The lost people of Fern Forest (Hilo: living, bill, best)

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by mangodog

I think the Hawaiian bird is a honey creeper or Iiwi

The generic term is honeycreeper, and yes, they play a role in pollination of endemic species, but are not significant in food production. There are 31 species known to still survive, but they are all endangered due to the ongoing disappearance of natural habitat. They live nowhere else on earth.

The three most common honeydrippers on the BI are the I'iwi (all red, long curved bill), the Apapane (red body, black wings, short curved bill) and one type of Amakihi (yellow and green, short curved bill.) I am fortunate to have all three types on my property daily, and I'm doing all I can to keep them coming back because I love them. Matter of fact, I'm watching a couple of Apapanes frisking around on a hapu'u tree fern outside my window as I write this. The birdsong and ongoing visual show here is amazing.

That's part of what makes all the PITA aspects of life in Hawai'i worth it for me.

[mangodog]

Anyone doing a google search for "hawaiian honey dripper" will not find anything at all related in any way to a "hawaiian honey creeper". Blame google if you want but they have an outstanding reputation. yeah

Who makes this stuff up ? Shall we make up our own words for stuff when we have no idea what the real word is ? yeah

Like I went to the store to buy a swartzencrullermilson ? because I could not remember that everyone else calls it a roll ? yeah?

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by mangodog

Anyone doing a google search for "hawaiian honey dripper" will not find anything at all related in any way to a "hawaiian honey creeper". Blame google if you want but they have an outstanding reputation. yeah

Who makes this stuff up ? Shall we make up our own words for stuff when we have no idea what the real word is ? yeah

Like I went to the store to buy a swartzencrullermilson ? because I could not remember that everyone else calls it a roll ? yeah?

Honeydrippers = good band (see "silver tongued devils")

Honeycreepers = Hawaiian birds

[Lucywe]

OpenD, Do you know Les C that lives there in Volcano too. Big birder and environmental fan. I have not seen him post on Punaweb in the last couple years though, so not sure if he is still there.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by Lucywe

OpenD, Do you know Les C that lives there in Volcano too. Big birder and environmental fan. I have not seen him post on Punaweb in the last couple years though, so not sure if he is still there.

Haven't met him yet, but with the things I'm involved in, at the rate I'm meeting people here... it's the friendliest place I have ever lived... if he's still around I'm sure I will!

[mangodog]

I can not get over my experience there. Only 5 fruits are grown; coconut, bananas, breadfruit, oranges, lemons, some waxy red delicious apples are imported from California/ Washington state. Of the vegetables; chinese cabbage, squash, bitter melon, one green veggie stem with arrow head leaves, with no flavor, cucumbers. I swear, I could not find anything else. No carrots, onions, avacados, leaks, potatoes, yams, ( they never even heard of these ). Yes canned tuna, spam, treat, vienna sausages, budweiser canned beer, smirnoff vodka and a wide variety of other hard liquors as well as cigarettes. I had wanted to go live in some place cheaper than Hawaii, but finding out you got to be uber rich to import stuff from America, but then why leave America to have imported a healthy variety of foods that the locals do not have and cannot afford to have. You would be an object of envy and scorn if they knew what you were doing. Again they fear and loathe honey bees that would pollinate more varieties of plants...

And wages are $1.30 - $1.60 an hour if you can get work. Unless of course you are a Medical Doctor, Dentist, Lawyer. While gas is $4.20 a gallon. I don't know how they can drive. I did not ask. I met elementary teachers wearing only a pair of shorts in the classroom - who told me they make $360. a month minus 7 percent taxes. Go figure. Many who can flee their nation to work in the US.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by mangodog

I can not get over my experience there.

Apparently not. This is almost identical to your post on January 24. Did you forget?

[haggardhouseelf]

Sorry for buttinskying in here... but my husband has relatives who live in a place like that. Wages are extremely low and jobs scarce, yet cost of living is quite high. You wonder, how the heck does anyone survive there, much less live an enjoyable life?

Generally, what you find is that they have family members living elsewhere who make mainland wages, really good money, who send money home. This is how it is with my husbands family. We also knew people like this when we lived in Texas. Lots of Mexicans in Texas live in run-down horrible cramped conditions together - 8 or 10 to a small apartment. They do this, though, so that they can send money back home to their families living in Mexico.

It's the same for a lot of Islander families. And often - as is the case with my husbands relatives - it's sort of hushed-up. It's not something they broadcast or let outsider's in on. I was married to my husband for years before I found out that was going on with that side of his family. I didn't even know that they had family in the states working to support them back on the islands. (It's kind of a long story, and too personal for the forums, but he doesn't have to send money to his overseas relatives because his immediate family situation was different. These relatives are more like cousins.)

Change of Subject: I have a Dover Press Coloring book that has beautiful Hawaiian illustrations. In this book, it say's the state bird of Hawaii is the nene... the Hawaiian Goose. Funny that it came all the way from Canada. I guess it liked the weather better there! The book also says that the nene is very rare, and that there are only around 800 left in the wild.

I wish the honeybees and the nene geese the best of luck. It's a tricky world out there.

[mangodog]

Haggardhouseelf makes an interesting point. So many families are very dependent on relatives who are able because of their largesse to send funds to help out struggling blood ties. Meanwhile, back in District of Columbia, reports trickle in ( if indeed the news media is giving us the straight dope, ) on a government that has over extended its borrowing capability to some where in the neighborhood of (gasp) 16 Trillion bucks. I find the average U.S. citizen does not even know how many thousands are in a million.

If the bubble were to break (just spend ourselves into oblivion with paper currency, backed by what - sincere promises of ernest appreciation ?) would we have a world some what akin to the end times movie of 2009, The Road, by Cormac McCarthy ? I hope not. Meanwhile tell the Chinese who back up US notes to keep taking our IOUs. Try doing that at Hirono store when you dont have the cash and want them to give you credit. yeah.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by mangodog

If the bubble were to break (just spend ourselves into oblivion with paper currency, backed by what - sincere promises of ernest appreciation ?) would we have a world some what akin to the end times movie of 2009, The Road, by Cormac McCarthy ?

As bad as I've known it was, I didn't know it was this bad... I just ran into a friend of mine who went to a Foreclosure sale in Hilo this morning. He was the only person who attended. And one by one they put up 50 homes for sale without receiving a single bid on any of them.

Buckle your seat belts, kids, it's going to be a bumpy ride!