Random thoughts... And a fish!

    I have had so many different ideas for blog posts over the past few weeks, and I have taken so many different pictures, that I have become overwhelmed!  The best part though, is that as Lizzy is telling me to write while things are fresh in my head, she goes a week and then says,"I need to write a blog post!".  So I'm getting the jump and am going to throw a bunch out in snippets at once.

    Here is a picture of Lizzy performing one of our favorite relaxation/focus activities: The slack line.  This consists of a 1" wide piece of tubular webbing strung between 2 unmovable objects, then tensioned using carabiners  and mechanical advantage.  Takes practice and focus.  Plus fair weather.  Which we've had none till the past few days.

Like I said, I'm catching up on posts, so here is one we should have done a few weeks ago.  I love what a bottle of Hershey's chocolate syrup, the top of our cooking stove, and my girlfriend's wonderful imagination can accomplish!  This is what happens when you can't send a card overnight, but e-mail and digital photos still go through like a champ!

We discovered this amazing cactus crowing out of the side of a sheer rock wall.  Just a crevice was enough for it to take purchase and grow to an amazing size.  On it were these amazing blooms and quite ripe fruit.  Upon a little research, I have discovered that ALL cactus fruit is edible, as well as most leaves.  That being said, we learned the hard way not to just go picking the fruit.  Lemme tell ya, they're COVERED in little spiny hairs that act just like needles, and take forever to get out of your skin.  You think you have them all, then one evening you will be laying in bed, pulling up the covers around your neck, and ouch!  Another cactus fruit hair!  No bueno!

 

Alien Egg

From the mundane, yet colorful and painful, we transition to the alien and weird.  This thing first made it's appearance in one of our garden beds and the egg-shaped thing was filled with a semi-solid clear gel with the funky honeycomb shaped membrane throughout.  Next to it was found the strange object looking like a soccer ball without the panels, just puffy stitching.  And it was small.  About the same size as a tennis ball.  Then, we fast-forward a week or two, and as I'm walking along the driveway, I see nestled in the strawberry patch: Alien Egg!  About the same size as a chicken egg.  Then I realize it has "hatched" and is hollow, save for the honeycomb-esque innards.  My gaze travels about another 6 inches to the right and I see this huge soccer ball without panels sitting next to it.

It Hatched

The cross members are about as thick as a pencil, the overall diameter is that of a small pumpkin.  It's slimy, and on the underside of some of the cross members there is a residue that is reminiscent of baby shit from a four month old eating strained peas.  Although, there is no smell what so ever.  No funk.  No decay.  No mushroom-y smell.  Nothing.  If anyone can tell us what this thing is, it'd be great.  Even though we are fascinated, we're also a  bit disturbed and concerned.  Thanks!

Last, but not least, I want to end this with two pictures from today.  It has been gorgeous this past few days and I took full advantage of it while Lizzy slaved and toiled away in the garden and balancing our finances with the owners.  I went fishing!!!

Sunrise at 7am near Wiarua Point

After catching 2 Red Snapper,

Several Yellow-Fin,

and some great sun...

I caught one of my fears....

A Shark!!!