Just pictures

    Da Salernoz perform for the kindergarten class
        Alex and I in Waipeo Valley taking a horse break
          The funniest picture of my father in law Mike!
My cousin Ryan Salerno and I really ARE the Bobbsey Twins!
HOW do we capture Alex with such funny expressions?! Fun with tattoo sleeves night.
I needed to raise my hands a little bit higher to get the ultimate sunset beach shot. Oh well!
Kristopher had no idea how close that Beach Donkey was to him! We really are at the beach and not a farm! 

My parents sent me an e-mail with some cute pictures. I thought you might enjoy them! 

Drum Stick

This is not an actual picture of our "volunteer pet" Drumstick, but I figured it would suffice.

I've been meaning to blog about the volunteer unexpected guest on our lot. A lone turkey. Alex named him Drumstick, but he looks more like a Mr. Butterball Foster to me as his official Turkey name. He showed up about a month ago. He roosts in our giant Eucalyptus trees on the lot. I made my friends special air popped popcorn (coat popcorn in a little olive oil and butter and grate parmesan cheese on top!) the other day and I swear Drum Stick could smell it. He came so close to us, almost daring Moki with brotherly competition as to who is deserving of the left over kernels. At dusk when he flies into the trees, he makes a funny gobble gobble sound and hardly camouflages himself with his chubby feather body in a lightly leaved tree. You can clearly see at all times where Drum Stick is sleeping for the night! I was planting trees yesterday and Alex was weed wacking and Drum Stick gingerly walked right in front of Moki. Moki just froze with wide eyes, but once Drum Stick passed him he stood up to get a better smell and Drum Stick angerly gobbled off up the hillside! It was a funny sight. Having Drum Stick as a lot companion has made me really want to seriously think about adopting peacock chicks. Or adopting a baby Nigerian Dwarf goat to keep our weeds down. Or getting dwarf bunnies to feed my compost too! 

Other tid bits of info: I did a native tree count on my watering last night and I counted 109 native trees! 

And for all my Washingtonian friends, Alex and I booked our tickets and we arrive July 28th (Wednesday night) in time for Sea Fair to watch the Blue Angels at my parents house. And we stay until August 17! I'm known for getting my whistle and clip board itinerary out, so let me know if there are any events I need to pencil in! That's a 19 day vacation! (12.5 actual working business days!)

Dahlia Day

                                   Picture of last year's Dahlia's

Oh my Dahlia's! Or as I like to refer them as, my little high maintenance girlfriends! High maintenance? Oh yes. I dug them up in November. Hosed them off. Divided them. Hand dipped every bulb (I'm talking hundreds) in fungicide. Laid them each tenderly in a giant tupperware with shredded paper to keep from molding. And now, 4 months later, I am tenderly awakening these sleeping beauties and I planted almost all of them in the dirt yesterday. But not after churning each bed, adding compost dirt, bone and blood meal, and organic fertilizer. Soon they will need stakes and string to keep them tall and strong. The addition of the acre lot this year allowed me to experiment with a future dahlia farm! My friend Jan gave me about 12 new species of dahlias. My favorites being named "I'm a hottie" and "Touche".  I am experimenting with Mother Nature this season. I tend to plant my dahlias right in the middle of our rainy season. So I waited 2 months later to try skipping this misty time frame. We'll see! I tricked the tubers into a false winter which is why I dug them up. I might need to eventually invest in a bulb chiller. In 3 months I should start seeing blooms! 

The best present ever!!

My best friend Jenna cheered me up incredibly yesterday. Which is what put me in a happy mood where I could smile and celebrate my birthday dinner with Alex! I video chatted with Jenna and opened her presents. If you double click this image, below me (as Bella) and Edward Cullen, you will see Jenna is the vampire on the bottom left, Alex is the middle vampire, and Ran (Jenna's boyfriend) is the vamp on the right. We laughed that Alex makes a very dorky vampire. We can't tell if he's going to bite us or teach us how to use a computer software program. Jenna is incredible on the computer and digital imaging! I live vicariously through her and her awesome job in LA. (Corbis). Thanks Jennaroo! 

I am Twenty Whine

                Birthday photo taken in 2007 hence the long hair!

OK folks, here's the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I try to keep my blog full of sunshine and rainbows, but yesterday, my birthday, the day marking my last year in my 20's, I had a melt down. A full blown state of complete hysteria. Crying on and off from 7am-6pm. Every e-mail I got from a friend wishing me a happy birthday made me cry. I didn't answer my phone all day yesterday because I couldn't answer without sobbing. 

