Our friends from DC stayed with us while on their honeymoon. First they were pool slugs at the Hilton and then they stayed with us and went all over the island in about a week. They put in long days and totally enjoyed hiking to the lava several times. John also helped Todd with our first significant coffee pick of about 80 pounds. We took John and Loretta to Makalwena beach, Two Step, Ke'ei Cafe, Senior Billy's, basically all our favorite places. We also had a couple and their son from Washington state. She was a vet and thought Louie was well behaved for a puppy. He can put on such a good act. He is a good boy, but he did eat Loretta's flip flops. They were from the mainland. He usually only gets two dollar locals slippers from Walmart to eat. They must have been too good to resist. Most importantly, my parents arrived this month. They arrived on a Sunday and I was able to work half days for the first week they were here. They picked coffee with Todd most every morning. My mom is a very picky coffee picker. We need to get better free help. She only wants nice trees with lots of cherry and the tree can't be too tall and the tree can't be too far from everyone else, etc. Dad just picks, no complaints. We had a cookout at the Place of Refuge and it was the best sunset of their stay. The horizon was perfectly clear and we had a green flash. We went to Ke'ei Beach a few times. We spent Labor Day at Puako beach and it was beautiful. The weather was great, the water was warm and it was a great day. Mom and I went to the Kona International Market. I was never there before and it was really nice. We also shopped in Kainaliu. I even took Mom to belly dancing class twice. She really enjoyed it once she stopped worrying about how she looked. The class is lots of fun and the hour goes by so quickly. Dad did lots of jobs around the farm and house. He fixed my oven, my desk, my blender. He and Todd worked on fixing Suzie and also hooked up a sprayer to her. Unfortunately, my project for work was going into production on September 10, the day they were leaving, so I had to work full days the second week and on the weekend. I couldn't even go to the airport to see them off, but that was ok. It was way too sad last year. This was better, quick like removing a band-aid.

     Louie is on his way to a full recovery from puppy mange. His hair is no longer falling out and it is growing back. He seems to enjoy his Smart Puppy food, but I am not sure he is any smarter. Buddy is doing well and enjoys playing with Louie when he can manage to stay awake. The day we went to Puako, we didn't take the dogs since they are not allowed at that beach. When we drove up to the gate, the dogs were waiting for us. Louie was sitting there with a small piece of his collar and his dog tag hanging out of his mouth. I thought he had swallowed his collar. Actually, Buddy had chewed the collar off of Louie. It was nice of Louie to keep hold of his dog tag for us.

     As I mentioned early, coffee picking is in full swing this month. Todd is picking, processing, drying, hulling and roasting. We have sent out some of our first orders. Todd finally roasted our peaberry. It took forever to get enough to roast. I thought it tasted good, but I am not enough of a coffee drinker to really notice a difference between it and our regular Kona. In fact, I prefer tea, but don't tell anyone.

     We have been getting our afternoon rains and sunny mornings, so everything is growing like crazy. Todd works hard to keep up with the grass. Since coffee is also ripening, he is very busy. We went to a coffee council seminar on weeds and pests. They said to bring samples for identification, so I did. I think I had the most weeds of anyone there. It was helpful and very cool to see a large coffee operation. They have around 90 acres I think. The pulper is built up the side of the mountain and it is quite a walk up several flights of steps to the top. The next day my legs were sore from the walk.

     Happy 40th Anniversary to my parents. We also offically joined the church that we attend. We had to go to a few hour class on a Saturday to learn how to be church members. We also went to the church picnic the next day. A couple held it at their very cool house. The house used to belong to the Beach Boys. They said they had veggie burgers, but what they meant was turkey burgers. What is it with Hawaiians thinking that being vegetarian just means you don't eat dead cows?? No biggie, I ate extra desserts.