf Scorpionfish

Redbarred Hawkfish

Blueeye Damselfish

Ten-Lined Urchin

May 8, 2009 Night Dives - Shallow LCU & Turtle Reef

On Friday, May 8, 2009, I dove with Brian and Shawn (divemaster) from Ocean Concepts. We did two dives, Shallow LCU, a 90 foot deep dive on a Landing Craft that was intentionally sunk as an artificial reef and Turtle Reef, a 35 foot deep dive on a shallow coral reef.

I dove with Brian. Shawn was the divemaster for the group. Three of the divers had cameras. There were 7 divers and one "guide."

Brian and I were the second pair in the water. We congregated at the mooring line until all of the group was there and then descended. Brian tried to point out things to take photos of.

The wreck is also fairly small, so night dives end up being sort of a big group thing. Every time someone finds something interesting, everyone else gathers around to see.

There was a Hawaiian Whitespotted Toby hanging out on the back of the wreck. They sleep at night. The photo is not quite in focus

Hawaiian Whitespotted Toby

Over on the Z-blocks alongside the wreck was a Regal Slipper Lobster. I got a couple of the best photos I have gotten so far of it.

Regal Slipper Lobster

The Commerson's Frogfish that always hangs out on this wreck was there on the railing. I was able to get several pretty good shots of it.

Commerson's Frogfish

I also managed to get a good photo of a Giant Porcupinefish.

Giant Porcupinefish

Not a lot to photograph tonight. The group was pretty small and Shawn was tied up with a lady that was pretty high-maintenance so we were all on our own to find stuff.

Did my safety stop in the dark watching the phosphorescence.

I brought a towel this evening and it was much better. Putting the wet rash-guard back on before the second dive was still a challenge! I may have to invest in another one.

The second dive was on Turtle Reef. As soon as we got down (Brain and I were first), there was an Ornate Octopus out hunting. It immediately started to flee, but I got in its path and it stopped briefly so I could get a couple of photos.

Ornate Octopus

Once again there were brittle stars everywhere! The were drooping out of every nook and cranny and clump of coral, but there were none actually out in the open where I could get a decent photo.

Came across a huge Sleepy Sponge Crab out galloping across the bottom. His sponge covering was dragging along behind him.

Sleepy Sponge Crab

Shawn got tied up with the lady and couldn't lead us around the reef like normal, so we just all hung around together and stayed close to the boat until we got cold and ended the dive early. He thought I was more familiar than I was and would take everyone on a tour without him. I could have done that in the daytime, but not at night.