Sunday, April 28, 2024
It is raining when I get up and go outside of the shed. . . a light misting kind of rain.
In spite of the sprinkling rain, the first thing I do is to put the solar panels on the roof of the shed and hook them up to the controller and the batteries.
After breakfast, I sit in the gazebo and write letters and postcards.
Around 10AM, the rain lets up a bit so I plant a bunch of tomato seeds in the wooden planter where I had the tomato before, some onion, carrot and radish seeds in the other wooden planter, and some rock mellon (cantaloupe), squash, radish, turnips, and lettuce seeds in the tire garden.
Using my small hand clippers, I cut out the weeds from around the tire garden.
I walk over to Ahi and plant some rock mellon (cantaloupe) seeds in one of the tiered gardens on the front hill side. Then I dug out more rocks and dirt to create another planter area in the corner of the frontslope and the driveway and planted a mango tree I bought from a nursery on Kamaoa Road yesterday. It is a raposa Mango – whatever type that is.
I returned to Holowai, clearing out the little ditches I had created along the side of Palaoa Road to drain a couple of areas where the water puddles during the rain. The property at one of these larger puddles slopes away from the road on one side, but there is a slight berm on the side of the road. So, the last time I was here, I used my pick to cut a couple of ditches through the berm to drain the puddle. Today, I cleaned out and widened these little ditches.
At Holowai, I dug out the rocks from an area about 10 feet away from the house foundation. I plan on building a bathroom here similar to what I have started at Ahi. I can drain this right into the septic tank.
I used the rocks to build rock walls between the block walls and the center columns of the house along the side closest to the road. Then I used the dirt from this area and backfilled behind this rock wall. This rock wall will be the wall of the lower level of the house.
Monday April 29, 2024
Moved more rock and dirt from the bathroom excavation area.
Went into Naalehui to post office to mail letters and postcards
Stopped at transfer station and filled up a bunch of water bottles.
Later, I went back into Naalehu for a single stick of butter. I didn’t know that I could buy just a single stick ($1.79). I thought you had to buy the entire package of four sticks! I guess anything is possible in a small town market!
Tuesday, April 30, 2024
Each day, I have been putting crumbled up crackers in the bird feeder, and they have been gone when I returned to the gazebo, so I know that something is coming and eating them. I think it is the feral cats, because I haven’t seen any birds around the gazebo or at the feeder! I have seen two black cats. One looks older and is more gray . I can’t wait until the cat trap I have ordered arrives so I can relocate them!
This morning, my old friend, a northern Red Cardinal with ruffled feathers and a scruffy look came in and grabbed a few bites. I call him “Animal” after the drummer on the Muppets!
Yesterday, there was a bit of sunshine, and it started to dry out the soil in my tire gardens – so, I watered them. I also had a half a bag of steer manure, so I sprinkled a few handfuls on each garden. As I did so, it looked like my turnips and my lettuce has sprouted. Wahoo!
I walked over to Ahi and watered everything there –
the breadfruit tree,
the citrus seedlings, the new mango tree,
the macadamia nut tree
and the papayas on the front hill. I also dug out a few more rocks and stacked them on the wall I am building next to the driveway to contain the gravel.
I took a bucketful of dirt/mulch/leaves and added it to the papaya and poinciana I had planted on the Hilo side of the driveway. I took some rocks and built a well around them to help contain the water rather than just let it run off.
When I got back to Holowai, it was around 1 pm and the clouds had rolled in. It started to rain. Just a sprinkle, but nonetheless, rain! The rain continued throughout the afternoon. I spent the day under the gazebo.
Two of my kitchen totes containing my kitchen stuff did not have the lids on tightly while I was on the mainland. One of them had water get into it and it was a stinky mess. This tote had some self-contained waterproof items along with two boxes of saltine crackers. the cardboard boxes were soft and squishy, but the individually wrapped packets of crackers were dry. Nonetheless, it is now just birdfood. I took everything out of the tote, washed it all and dried it before putting it back in – making sure the lid was on tight!
The other tote held mainly canned goods along with four small plastic bags of instant mashed potatoes.
Apparently, I did not snap the lid down tight, and a mouse had gotten into the tote and chewed holes in all four of the mashed potatoes bags. There were potato flakes and mouse droppings all over everything! YUCK!!!
I heated some water. Lots of it! Very hot – boiling hot! Adding dish detergent, I washed each can thoroughly along with the inside of the tote. I let it all dry and then reloaded the tote! I need more mashed potatoes!
After dinner, spam, canned corn, and pineapple, I was sitting in the gazebo watching the sunlight fade away when two of the green, yellow and orange birds flew down to the feeder. Then came a bright red Northern Cardinal! They know I’m back!
TTFN
TropicalCastaway 