At least a bad vog day gives me an excuse to write another blog entry. It may be obvious that we must have some good days between the 'bad vog days', but overall it seems like what we do have are some days where the vog is minimal for several hours, and lots of days where its 'not too bad,' but ever present.

This morning its bad. Bad enough that I could even smell the sulfer when I first went outside (even when its bad, you can acclimate to it quickly and no longer smell it.) The air is hazy and thick. Unfortunately, we watered the farm yesterday. After over two weeks of drought, we had lost a couple young plants, and the farm really needed the water. However, now the plants are hydrated, and breathing sulfer, which creates sulferinc acid inside the cells; very bad...

We've all been having upper respitory problems. Tolver is making plans with some friends to start making a place to stay on the other side of the island for more extended periods of time. He has been having a lot of difficulty with the vog. Dad and I seem to be able to tolerate it more, but the cummulative effects are becoming more obvious. Visibly obvious when we can watch the Protea plants degrade over time. We are throwing away more than half of the flowers that we are harvesting. It looks like we will lose most of the Regal Mink Protea plants, as they flush with unsellable flowers, they are losing all of their leaves. Remove the flowers, and a coat hanger remains.

The drought is also an effect of the vog. The extra particulate matter in the atmosphere interferes with the normal weather patterns. We have seen no significant rain yet this month, and measured less than a half inch last month, even though we were getting rain, when we should normally see none, back in August. The light, unmeasurrable, misty, sprinkles that we do get can be so acidic that the percipitation actually has a drying effect on the ground, and our skin. That leads to the dust. Everything is dusty, gritty, dried out and cold. I'm so tired of being cold.

O yeah, now there is a Zeitgeist Addendum
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7065205277695921912
That will leave you cold.
Oh yeah, and martial law in the United States
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaG9d_4zij8

link | posted by Reese at 11:32 AM
1 comments

No posts in over a month make this practically a dead blog. Lately I've just lost the internal motivation to do anything of any value on the computer. Likely because I end up spending way too much time doing non-productive things on the computer. Our radical change in lifestyle, upon moving to Hawaii, to outdoor physical pursuit orientation, has been radically altered again by the emmissions from the volcano back to indoors at the computer with gray outside the windows.

Reality becomes what we expect, or at least what we have become accustommed to; even the stress of finance returns.

link | posted by Reese at 11:39 AM
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Labels: Our Queer Family

link | posted by Reese at 1:24 PM
1 comments

The vog (volcanic fog) damages the respitory function in plants and animals by chemical burn. Sulfer dioxide gas, which is the primary component of the current volcanic emissions from the Hale'mau'mau vent of Kilauea volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii, combines easily with water and creates sulferic acid. In plants and animals, the sulfer dioxide combines with water within the respitory tissues (in animals: the nose, mouth, throat, windpipe, and lungs) burning from the inside. Most days we can work outside for a couple of hours at a time, but some days the vog is so thick (like yesterday) that being outside for more than 5 minutes at a time is difficult. The throat and eyes start to burn, and breathing becomes labored. Being "inside" only offers some protection. Home construction in Hawaii is very light, due to the comfortable year-round climate, and there is very rarely any air conditioning, so being inside only reduces the exposure. After several months of this stuff, the air isn't much different in the house, but it does help when a thick patch blows by.

Since the beginning of the current eruption of sulfer dioxide from the Hale'mau'mau vent in late March of this year, the southern half of the Big Island of Hawaii has been veiled in vog. Very similar to the effect of a large forest wildfire, the vog reduces visibility considerably and creates a graying haze over the landscape.

We learned today that a new vent has opened, releasing a lava fountain 40 feet into the air, at first, but now just adding to the sulfer dioxide output. Today we will assess the damage done by yesterday's acid rain at the end of the day. We can allready tell that the plants suffered new burns, but things will have to dry off a bit before we can really tell.

Labels: Hawaii, Vog

link | posted by Reese at 10:57 AM
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Environmental factors, the vog and its effects on the farm, the farm and what the impact of the vog means to the future and our plans, the protea industry in Hawaii, attempts at organization between the growers, the growers and their relationship to the University of Hawaii's floraculture program, the last 40 years of protea research by the University of Hawaii's floraculture program...


