Edinburgh's Military Tatoo http://www.edinburgh-tattoo.co.uk/translations/index.html is a stirring performance held in the Castle's esplanade. The ceremony begins at dusk when the Castle's front gates open and Bagpipe bands begin to march out as as if right out of History. I get goose bumps just remembering it.
Fearful of crime, meth freaks, and President Obama, a Missouri car dealer is offering a gift certificate for an AK-47 assault rifle to anyone who buys a pick-up. Mark Muller, president of Max Motors, dismisses the notion "we are all cross-eyed rednecks down here," and says business is brisk. "This is about the right of defending me and my family. I have a loaded gun in my pocket now and one in the glove locker of the car with a 12-round clip in it. My wife also carries a weapon."
In the forest again. In our ongoing reforestation project we are trying to establish walking paths.
Early morning view of glow from the vent in Halema`uma`u crater on Kilauea volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii. And we live here! The photo from USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory
I just started Henry James On Italy . If this Illustration in the first chapter is any indication , I am in for a real treat. More later.
This photo illustrates what we are trying to do on our project. The area to the left has been weeded while in the background at the right has not. Clearing like this lets more sunlight reach the forest floor and helps generation of new plants. Of course it needs to be weeded on a regular basis. We have been working on this for 5 years now. Maybe one day we will finish
We get lots of complements on these New Guinea Impatiens. There are only 28 plants here but they have filled out to form a solid block. This color(orange crush) seems to be more hardy than others. The one problem with them is that they will wilt badly in the afternoon if there is no rain . Other than that they will last for months .
As this reforesting thing is an ongoing experiment, we make changes if something does not develop as we expected. Not too long ago this area had a spralling beach Naupaka plant that was not looking that good so we decided to make some changes. The kukui nut tree to the rear had started to produce seedlings around its base so we removed the Naupaka and replaced it with one of the Kukui sprouts. Lets see how this works out!
Aftermath ,day two. I spent today doing more post pig clean up . This will probably take one more morning to finish. That is unless they show up tonight and make things worse. Stay tuned!
Living in a rural setting has its interesting moments, and here is the the aftermath of one of them.This section of our property used to have a straight edge along the street. Last night some wild boars altered it slightly. The grass extends about a foot beyond the edge of the pavement so should be edged anyway. It somehow seems insulting that it took a group of pigs to remind 
This is one of my favorite views of our place.Taken at the back of the 400 foot lot, it is especially pleasing because I planted almost all of the small tress in the photo six years ago . It has been rewarding, as well as a lot of work but worth every sweaty moment!
