This is the house in the "Nob Hill" section of Ford Island that John Wayne used in the making of "In Harm's Way." Now there's an abundance of larger houses that he could have chosen but he wanted this small one . . . it made him look bigger.

The Pacific Aviation Museum's F-14, which was suppose to be here in Jan 07, finally arrived aboard the Bonhomme Richard yesterday morning. As is tradition in most navies, the crew is "manning the rail" to pay their respect to those lost aboard the USS Arizona as well as the others lost in the December 7, 1941 attack.

Hidden since the plane's manufacture in the early 1940's, we found this real-life "Rosie the Riveter," named Margie. We haven't been able to make out the writing above her name yet but we're still working on it. These WWII-era utility planes were made from wood and fabric since the metal was being used in more critical items. With all the men off to fight in WWII, much of the burden of manufacturing weapons, vehicles, planes, etc fell to the women, hence the term, "Rosie the Riveter." Now the only question remains, who was this Margie?

One of the projects at the Pacific Aviation Museum is the restoration of a WWII-era Stinson L-5. This particular aircraft was actually stationed on Ford Island in 1945 so there is a relationship between its service and Hawaii. We found a neat little surprise when we stripped the fabric off the wings.

These are WWII-era coffin racks on board the USS Missouri. 24 of them in this little space to be exact. Hope you don't mind a little snoring...

How's this for on-site security. I'm pulling double duty now with the Pearl Harbor Historical Sites. The Battleship Missouri and The Pacific Aviation Museum. I'm a glutton for punishment, what can I say.

Hangar 79 on Ford Island is an old pre-WWII engine repair/replacement hangar. Easily the largest hangar on Ford Island it was also used in the late 60's/70's as the recovery hangar for the Gemini and Apollo space programs after the capsules splashed down in the Pacific at the end of their flights.

I went out into the yard this morning and became transfixed by this swarm of ants dragging the remains of a cockroach (probably done in by a cat), up the side of this brick wall. They dropped it once, about 2 feet to the ground, and had to go get it and start all over. Now I don't know about you but I've never had to work this hard for breakfast...

A pleasant surprise . . . we planted some new orchids in this box a few months back and they bloomed wonderfully. And then yesterday, when I got home, I found this Flame Lily blooming in it. Either a bird dropped a seed or it fell into the orchid mix at the nursery but I don't care.

A break form the red ones...