Introduce yourself

[seasidebob]

Aloha y'all.

I am new to this forum but Cat keeps me updated mostly. I have met a few of you.

I met Cathy 8 years next week. or as she would say 8 long years. Lived in Hawaii almost the same. Love it here. Still haven't taught her how to cook. Although now at least she burns less. oh yah, thats how we met. In a internet cooking club that her friend Sonia (that now writes for the HIJ) needed set up.

Before I moved here from Kansas, I was about to put a snow shovel on my car and drive south until someone asked me what it was.

I lived on Chuk Island when I was young so I wasn't unfamilar with the tropics. Course that was more than 50 years ago. Hawaii wasn't even a state then. When Cathy said she lived in the village of Honomu, I expected a "village" - thatched roofs etc. Who knew it was houses with trailer house windows - Jalousies. The day I arrived there was a cold spell - it was down to 59 in Honomu. Everyone was in long pants and long sleeves. I put on shorts and a Tshirt and they said brah you come crazy?? At that time, pidgeon was still a foriegn language to me.

I've worked in buidling since I was young. Still in HS. I had a GC license in Kansas. I lived in lake country in Missouri for 10 years. My dad worked for the weather bureau so we moved every few years. I built even when I worked at Boeing. Construction paid for my hobbies - like farming 200 acres of wheat ground, and remodeling the farm house that came with it. And computers and tech stuff. But building in Hawaii is a challenge at best. After 8 years, I have come to terms with unavailability of things - like drywall shims. Now I know why - cardboard soaks up water. Also ask my friends Da Banana Boys about my earthquake experience. Their pier blocks were moving and although on a slight incline, I could not figure out where the water was coming from... no braddah, not water, little rocks underneath slipping out and pier moving. Big reason for no cinder and poured in place piers. and Pinned.

I am redneck at heart. I also feed all the stray cats in my neighborhood and try to catch, nueter and release. I have one son in the military - who sometimes isn't bright like when he left Korea last year (on a black hawk base - couldn't been much safer) because he was sick of Korean food to go to Colorado and now maybe on his way to iraq.

I go by Robert or Bob, once in awhile an friend who is older calls me Bobby. That's it. Oh yah and punafarm boy is our neighbor and makes the best guacamole.