"Always be presentable because you never know who you might run into."
Wise saying from my Father In Law.
In Hawaii, you will notice that almost everyone smiles here. When I am out and about, I smile back at everyone that smiles at me. It's just a habit. Sometimes I get a "I know you" smile from someone and they'll walk away. I just brush it off thinking it was probably someone I knew from a long time ago. Maybe it was from college or maybe from one of the many places I have worked at. Never did I think someone would recognize me from youtube.
I was at a fun shoot at the range over the weekend and a gentleman smiled and came over to me and asked if I was on youtube. I replied that I am and he thanked me for doing the videos about the fun shoots. He wasn't sure if the fun shoots were something he wanted to try so he searched it and found my video. I felt great pride and, at the same time, very humbled by the fact that I was able to connect with someone through youtube. We had great fun and in honor of the first person that recognized me from youtube, he will be in my next fun shoot video. He wanted to stay anonymous so I will honor that.
How does this relate to the wise saying from my Father In Law? The fun shoots are dusty and dry and in these conditions my nose tends to drip. After tearing down the tents and putting the targets and supplies away, I plopped in my truck to take a breather and glanced in the rear view mirror. And there it was...a golden nugget hanging from my nose. Goodness, how long has that been there! All the way home I kept touching my nose making sure I got it all off. Even as I type this, I'm making sure my nose is clean. So...I may no longer be known as the guy from youtube...just the guy with the golden nugget in his nose. I'm shaking my head just thinking about it.
So, if you ever see me around. Please introduce yourself and if I have something hanging from my nose, please tell me so I don't feel so embarrassed later.
Aloha,
J.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Chickens.
Since the garden is doing so well, I've decided to look into raising chickens for eggs and meat. I found the Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery very useful in deciding whether or not raising chickens is what I want to take on. It contains lots of information on care & feeding of chickens as well as different types of birds for meat or eggs.
Just so happens that there is also an article in the local newspaper about the increased interest in backyard chickens for a source of eggs. All the information I needed regarding chickens where I live was right there. According to the article, City & County of Honolulu ordinances only allow 2 chickens per household. At full production, a chicken can lay an egg a day; providing 14 eggs a week. There are some noise ordinances as well, but mostly pertains to the roosters crowing.
While driving to work one day, I asked my son if he would like to have some chickens as pets. I'm hoping he would take to caring for the chickens as his little brother did for the garden we have. He thought a dog or a cat would be a better idea. I then reasoned with him that we could get eggs and meat. He agreed with the eggs, but couldn't get his head around eating the chicken because it would be a pet. I told him he ate chicken at least every week and he liked fried chicken very much. It still didn't sit well with him. When the time comes, I guess I'll have to dispatch the chicken when he's not home.
So I'm off looking at chicken coop plans. There are some really wild and crazy ones, but I'd settle for something simple like this...
Aloha,
J.
Just so happens that there is also an article in the local newspaper about the increased interest in backyard chickens for a source of eggs. All the information I needed regarding chickens where I live was right there. According to the article, City & County of Honolulu ordinances only allow 2 chickens per household. At full production, a chicken can lay an egg a day; providing 14 eggs a week. There are some noise ordinances as well, but mostly pertains to the roosters crowing.
While driving to work one day, I asked my son if he would like to have some chickens as pets. I'm hoping he would take to caring for the chickens as his little brother did for the garden we have. He thought a dog or a cat would be a better idea. I then reasoned with him that we could get eggs and meat. He agreed with the eggs, but couldn't get his head around eating the chicken because it would be a pet. I told him he ate chicken at least every week and he liked fried chicken very much. It still didn't sit well with him. When the time comes, I guess I'll have to dispatch the chicken when he's not home.
So I'm off looking at chicken coop plans. There are some really wild and crazy ones, but I'd settle for something simple like this...
Aloha,
J.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Remembering the Rodney King Riots of 1992.
I can't believe it's been 20 years since the riots. I was still in high school in the So Cal area. Even though we lived far from the riots, it was close enough that it still affected us. Here's some observations I made in retrospect:
1. Don't hesitate to use vacation time. My dad, who worked for the city of LA, decided he wasn't going to work until things blew over. His office was in the middle of downtown LA. Even if he did go to work, he was sure there would be little work done as everyone would be monitoring the radios. Good move Dad.
2. Keep a weeks worth of food at minimum. We weren't preppers, but we did keep a full pantry. Living in So Cal, having a stash of 2 gallon bottles of filtered water was normal. We did not need to make unnecessary trips to the store.
3. Keep your routine. Nothing changed. Friday nights were my nights to cook dinner. Scrabble night was on Sunday. The news stayed on for a night or two, but when the images started to be replayed, my parents decided that we didn't need to watch it 24 hours a day.
4. Guns for protection. I remember images of Korean business owners perched on their rooftops with rifles and shotguns in hand. I remember some stores had "Black Owned" signs. Some of them on burnt store fronts. Whether they were truly black owned or a last minute effort to save the store. Whatever it was, it didn't work. A show of force did.
5. Stay calm. It was a really frightful time. We didn't know how long it was going to last or if it would spread to our area. It helped that my parents stayed calm.
What makes a man what he is today is what happened to him along the way.
Aloha,
J.
1. Don't hesitate to use vacation time. My dad, who worked for the city of LA, decided he wasn't going to work until things blew over. His office was in the middle of downtown LA. Even if he did go to work, he was sure there would be little work done as everyone would be monitoring the radios. Good move Dad.
2. Keep a weeks worth of food at minimum. We weren't preppers, but we did keep a full pantry. Living in So Cal, having a stash of 2 gallon bottles of filtered water was normal. We did not need to make unnecessary trips to the store.
3. Keep your routine. Nothing changed. Friday nights were my nights to cook dinner. Scrabble night was on Sunday. The news stayed on for a night or two, but when the images started to be replayed, my parents decided that we didn't need to watch it 24 hours a day.
4. Guns for protection. I remember images of Korean business owners perched on their rooftops with rifles and shotguns in hand. I remember some stores had "Black Owned" signs. Some of them on burnt store fronts. Whether they were truly black owned or a last minute effort to save the store. Whatever it was, it didn't work. A show of force did.
5. Stay calm. It was a really frightful time. We didn't know how long it was going to last or if it would spread to our area. It helped that my parents stayed calm.
What makes a man what he is today is what happened to him along the way.
Aloha,
J.
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