Project Pacific Islander

 7/1/2022 - July 1, wow, where has the time gone. I am sitting here just catching up on the blog from Carabao brewing. The fresh brew on tap is a black IPA, super yummy. We have lots of excitement coming in the next few days, our friends Gretchen and Eric are coming to visit. Very much looking forward to them joining us for the next week, through the July 4th holiday. Cheers, and happy Friday to you all. 

6/30/2022 - Food truck night at the Plaza de Espana. Joan has talked about this event ever since I got to Guam, Thursday nights food trucks come into Hagatna. Its nice to see people out and about again, while I recognize we still are under a pandemic watch, this is a little piece of normalcy.  Joan and I had a shwarma sandwich from one of the vendors. It wasn't quite what we were expecting, more of a tortilla with seasoned ground beef and lettuce. We are missing the great middle eastern food back home in Michigan.  Another gorgeous night on Guam. I still can't get over how gorgeous that sky is.   

6/28/2022 - Another one of those quick stops in a new place, Guams Multicultural Center. The governor's complex sits on this man made piece of land right next to the capital city of Hagatna. What interested me was this big latte stone that sits just next to the building, it is the largest one around. Image 3 has a black sign describing the commissioning of this large stone, like the statue of liberty, the local students made the first payment of this landmark through donations. The stone is meant to be a welcoming site to all that visit the island.  Lots of history here as well, another japanese peace site along with a shrine. Also, canons left behind from the time of Spanish occupation. This site really pulls in many of the cultural aspects of Guam. 

6/27/2022 - Quite the juxtaposition, the Japanese South Pacific peace memorial relative to the  Chaqui'an Massacre Site. Joan and I have discussed this quite a bit, its quite something on this island that there is a memorial to the Japanese soldiers, who were seen as the evil enemy in WWII. In two or three generations the people of Guam have come so far in their recognition of the war time events on both sides of the fence.  The memorial is location just outside of Yigo, pronounced Gee-Go, not too far from where I volunteer at the animal shelter. What struck me as I entered this space was just how tranquil and peaceful it is. There were birds that could be heard, and a light rain was just beginning to fall. There are two main portions of the memorial, the first is this white tower as you see in image 1, a tribute to all the japanese soldiers lost during the war, it is also a holder of unidentified remains from the battle on Guam. The second area is a Buddhist temple that doubles as

 6/26/2022 - A little something that I have been reading on and off during our time on Guam. Its post worthy, as I am one that rarely finishes a book. I can't tell you how many I pick up, get about half way, and then something else comes along. My creative brain struggles to sit still long enough to absorb the ink on those white pages. Much more like my grandfather who enjoyed newspapers, magazines, and the evening news I have become.  Power Play was a book I overheard being recommended during my last few weeks at work before I left for sabbatical. A quick amazon order and it was on its way without much more thought, at least a goal maybe for this trip. Its taken me the better part of 4 months, but I will say this one was an enjoyable read. The story of Tesla starts with a small group of highly motivated and talented engineers and an investor that was willing to throw money their way. That's Elon Musk just btw. Through many trials, tribulations, and coming so close to failure t

  6/25/2022 - Another Saturday and another bike ride on the island. I love this photo of Joan doing the Usain Bolt gesture of we can do this. I have posted about this ride a number of times, partly because the island is so small and we ride a lot, and partly because of just how impressed I am of us getting faster and better at these hills. My Apple Watch is back up in running after my parents Brought me a new cord, I left my other one in Palau, whoops. So, I have data again, this ride consists of a max climb of 700 ft, and a total elevation gain of 3000ft. That first peak is Mt. Lamb Lamb, and the second set of peaks is coming back over cross island drive. I always ask, WHY?, as we go up the second peak and then all the way back down to sea level, just before going right back up to where we first climbed. Its really all mental, but none the less a tough thing to swallow.  Our Average speed is up majorly from the first time we did this, I think it was 4 hours , and we are wont to 3:30 f

  6/24/2022 - Another great week with the pups at Gain. I upped my hours this week, so now going in 3 days a week. Ive been impressed with the turnover of the dogs, more so this week than other weeks. Continuing to learn about the operations, many of the dogs go onto a foster family as spots are available. The great news there is the fosters are all over the island which prompts more visibility to each animal through friends, coworkers, etc for finding their new home.  Vespa is the first dog shown in this post. She went quick to a foster home, Joan and I would have been in trouble otherwise. She was very sweet, loved to play, and loved being around me. The next two are Axel and Rose, I believe in past posts I have talked about them. Axel is also a favorite, these two are very energetic. They likely will have to go together, great companionship between the two. Lastly, what I call my problem child, poor Vitesse, I was lucky to get this picture as she is not a fan of being close to me. S

6/23/2022 - Per previous posts I had discussed some of the geology of Guam, where we get our water, and the tallest mountain in the world. More digging resulted in finding some awesome graphics and further explanation of the geology on Guam. My science brain really enjoyed image two, showing all the different types of rock and how these layers developed over time. To the south west you see so much interaction of colors, which is spot on for how mountainous the terrain is in that area. This is fairly recent work too, first iteration in 1964 of the map, and updated in 2008.  If interested, I encourage all our readers to take a look at the links below. The last two have arcgis data showing tons of information ranging from geology to population density.   http://www.weriguam.org/locally-sponsored-research/guam-hydrologic-survey/page/general-geology-and-stratigraphy-of-guam/ http://north.hydroguam.net/geology-overview.php https://south.hydroguam.net/index.php