Family issues, the developement of our ohana, relations between various members of our ohana, the difficulties of parenting and childing, and grandparenting, the sharing of a social circle, the irresponsibilities of youth, the impact of the individual over the consensus, the concept of the ohana and its impact on the future of gay parenting, gay marriage, alternative families, etc.

Social pressures, the interplay amoungst acquaintances, unrequited desires, mis-interpretted distances, boredom, agenda strategy, loneliness, connection frustration...

This was a post that I started a few weeks ago, but never went back and filled in. Now I look at it and I realize that in itself it was/is a nice insight into me at the moment. Although I am not completely defined by these stresses. Lately I seem more able to keep the stress compartmentalized.

Labels: Flowers, Our Queer Family, Vog

link | posted by Reese at 11:56 AM
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link | posted by Reese at 8:43 PM
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This is one of those sort of serious and completely out of character blog posts where I try to actually contemplate a meme and its effect on those people hosting it. I guess I should start with a short explanation of a "meme" for those of you new to the concept. Wikipedia defines "meme" as any unit of cultural information, such as a practice or idea, that gets transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another. Examples include thoughts, ideas, theories, practices, habits, songs, dances and moods and terms such as race, culture, and ethnicity. Memes propagate themselves and can move through a "culture" in a manner similar to the behavior of a virus. As a unit of cultural evolution, a meme in some ways resembles a gene. A really good discussion about memes can be heard at TED Talks.

Reality TV has created a meme that will replicate itself outside of the TV arena, into the world of real people. It will lead/ has led to people treating one's acquaintances as contestants in reality situations of which they are the producers. Likely, as is the case with the replication of many memes, those infected will perpetuate this way of behaving towards one's acquaintances without even being completely aware of it. How much more entertaining than television, to set up your friends in situations, and watch the hilarity ensue.

Those who rely on their reactive mind for most of their actions will be the easiest to manipulate, at first. However, as the meme grows, its human hosts will discover, and catalogue for future use, the common reactions of human nature, and no one will be spared.

A defining factor of our humanity is that we have evolved to manipulate our environment to our individual comfort/pleasure/desire. But, our environment is not only made up of the land and the trees, it is also, and possibly more significantly, made up of the people with whom we associate. Should our goal be to manipulate each other for our individual comfort/pleasure/desire? Or, should the goal be our common comfort/pleasure/desire? Is that even possible?

I consider myself highly suggestible and I like to assist or join in other's goals that I find interesting or worthy. However, to some people it might appear that I am easily manipulated into someone else's way of thinking. I do not believe that is true, as I tend to become quickly wise to attempts at coercion. I wasn't always this way; it took many years of being manipulated in one way or another by various people, some more important than others in my life, to learn to recognize it, in its many forms. One commonality being that someone ASSUMES that you would not do something they want of you of your own volition, and therefore you must be manipulated into doing it, either by leaving you no choice, or convincing you that it was your own idea, while hiding some clandestined motivation.

an ASS out of U and ME

My personality doesn't "get" the concept of imposing one's will on someone else, will this make me immune to the meme? Somehow this relatively common human trait is not very strong in me, and I must admit that I have a hard time grasping how it works in others, even though my deficiency is more than made up for by my husband's overpowering need to impose his own. We balance each other. Often, friends, who spend too much time with just one of us, will need time with the other to put us back into perspective. My lack of a common frame of reference is making it difficult for me to determine exactly how to fight it. Dianetics, or at least the discipline of a non-reactive mind, seems that it would be the best defense....

Can you be trusted? Who can be trusted? How can we trust?

link | posted by Reese at 10:44 AM
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We found out this morning that Sky passed his G.E.D., with flying colors in History, Science and Reading. We are all very happy for him, and extremely proud of him. I guess nothing makes a parent happier than a child's personal success.

Sky is also working towards getting his name changed to Armstrong sooner, rather than waiting for his slow-poke Dads to finish up all of the adoption stuff. The boy is now a man.

link | posted by Reese at 8:00 PM
1 comments

Labels: volleyball

link | posted by Reese at 3:31 PM
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Same-sex marriage, gay agenda, election year, blah blah...