Alex has been volunteering by giving Energy Efficiency Evaluation lectures to low income housing on Saturdays. It's one of the millions of reasons why I love and appreciate Alex. But that meant yesterday I was all by myself on my birthday. We were going to take a trip to Maui, but the lecture was moved to the 18th. I was going to plan a dance party, but with only 4 days notice of the lecture, those plans were cancelled. And I've had my family here for 3 weeks, and they left the day before my birthday. So instead of celebrating I threw myself a "self pity party feeling all alone". Alex came home around 3 and suggested I take a nap and said "Jessie, I think you are completely worn out". And that is EXACTLY what was going on! I'm not really THAT upset turning 29. It's been three weeks of company at our house going non stop full speed ahead. And when they left I was tired, worn out, shell shocked, you name it. 

The nap helped. And afterward, we went to the wine mart and got chilled white whine, cheese and crackers. Then Alex took me to a very nice restaurant for dinner. It ended up being a lovely evening filled with smiles. The waiter brought out a cake with a candle and I said to Alex "Since this is my second birthday cake of the week, I get to make a second wish when I blow out my candle". Alex knows every time I make a wish on a shooting star or candle I wish that all my loved ones are safe, happy, alive, and healthy at this very moment. So I said "Alex I get to make a different wish this time but I won't tell you!" And he smiled nervously and said "Um, I hope your wish has 4 legs or 4 wheels!" All in good time Alex, all in good time.

This week in pictures

        The Salerno Woodbury family on our horses at Waipi'o Valley's look out ridge
 Daddy-O's wanted to see a waterfall so badly on his trip and he finally saw one 2 days before departure!
                 Walking the horses out to the ridge line
In order of appearance: Trainer, Dad, Alex, and Kristopher
      A happy mother in law and son in law in the hammock

Whenever company comes to town I suddenly remember that we live in Hawaii. I have spent two weeks sight seeing and playing tourist with my family. Was the sand always this white and the water always this turquoise?! The weather wasn't always the best during their stay, but we chased the sun as much as we could. Chances are if it's raining in Kona, it's sunny in Waimea, etc. etc. 

And please tell me why we haven't gone horse back riding in Waipi'o Valley before? After 6 years of living here? Alex was on the smallest most dominant alpha horse. I noticed that my horse had a bad attitude as well. Alex's horse walked by me and kicked my horse and then bit him. We were all on male horses. It just reminded me of a bunch of macho dudes who don't get along very well. The trainer came around to me and asked "Is Taro misbehaving?" and I replied "Well, we are working through our differences". 

I had a wonderful visit with my family. Mom and Kristopher are still here for the rest of the week and my mom took some great photos. So stay tuned for more family fun photos!

Rockabye Moki

Monster Quest: The Luck Continues

Blue Pacific Marlin  12 feet long 800 pounds Catch and Release after 2 hours of reeling
                            Photo taken from the underwater camera
                              The lure that caught the Sea Monster!

Blue Pacific Marlin

12 feet long 800 pounds

What happens when you put a boat, a lure, and 4 guys in the ocean!

Merlins aren't good eating fish, so the boys set their fishy free after spending 2 hours taking turns reeling him in! Walt (our friend and owner of the boat) said other than the 920 pound fish he caught, this is the second biggest fish he's seen. Thank you so much Walt for all this fishing opportunity!

Go Fish!

Alex went fishing last weekend and he caught a 70 pound Ono! As you can see, it was almost as tall as he is! As a Seattleite, I am used to the sweet moist taste of Salmon and the buttery flakey white Halibut so it took me awhile to get used to the tougher steakier Hawaiian fish. But Ono is a favorite now. We made ceviche and pancetta wrapped ono all week! 

Blogging will be difficult this week because my parents arrived in Hawaii on Tuesday! Whenever we have company it is so easy to instantly slip into vacation mode. I am already two shades darker and it's only been 48 hours. We spent all day yesterday at Hapuna Beach. And last night Dad and I played music for open mic night at Tako Taco and had a great time.We are scheduled to play again next Thursday. I'll upload pictures and videos. Also on the agenda, Alex is taking my dad fishing this Sunday on our friends boat again. I hope he's as lucky as he was last week!