 6/22/2022 - This was another new site I found while driving around this week. The Chagui'an Massacre Site sits about a mile from our tiny house, tucked away between a few privately owned pieces of land. You wouldn't know it was there unless you saw the signage in these back roads. The story like many of those from WWII is quite sad. As the US pushed inland from Asan and Agat beaches in 1944 the Chamorro people were either let go from their concentration camps as the Japanese fled, or were tortured and killed. The later occurred here on this site, 20 Chamorro men were found slain at this very location. One more of those really difficult to swallow visuals of a time that was very tumultuous here on Guam and the world.  The site today was quite calm and peaceful with exception of a tied up cow at the entrance, the first image. I found on the way in, no problem with getting past this creature, but on the way out he had enough rope in tension to block off the road. The peace had to

  6/22/2022 - I cant believe this hasn't been a blog post yet. The Gecko is a very prevalent creature on the grounds of our tiny house. All over Guam actually. Ever since day one, we have had a few of these geckos that like to "live in" with us.  Joan prior to my arrival thought there was just one gecko that would like to be inside the tiny house. She named it Phoebe. There were many fun emails back to me written about Phoebe, and how there was some uncertainty about if there was one, or multiple, or if they were multiplying! My first few weeks I didnt see one of these Geckos, and for a good while I was giving Joan a tough time about how maybe Phoebe is a figment of your imagination. Which is totally ok, you have been alone in the tiny house on Guam for 6 months. I too would need some excitement.  After giving her lots of undeserved grief, one morning I walked into the bathroom and to my surprise there was Phoebe. She likes to scale the walls up high where its warm and sh

6/20/2022 - A new found spot, Guams Emerald Valley. I haven't found any information on why this cut lagoon was created, it is very pretty though. Located just off of the harbor next to the Piti Power plant, Emerald Valley is a hidden Gem to check out.  Im not sure this is a good spot for snorkeling, I could see where tides might be strong with its connection to the ocean. In addition walking on along the built up wall, it was easy to see what looked to be water snakes. (image 3) This creeped me out, and with no easy rocks to grab, I turned back pretty quick. Upon more research though, there are no known water snakes on Guam, these are a sea cucumber that has adapted to look like a snake as a protection mechanism. It fooled me!  The closest thing to what I saw is what is called Synapta Maculata, or snake sea cucumber. Link Below:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synapta_maculata Always something new to learn on the island.

Sunrise and Sunset data from timeanddate.com Great link below for this image : Richhoffmanclass.com 6/19/2022 - Continuing on the astrophysics theme for today. I heard on the radio, npr all things considered, that Guam is a very unique place in the world as it relates to longest days of the year. Guam has 12 longest days of the year, all within 15 secs of length of each other.  Putting on my Michigan or Iowa hat, correct Iowa State hat (Don't get the wrong idea), I know that the longest day of the year is on June 21st, the start of summer. So what makes Guam unique?  Similar to yesterday, it has to do with the location on the planet between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. Each tropical line indicates the highest or lowest point in which the sun is closest to the earth, and due to earths tilt, this point shifts throughout the year. As the earth rotates, this closest point either rises or falls depending on the relation. Guam being just below the Tropic of Cancer, m

5/18/2022 - I am doing double posting to catch up from Mom and Dad visiting. Please look back in posts if you are interested in reading more about their trip here. We will continue back in a more daily cadence starting with this post.  Mom and Dad visiting gave Joan and I a chance to see so many new things in new ways. Tides were one of these items that came up over and over as we spent days at the beach. At this point in time low tide occurs around 4pm in the afternoon, and with low tide came this unusual site of seeing Tumon bay have little islands of coral that were visible. The first image may be a little difficult to see, but the dark brown color near the horizon line is the edge of the protective reef, all of which is above water. Strange because we have never seen the tide this low on Guam leading to the question why are we seeing this occur now? Tides are not something I ever worked to understand or even question as my time living next to a large body of water has been relative

  6/10/2022 - I don't think I have said it enough yet, its great to have my parents here, already feeling like the time is going too fast. We started with breakfast out on the patio. Fresh Guam fruits, dragonfruit, oranges and mangos, coffee, and for those capable of eating it there was fresh avocado. The patio is becoming the main place of sitting, watching the sunrise, the sunset and anything that goes by in the water is fun. This condo does bring a lot of creature comfort's we haven't had in a while.  Today had two goals, one visit the tiny house, and two head to the beach for a true Guam experience. Showing mom and dad the tiny house went a lot smoother than I thought. Its a very small place as we have talked about before, and while we love it, it does leave some things to be desired. Much to our surprise Mom and Dad were impressed with the place. Plenty of great fresh fruit growing, they met Otter and Digo and just got a sense of what a day in the life of tiny home liv