Here we go again with WordPress. I just spent 15 minutes trying to publish some Hawaii pictures, and WordPress promptly took my effort and coughed up a hairball. Arrgh. Second try…

I realized I haven’t published many pictures of the recent Hawaii trip. So here are a few that I like.

First, one of many epic sunsets from the western side of The Big Island.

Next, a pack of green sea turtles lollygagging on a black sand beach.

And from the eastern side of the island near Hilo, a nice shot of Rainbow Falls via the 50-230mm zoom lens.

Finally, a Mars-scape atop Mauna Kea with lots of astronomical toys. The pictures don’t do justice to the extreme weirdness of that place.

It was a good trip for photos; I got a lot of great shots. Still sorting through them.

Miracle of miracles, it rained in Socal last night. Unfortunately, it was a classic Socal rain, not a rambunctious Kentucky rain.

We got 0.01 inches of “rain” last night, the first moisture in months. That’s right, one-hundredth of one inch. Kind of a hint of a promise of water, a thin mist. That brings our annual rainfall total to 6.91 inches, when our long-term average is about 15.5 inches. Our rainfall calendar ends on June 30, so 6.91 is where we’re going to end up. This has been a DRY year, one of the worst since we’ve lived in Fallbrook. This does not bode well for the late summer and early fall, our traditional wildfire season. Most likely we won’t see any more precipitation until November-ish, so the landscape here will go from dry to drier. Stay tuned.