Back on the res

Since I've come back from Hawaii, I've been decently busy flying.

Last night on the res, the Memorial Day weekend started with a GSW to the chest that we thought we might be transporting. Unfortunately, one of the major side effects of sudden-onset acute lead poisoning is death, and they never made it further than the bed in the clinic. I'm hoping it's not like this all weekend, but we'll see I guess.

Speaking of Hawaii, I have my list of stats. I was there for thirty-six days, during which time I:

-Transported eighteen patients
-Flew a total of about forty-one hours (did a lot of repo's, practice approaches, and mainetnance flights)
-Ate:
--six bowls of loco moco
--four bowls of pho
--thirteen pineapples (just about singlehandedly, the biggest ones I could find)
--about four pounds of poke (most if it being sesame-kukui-marlin)
--about ten pounds of various macadamia nut variations (mostly honey-roasted though)
--about ten pounds of kalua pork
-Bought thirteen bottles of rum (about two-and-six-tenths gallons), though to be fair, I brought two of those home from the Koloa Rum Company - One for drinking, and one for looking pretty (the rest I drank the hell out of).

I have been able to go home a few times this week. Its been nice, seeing all the plants green and growing, especially after this last winter. It reminded us of what attracted us to this property in the first place. The lilacs have pretty much filled in, creating a nice privacy screen.

Hopefully next year they'll be through the fence and hiding it.

The lilacs on the side of the house have been blooming as well, and for some reason are doing even better then the ones in the above picture. I don't know if they need part shade and get it on the west side of the house or what, but then again the sewer line runs not too far from them there...

The smell is awesome.

The rose arbor in the front is coming along nicely as well.

We have no idea what color/kind of roses they are.

Our fruit trees are all starting to produce as well except for the apple tree, as it's still in the flowering stage. However, it's in the declining phase of that stage and I expect to see something resembling an apple fairly soon.

Awwwww, but I want it now!

The apricot tree has become Gary cat's favorite I think; according to Stacey he enjoys running up the tree, and batting and gnawing on the green apricots. If he knocks one down he'll play with it forever, as apparently it's more entertaining than a gopher snake, or hunting down yet another bird (he's gotten three so far I think). I wonder what he'll do when they're ripe - we can totally see him eating them.

The cat-toy tree.

The cherry trees are getting ready to produce an insane amount of cherries. We've been told by those who have been there in recent years that the cherry trees on our property are well known for their capabilities to produce. We've already starting telling people they can just come and pick them if they like.

This many...

...Times that, for three months at least.

The pears are just starting to form. I think by next month we may be seeing the first Bartlet pears coming off the tree.

A few of the pear blossoms turning into pears as we speak.

The garden has also gone a little crazy. The existing asparagus and green onions have gotten a little out of hand. I blame Stacey. And rap music.

This little guy...

Turned into this.

And these...

...Turned into that.

We also have some new and interesting flowers coming up. All the tulips have pretty much completed their cycle, and their absence is noted, but the other flowers springing up are nice in their own right. I'm waiting to see what other flowers pop up, as we don't really know what all is planted around our house. The owners prior to the people we bought it from apparently loved to garden and planted all kinds of stuff around the property.

Including whatever the hell this is.

I'm really hoping the berry bushes survive through next winter too, as I would really love to have some homegrown boysenberries to cook with and such.

I was a little dismayed to come home and find some wind damaged shingles on the roof. I had just replaced about six before I left for Hawaii, and now there's about a dozen more that need replacing. However, we are in the process of getting the roof re-done as it is, so I'll just let them deal with.

We wanted to get a standing-seam, steel roof, but insurance is covering part of it, and we need to get it done before the monsoons start, so we'll be going back with a shingle roof. However, this time the roofers will be installing architectural shingles which should hold up to the wind a lot better. I'm also wondering how extensive the replacement of the old sheathing will be, especially on the backside. Since that's the shady side, it took the heaviest loading from the snow this last winter. In order to avoid that in the future we're going to look into installing some heat ropes to help melt it away.

I should have about fifteen hours at home tomorrow, so I'll get to spend some more time with the family before they have to leave. Plus, they gave us their old lawnmower, so hopefully tomorrow the grass will be cut. Well, lawns I guess I should say, it's like fifty-fifty grass and dandelions right now.