We got up this morning and began with, “Happy Anniversary to us!”

Ten years ago, I asked John Pritchett to do up a drawing for our anniversary, and he accurately accounted for our cats at the time as well as ourselves. Click here to take that step back in time, which still is a pretty accurate picture!

Here’s a tidbit passed along by former Honolulu Weekly editor Chris Haire, now managing editor of the Charleston City Paper in Charleston, South Carolina.

It seems that a survey of 749 North Carolina residents found that “5% don’t believe Hawaii is a state and that 3% are unsure.”

This drew a comment about the status of the “birther” conspiracy theory:

But now the entire federal government is clearly exposed (to 5% of North Carolinians, at least) as a player in the greatest charade in American history: to produce not only false documents but an entire imaginary STATE for the great impostor to pretend to have been born in. Of course, that does hurt Sarah Palin’s resume as well… governor of some Yukon outpost that is part of Russia? That just ain’t American.

Let’s see. Senator Fred Hemmings was inducted into the Surfing Walk of Fame in a ceremony scheduled “in front of Jack’s Surfboards” in Huntington Beach, CA.

And in a related bit of news, Brad Parsons noted earlier this week: “On Surf Stories on KKCR, Republican Senator Hemmings just announced he is not running for reelection.”

Another GOP seat in the legislature now up for grabs.

Former Star-Bulletin webmaster Blaine Fergerstrom sent over this snapshot of a display in the newly restored Bishop Museum Hawaiian Hall that includes two of my photographs.

The two photos shown in the top-right in this picture are from my collection. One shows George Helm performing at a large rally at Iolani Palace, and the second shows Emmett Aluli and Steve Morse at a 1977 sovereignty rally posting the text of what was then a brand-new composition by Liko Martin, who later performed the new anthem.

Click for a larger version of the photo.

We took Friday off as a lead-in to the weekend that is bookended by our anniversary (today) and my birthday (Monday).

And what did we do with our day of “freedom”? Well, the first several stops were made in search of a new set of cat litter boxes. Yup, we’re trying to deal with fussy cats who have expressed themselves through litter disobedience. I thought a clean sweep–new boxes and fresh litter–might make a difference. But the litter boxes at VCA were too expensive, and Long’s didn’t have enough. So we made a third stop at Pet’s Discount in front of Ala Moana Center to round out the set. Then it was a stop at Antique Alley, followed by a run through the crowds at Costco to make use of a rebate check that expires at the end of the month.

Then came a surprise phone call from former islander Karen Waygood, who turns out to be finishing up a 10-day visit and was calling from the 7-11 just up the road in Hauula and heading our way after swimming and diving on the North Shore, so we invited her to stop by for a glass of wine.

That led to an impromptu raid on the freezer for dinner, which turned out to be simple, chicken and rice with sides of fried banana and green peas. Not bad for a “what do we have in the freezer?” moment.