Tolver and I have celebrated our relationship publicly four times during our 23 years. The first, a DIY event for 70 of our friends and acquaintances, in a back yard, in Austin Texas, in 1987; the second, joining others in San Francisco, in 1996, for the first Domestic Partnerships in the country, and then again in 1997, when those rights were expanded to the state level in California; and the fourth, on Valentine's Day of 2004 when we were issued a wedding certificate by the county of San Francisco, later to be annulled by the state.

Now that there may be same-sex marriage again in California, will we return to go again?

No. We have a piece of paper that says we are already married, no need to go do that again
- just to have it taken away from us again,
- just to be used as pawns in the political game again,
- just to demand recognition from those not a part of our lives in any way.

It is only an issue because it is the political season, not because the right thing to do is recognize everybody's relationships as equal. Before the piece of paper, during the piece of paper, and after the piece of paper - our feelings towards each other have never changed. At 22 and a half years now, few our age have matched us in commitment. We won, no need to gloat or demand special favor.

Marriage Equality is a quagmire. Marriage is an out-dated institution that should be replaced with specific social contracts defining financial and care cooperation among individuals.

For almost 3 years now, Tolver and I have worn our collars as a symbol of our commitment. The collars make our relationship story special again, without the political overtones. We're obviously fated to work on the cutting edge of alternative family relationships, so now our calling is more toward the extended family.

Labels: Our Queer Family

link | posted by Reese at 11:43 AM
1 comments

and Ill cry if I want to. ah the birthday blues... even the happy things make you feel like crying. am I depressed or just overly thought-filled?

Thanks everybody for the fond birthday wishes. Thank you, Steve & Clem, for populating the celebration from afar; we miss you guys lots allready.

Dad is making wafles for breakfast, and we're going to the Coffee Shack for lunch.

link | posted by Reese at 11:01 AM
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... another acceptable Birthday Present.

link | posted by Reese at 10:03 AM
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link | posted by Reese at 5:15 PM
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Conditions of Volcanic Out Gassing (VOG) continue around the south side of Big Island. The worst, so far, for us in Ocean View was overnight and morning of the 15th and 16th. That morning the civil defense trucks came by with loudspeakers suggesting voluntary evacuation due to high sulfur dioxide levels. The "danger" was gone by 10am, when the wind blew it all back out to sea, but the damage to the Protea plants had been done. When we went out to pick flowers 24 hours later, we found a whole field of burnt plants.

Sulfur Dioxide, when mixed with water, forms sulfuric acid. While we could treat and use the water, any rain now would be very acidic. However, the sulfur dioxide as a gas, when present in high quantities, is taken into the bodies of living plants and animals through standard respiration (breathing) where it meets water in the cells, again forming sulfuric acid, burning from the inside.

Kilauea volcano has been producing 8-10 times the normal background rate of sulfur dioxide daily. The vog consists of this sulfur dioxide, volcanic ash, and dust. We have better days, but mostly it is hazy now and we seldom can see the coastline. We are having a particularly bad day today.

The Protea plants are still alive. No plant seems to have actually died. However, on many plants, much of the actively respiring tissue has been killed, and another episode like last week could finish them off. Older leaves, at the base of a branch, were often spared, as well as the newest, soft growth (new tissue that may have not yet begun respiration.) This produces a plant that looks burnt in the middle, yet growing from the tips.) There are differing levels of damage on different Proteaceae species, and cultivars within the species. Australian Proteaceae seem to have sustained the least damage, although we have seen some effects on Banksia Prionotes and Grandis seedlings. The King Protea, with the waxiest of leaves, seems to have faired well, as have most of the leucadendron varieties (Safari Sunset.) The mink and Queen Proteas, and a majority of the Hawaiian leucospermum (pincushion) varieties, have taken the worst damage, varying by parentage. Showing the worst damage amongst the Protea was Pink Mink (Protea neriifolia.) Our leucospermums (pincushions) took a lot of damage; many of which were flush with new growth at the end of their flowering season. Pincushion varieties with glabrum, cuneiforme, or conocarpodendron parentage seem to have the most tolerance though still took damage, while those with cordifolium, tottem or reflexum parentage look so bad, it makes me want to cry. Leucospermum lineare, patersonii, and vestitium varieties, which are also common in Hawaiian pincushion, showed moderate damage, relative to the others.

