Upon arriving at the Maui Divers Jewelry, Honolulu, Hawaii, a Hawaiian lady gave us the guided tour starting with a film presentation about the black coral found in the waters around the Islands. Then, there was a live demo showing the step by step how they created jewelry from the local raw materials.

Next, we went to check the selection and creation process of pearls. Jerry helped Nancy to pick up a big, ugly oyster which hopefully contained a pearl. The sales lady said that we did not have to pay if there was no pearl found inside of oyster. Good deal. When the shell was opened, we saw a good size light yellow pearl inside. Wow, it was amazing. The actual creation is the seeding of the oyster so that its potential of developing a pearl is high.

The design and construction of the cedar shoe rack is a little bite different from a cabinet and also from commercial cedar shoe racks as viewed / sold on the Internet. Since the shelves are inserted and glued into a dado joint on the side panels, it requires precise measurement and tools that can cut accurate angles and widths. The shelves are also glued to the front and back panel. The angle of cut goes back to your basic geometry calculations. In this case the builder used a 30/60/90 triangle for ease of measurement and cutting. After construction the wood is stained to the liken of the builder. After the stain is dried /cured, regular furniture polish oil is applied and left to dry.

After careful planning, building, staining etc the shoe rack fits in the place designed for and the color is perfectly matched to the console table.

When doing woodwork, one can never have too many clamps!

Top of the table and shelves are made from oak plywood. Supporting pieces are all solid oak. Legs are a basic hard wood.

Wow, beautiful table with two coats of stain (Colonial Maple) and two coats of polyurethane.

Akaka falls State Park in Hilo, big island of Hawaii is well maintained.  The mountain walking path, a circular paved hiking trail with over 100 stairs, led us through lush tropical vegetation to the Akaka falls, also called Rainbow Fall , 442 feet down to a deep gorge below. When the fall hits the water below, mist creates a colorful rainbow in the sunlight.  What a breathtaking views. We captured the fall, rainbow, and memorable moments.

It looks like this turtle took a liken to our yard.  Our cat discovered this big box turtle from inside of the house and began to get a little upset because it was not able to go out and play with his new found friend.   Finally the turtle decided to go on to greener pastures.

This winter has been very nice in Port St Lucie.  Cold weather lasted only one or two days.  Now, it is 80 degree again during the day.  We were very fortunate on the back yard garden with so many crops like papaya, fig, broccoli and collard green.  Hope the weather continues for the remainder of the winter.

1. Calculated desired length of ramp to 6′ then divided length by 3.5″ for number of pieces required to run down the ramp horizontally.
2.  Bought 15 2″x4″x 8′ treated wood which meant I could have 3 pieces running lengthwise
3. Cut 12 pieces in half to fit the desired overall length of ramp + top and bottom piece
4. Cut 3 pieces to 6′ and angled from shed to ground
5. Secure the frame with the shed using 4″ lag screws  into the 4×4 of shed framing
6. Placed 2″‘x4″x4’ on the frame and secured with 3″ decking screws.
7. Ramp finished to include two coatings of non- skid paint.

Job finished in just over two hrs.  Now I can drive lawn tractor out without setting up removable ramps!

Our guava tree is finally bearing a generous portion of fruit.  It is a challenge picking the ripened guavas before they either become over-ripe or the local animals decide it is dinner time.  We generally pick up 10 -20 guava a day.

We make both guava juice with a high speed blender (Vita-Mix 5000) and with the leftover guava cubes (frozen), for future use.

Health benefits of guava:
http://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/fruit/health-benefits-of-guava.html
http://www.stylecraze.com/articles/amazing-benefits-of-guava-for-skin-hair-and-health/

A recent hatchling River Cooter apparently liked our driveway during the heavy rains in south Florida.  The size of the turtle is close to one inch long.   This hatchling was a little camera shy but eventually got the courage to try for an escape to the wild.  We made certain it was safe under our banana plants.  More information the river Cooter:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_cooter

http://turtle_tails.tripod.com/turtle/turtlepage.htm