The pictures don't do the damage justice; when you visit the field, what gets you first is the smell of dead vegetation. Each leaf, on many of the plants, is 75-90% dead. Two effect have been hard on the leaves: the extra particulate matter in the air, often the density of talc, sucks the moisture out of the tissue, leaving the leaves scorched on the tips and edges as though a very hot day after a period of water stress, dried them; then secondly the sulfuric acid effect, that appears almost like a chemical burn on the leaf, at first, then the burned tissue desiccates. The non-transpirant parts of the plants, very new tissue, stems, and leaf buds, do not seem effected. The plants, disregarding the damage, look very healthy, in fact the undamaged tissue has actually grown remarkably since the incident, as though the plants now have extra energy even as we deny them water.

We are also seeing damage to some pincushion flowers, and the bracts (the colorful parts that surround, and are often mistaken for, the flowers) of the mink and Queen Protea varieties. In the pincushion flowers we have seen whole flower heads of shrivelled pins. In the Protea the damage appears as a bronzing of the colorful bracts surrounding the flower head. On some varieties this is more destructive to the look of the flower than in others.

Next steps: wait, wait and more wait. Some of the growers on the hill met with the government people, of course this has never happened before, so they can only help us test some theories of what might help, should it ever happen in the future. We are trying a couple of chemicals, in standard, controlled, tests on several varieties along with the other growers, but we know that its not really a viable way to grow the flowers. Even if a chemical could prove useful, could it possibly be worth the cost of applying it. Instead, we will hopefully determine what Proteacea can tolerate the conditions supplied by the volcano. We haven't heard how the Macadamia trees are doing yet. They were also at the end of their flowering cycle. Macadamia is a Proteacae too, from Tasmania, but like the other Australian Proteacae, it may tolerate the bad air more than the South African Protea and Leucospermum. We will have to wait, at least a season, before we remove anything from the ground that doesn't just die. It is important that we determine if the plants can recover, and what the long term effects will be.

Labels: Flowers, Hawaii

link | posted by Reese at 10:43 AM
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The transition from a culture where male male sexuality is not the norm to a culture where it is more common and casual must produce a class of man who, while otherwise completely heterosexual, will seek out gay sex out of desperation for intimacy.

With an assumption that all gay men are ready and hungry for sex all of the time, the lonely straight man will, as soon as he can muster the courage, seek out the first gay man that he can be sure is gay, and that fits some criteria of masculinity which he can respect. The lonely straight man will even offer himself submissively, figuring that if he tries it, and can stomach it, he might, as Woody Allen used to say, "double his chances for a date on Saturday night." He has no ideas about what he may want, or be "into", only that he is driven towards touch, affection and intimacy.

For some of us it may be hard to imagine a loneliness that must be common among single straight men, especially in a rural setting. Within the dictates of the straight male world, if he is not doing well with the ladies for several years, he may go a long time without even a hug. In the gay community, friendly intimacy, hugs and kisses upon greeting, etc. are common, even more so amongst the fraternity of those who for whatever reason are not engaged sexually as well. So even the single gay man who doesn't get sex much still feels touch, and connection to his peers. I can imagine that it would be very different for the single straight male in his mid forties or early fifties.

Now, the media, and even society at large, is telling him that those dictates of heterosexuality are not necessarily important. Hordes of unsatisfied and frustrated heterosexual men, who had been misled into believing that they must channel their need for warmth and play and touch into aggressive athletics, like football or boxing, are now wondering if they can get that whatever it is that they are missing from sucking dick.

A lonely straight man came to our door last night. He wasn't drunk, he wasn't impolite. He was afraid, he was hungry, he was confused and mortified by his own behaviour. I recognized him as someone that maybe I had cruised, just a little, in the town center parking lot. He had obviously found some gays he could respect in his community, and that, at least, is flattering. But, its a bit on the freaky side when someone comes down your eighth of a mile long driveway, unexpected, after dark, in the rural area where we live. Unlike the city, where your neighbors are ten feet away, here we sit in the middle of several acres, and the whole "defending your land" thing is a bit more of a concern. Maybe he was really here to rob the house, and was surprised that we were home. Maybe he was here just because he had "never sucked a guy's dick before," like he said. Either way, we sent him on his way, still lonely.

Part of me wants to help; no not that part of me, sure I may have cruised him once, pickings can be slim out here, you look at a lot of things, and I'm not really interested in a inexperienced blow job. Dad says the straights never had no care to help us, why should we help them! But, the affliction of loneliness is universal, and the straight's envy of our 'lifestyle' is one of the gay community's biggest enemies.

Ambivalence is squelching my Aloha.

link | posted by Reese at 12:30 PM
1 comments

Visualize a new world for earth day!

Replace
petroleum, cotton, wood pulp, tobacco, and alcohol
with
HEMP

link | posted by Reese at 12:22 PM
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O yeah, and as some of you might have noticed yesterday...

Sky got a new Scooter. Top of the line, off-road ready, 2008 Honda Ruckus.

link | posted by Reese at 12:59 PM
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link | posted by Reese at 10:50 AM
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See, even thinking up a title sometimes can be hard. OK, so I've been chastized about not posting anything on my blog again (thank you Steve.)

I was really getting groped yesterday. I won't say that I didn't like it.
So here is a list of first initials, in alphabetical order, of everybody who comes to volleyball who I have been interested in getting it on with at one time or another: B, C, D, G, I, J, K, L, M, N, P, R, S, T, and of course V (happy birthday V.)

link | posted by Reese at 11:44 AM
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We have posted a new set of pictures on the Hawaii page!
These are primarily from our friend Teddy Bare's visit. Enjoy!

Labels: Faeries, Hawaii

link | posted by Reese at 11:34 AM
1 comments

So, I waited an extra day after the last post. When Wednesday had come and gone and it hadn't rained, again, I got up the next morning, refusing to let the building clouds deter me, and watered. An hour later, it rained; 4/10ths of an inch. However, that was not the end of it. Appearently all of my begging to Lono and Kane did not go unanswered as the windward side of the island got rain for 4 days. Volleyball was almost completely rained out for the first time in over two years, although we were still there, playing at each break in the torrent.

Tolver and I left volleyball early, and its a good thing that we did. One minute later and we would have been stopped by the road closure (due to flooding) at Kawa flats (about three-quarters of the way home.) We zoomed past the policemen who were just about to set up the barricade, and we took our chances and drove through the rising waters. On the other side, we had to wait for the policeman to move the barricade to let us out of the flood zone. He was quite surprised that we had made it through.

It had poured down rain on us the whole way home; 90 miles across the southern part of the island. We saw raging rivers, and lakes that had never existed before. Yet, when we turned in to Ocean View, it was dry! While the rest of the island was drowning, our rain gauge had accummulated only another 2/10ths of an inch.

link | posted by Reese at 10:09 AM
0 comments

In every life a little rain must fall... it must... must fall... fall!!!!

ugh...

A regular weather pattern up here on the southern slope of Mauna Loa has the clouds build up around 11am after a sunny morning. During the winter, these clouds should bring afternoon showers, but often they don't. The clouds just hang there, and then mysteriously dissipate.

So here I sit for the fourth day in a row, knowing that the plants need water, and desperate for it to come from the sky instead of the tank. Watering the farm with water brought up the hill by truck costs approximately $150, every time. Rain costs nothing.

The last time that nature and I played this game, two and a half weeks ago, I gave in and watered. Fourteen hours later it started to rain, and we received 3/10ths of an inch before it stopped. While 3/10ths of an inch was more than sufficient for the plants, it was not enough to replace the water in the tanks that was unnecessarily dumped on the ground.

So here I sit, at 11:30am, and the cloud is building up, and the wind is coming from the correct direction, and the barometric pressure is dropping, but if it doesn't start raining by 2pm, I'll have to water today. Even as I start hooking up the pump, I will start to feel drops. Then when I am about half way through the process, there will be a little shower, but that will blow away.

sigh...

link | posted by Reese at 8:21 PM
1 comments

Since Sky arrived, our lives have become a bit busier than the more retired pace to which we had become accustomed to, here on the island. It seems that each day has to be scheduled just to accomplish all of the various runnings back and forth across the island to accommodate all of our appointments and requisits.

I have barely had the time to go read through the bloggers that I regularly visit, much less to do any creative mental masterbation. Although we are getting more tourism time; one of the reasons that we are so busy is that we have people to show around, so its not all just drudgery. I'd have to estimate that for the people who live here, showing around the tourist
(visiting friends and otherwise) must account for at least 20 percent of our time.


O yeah, and I know I never posted the mix from Wig Volleyball that I promised. I guess that I still haven't quite figured out the software because it didn't record what I did live (probably a good thing because I flubbed half the transitions) so I have to do it from scratch. I have a 'day off' today so maybe I'll do it... while I am sitting on the beach.


Aloha

link | posted by Reese at 9:40 AM
0 comments

So I got to play some volleyball too!

We will create a yearbook with all of the pictures to keep at the volleyball structure. I will try to make good on my promise to post my mix in the next couple of days.

Labels: Faeries, volleyball, wig volleyball

link | posted by Reese at 9:58 AM
1 comments

Ah, the second weekend of the year, and time for the 6th Annual Clothing Optional Wig Volleyball party and fundraiser at the Banana Boyz' Isle of You farm. (That should be enough keywords to make the search engines happy.) Visit the Isle of You Hawaii

Unlike previous years, when the Wig Volleyball party extended past daylight and volleyball play into night, this year the fire dance troupe 'TransFire' will be taking over the party at dusk. So it will really be two different parties, bumped up against each other. From 2pm to 6pm, Wig Volleyball will charge a $1-$10 donation at the gate. After 6pm, the fire dancers are charging $15 at the gate; they will have their own Djs, etc., and will be taking all of the proceeds from after 6 for themselves.

Tolver is staying over there with Sky tonight so that he can help with setup. Ill be going over early tomorrow, myself. I'm not quite happy about doing a lot of work to help the fire dancers make money, especially when I feel like they are crashing our party, but we love Kelly and Normand so we will do whatever we can to make the event fun for everyone.

I have put together a couple hour set, just in case they need a DJ to fill in. The last time the Transfire group had a party at the Isle of You, they didn't have their shit together when they opened the gate, and I ended up DJing for over an hour (completely unprepared) while they floundered. Sigh. Supposedly there will be a sound system there before the fire troupe takes over, if the event needs me to spin, I will at least be ready this time.

Here's my set list, I will try to make a recording of the set, and post the mix in a few days.
DJ Clive$ter - The Surface of Saturday Night
The Automatic - Monster (De Rango Remix)
The B-52s - Wig (Reeseroni Remix)
Roryskoop - Poor Leno (Jakarta/Roryskoop Remix)
Hawaii - Pure (Fledglyng's Dirtier Remix)
The Doors - Hello, I love you (Adam Freeland Remix)
The Police - Walking on the Moon (Roman Flugel + Delano & Crocker Mash)
Tiesto - Driving to Heaven
Zoot Woman - We Won't Break
Persephone Bees - Nice Day (Chris Cox Remix)
Roger Sanchez - Elektro (The Cube Guys Delano Rmx)
Alex Gaudino Feat Crystal Waters - The Whistler Destination Calabria (Claude Vonstroke remix)
Moby - Extreme Ways (DJ Tiesto Vocal Mix)
Leftfield - Afro-Left (Leftism remix)
Paul Oakenfold - Southern Sun
Orbital - One Perfect Sunrise (Reeseroni Sunset Mix)


See you there!

link | posted by Reese at 9:47 AM
0 comments

I skipped out on Blogging for a couple of months; too much going on in our real world, and too little ego to feel like writing about it. Still, I figured I should check in, and let people know that we are well. We had another fun holiday on Big Island, although we are saving our energy for the Banana Boys big Wig Volleyball event on the 12th, before we call the season quits.

We are very happy to have him around, although he is spending much of the week at the Isle of You farm. The Banana Boys have more work for him than our farm does, right now, and there will be more opportunities for making new friends and contacts on that side of the island.

I have unconsciously kept myself from looking forward at 2008. I think, instinctually, I have been shielding my psyche from what must lie ahead for the world. Will Big Island be far enough away?

Here are some links to get the paranoia rolling:
http://zeitgeistmovie.com/
http://rjr10036.typepad.com/proceed_at_your_own_risk/2008/01/the-devil-wears.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VxQuPBX1_U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqxmPjB0WSs

Assume that I will post more, although I may be slow getting restarted. Funny, the blog has had more daily traffic since I stopped posting than it had while I last was. Thanks for visiting.

link | posted by Reese at 11:30 AM
1 comments

We have been apart very little in those 22 years; a couple days here or there, but probably not even a whole month's worth when all put together.

We've come across a lot of people over the years who just don't get 'us', our relatonship. Our relationship is about commitment, and through that, we have chosen symbiosis. There is no one without the other; we are a compound person.

If all life, all individual perceptions, are the same; an instance of the universe made manifest; then one individual perception was/is the first, and another will/is being the last. Two sides of the same existance, with a universe full of "sides" in between.

Labels: Our Queer Family

link | posted by Reese at 8:00 PM
1 comments

So we're recovering from yesterday's Potluck at the Protea farm; another success, with about 2 dozen intrepid adventurers who made the trip across the island from Puna and Hilo. It is nice to know that our efforts to make it to almost every potluck over there (an investment in time and fuel for us) are appreciated, and our friends are willing to make the tip out here in mass. We have a nice home, if I do say so myself, and everyone who makes it out here all seem to have a great time.

The movie this time reflected the upcoming holiday of Halloween; Here! Film's 'Hellbent' a wonderfully gory, campy, gay, slasher flick. Everyone was riveted! I kept hearing, "O gawd this is so gory/scary/bloody (etc.), I can't stop watching it!"

We were not blessed with much of a sunset, but the weather, which had been very hot in the morning, turned very pleasant about the time our first guests arrived, and stayed that way for the whole afternoon. Then just before sundown, our guests were treated to some of our very typical weather as the cloud layer came streaming up the hill and engulfed us in a thick fog.

Our Kona side friends, and some new faces from Ocean View made it to the gathering this time. Its nice to find some new friends closer to home, as well as finally get to sociallize with the Nursury guys who have been selling our plants right down the hill for years. They, along with the Banana Boys stayed later, and as our party wound down, we caravanned through the thick fog up the hill to another neighbor's birthday party, already in progress. We added nine guests to Keoni's birthday, and we were rewarded with an hour of live Hawaiian music and antics.

Thanks again to all our friends who made the trip.

link | posted by Reese at 6:58 PM
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Tolver's yellow rocket seedlings and clones are now all in the ground. We will get flowers from the clones inside a year, but will have to wait up to 3 years to get flowers from the seedlings. He will then be able to embark on his breeding program. Tolver wants to try and put some color into the yellow rockets and come up with a new commercially viable cultivar before dad dies so that he can name it after him while he is still alive to appreciate it.

He is too modest to say he wants a plant named after him, but he has done so much for us, and is already a doctor of horticulture, so we think he deserves one. It is the best honorarium that we can give him.

Labels: Flowers

link | posted by Reese at 6:25 PM
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We've had quite a busy weekend here, as we got prepared for a new addition to the household. We have rescued another poodle. Dad had a poodle named Max from puppy to big rock in the back yard. Ever since Max's death he has wanted another poodle, however they can be hard to come by on the islands (you can't just bring one in from the main land without going through months of pre-medical, then quarantine, at a cost of thousands of dollars (this is why Tolver and I didn't even try to bring a cat, but it means that there is no rabies on the island.) An alternative is to bring in an animal from another rabies-free country, like Australia, but it still ends up costing quite a bit. There are a couple of poodle breeders on Oahu, so we were always on the look-out. Max was a "red" poodle, and Dad had had his heart set on the new poodle being black, and he would name him Mozart.

link | posted by Reese at 9:56 AM
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link | posted by Reese at 11:57 AM
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The number of hits to the blog has had quite an up-swing lately; like three times the hits per day, as compared to just three months ago. Sure, that means it went from 4 hits a day to 12, but still!

So the most of you will have come to our blog from a Goggle image search for "Nude Sailors" or "Gay Sailors". Second most popular is Zombie Jesus, also from a Goggle image search. Third most popular is actually the picture of Tolver painting the house naked (Search term "nice tush".)

It is kind of cool to be able to scan the often completely irrelevant search terms that lead browsers to our site, like: Walmart Sandels, or my favorite "cock my boy blog".

link | posted by Reese at 7:55 PM
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