Tuesday May 7, 2024
A little over a week ago, I had ordered some lumber and block and rebar from a building materials supply company in Kona. It was delivered today.
It was the same delivery company, but a different driver. He told me that the other driver no longer worked for them. The company had increased his hours and decreased his pay, so he quit.
The building supply company had called me yesterday and told me that they did not have any 1/2″ rebar – I had ordered 15 pieces twenty foot long – but they could send 5/8″ rebar instead! OK! It will be harder to bend and cut and heavier to handle, but it will make my structure stronger!
The driver unloaded the block and stacked it in the driveway, using his forklift.
Then he unloaded the lumber and rebar and stacked it on the side of the road in front of the walk-in gate.
When he unloaded the 10 bags of cement, I found that they were all wet. In the past, they had covered the cement materials with plastic to keep it dry. This time, they didn’t bother and the truck must have gone through a rain storm on the way from Kona.
He said that he could leave it on the truck and return it, but I decided to have him unload it figuring that I could call and complain, and maybe they would give me a discount. Also, I kind of figured that while the top five bags were wet, the bottom five were probably dry, and even the top ones might possibly be OK because the bags have an inner plastic liner. But, why chance it? He was driving on to Hilo to do another drlivery, and I gave him a can of pepsi for the road!
Then I covered the cement with a tarp.
Wednesday May 8, 2024
I called the lumber company to complain about the wet cement bags. Along with the paperwork for the delivery. I was charged a deposit for 6 pallets at $25 per pallet, but there were only 4 pallets on the truck! The woman I talked with (she said her name was Sunshine) said that I only need to bring back 3 pallets. She told me that the software has a pre-programmed price of $25 per pallet, but they charge a deposit of $50 per pallet, so they double up the number of pallets. I said, “But when I bring in three pallets, you, or some other clerk will refund me $75.” She said, “Oh, no!” We are all on the same page with this!” We shall see!
I told her about the bags of cement that were not covered and got rained on during the trip from Kona, and she put me on hold, obviously to talk with her supervisor about the wet cement bags. After a bit of more discussion, she said that they would send out 10 new bags of cement tomorrow to replace the wet ones and pick up the ones that had gotten wet! Can’t beat that with a stick.
Then I began moving the materials from the side of the road, and stacking it a bit further away. Hopefully, this will make it more difficult for it to disappear.
I started with the rebar. I was right, substituting 5/8″ for the 1/2″ made it heavier to carry.
Next, I moved the top layer of 2 x 6’s and stacked them down by the garden steps. but above the area where the chipper is at.
This got me down to the 4 x 12 x 16 foot long beams. Heavy suckers! I tried to carry one – NO WAY! So, I tried using the wheelbarrow, but with only one wheel, it was top heavy and would tip over to the side. I couldn’t keep it upright.
At this point, I drove into Naalehu to the post office and picked up some screws I had ordered – it was less expensive to order them online and have them delivered to the post office than buy them at the hardware store locally. I also got a solar powered water pump for my fountain.
Then I stopped at the bakery for bread, and a farmers market and fruit stand for vegetables (squash, papayas. tomatoes, bananas).
When I got back to Holowai, I remembered that I had two small 8″ inflated wheels on an axle
Placing this under one end of the beam, and tying it on securely, I then picked up the opposite end and in “wheelbarrow” style, I wheeled it slowly and carefully, down the driveway and to the stack I was creating by the garden steps.
It was slow, but it was effective.
All I had to do was repeat the process, and eventually, I had the beams all moved.
Then I continued with the rest of the lumber and before the day was over, I had them all moved from alongside the road.
I ended the day by sorting through my pictures on a thumbdrive.
Thursday, May 9, 2024
Started off the day by continuing to sort through pictures on a thumbdrive and working on my blog posts.
My composting toilet consists of a wooden box with a toilet seat on top and a 5 gallon bucket inside the box. All of this sits on top of a wood pallet.
The wood pallet had begun to rot and fall apart. The wooden box is wobbly and rotting. I am concerned that one of these times, it will collapse when I sit on it. This seems to be something that will happen sooner than later, so today, I tore it all apart!
I put down a newer pallet and stood up one at the far end of the pallet as a wall, and one on each side, to create a small enclosure with a wooden pallet floor. I fastened this all together with the screws I picked up at the post office yesterday. Then I built a seat/bench across the back from one side to the other and installed the toilet seat in the middle of this seat/bench. I put a couple of braces under the toilet seat and pushed the bucket underneath.
A new and improved composting toilet!
On one side, I built an enclosed shelf large enough to hold four rolls of toilet paper with metal on the top and the back and a sliding door, all to keep the toilet paper out of the rain.
My delivery of the 120 bags of cement to replace the damaged ones arrived.
The driver picked up the original pallet of cement and put it on the truck . I put the tarp over the new cement and tied it in place.
Saturday May 11, 2024
THe four wheel drive in the truck does not function, so I have not driven down the driveway at Ahi. The surface seems to be quite stable and firm, and there are not a lot of loose rocks. There are even a few places where the tall grass has started to grow. I hope that this will hold the gravel in place when I drive on it.
So . . .
I decided to give it a shot today!
Big mistake!
I was able to back down without it sliding, so I thought it would be OK. I thought wrong!
As I tried to drive up the driveway, the front tires sank in and the back tires just spun until they dug holes. I was stuck!
I had purposely waited until a saturday, thinking that my neighbor Brian would be around and I could get him to pull me out with his truck. I have three tow straps that are each about fifteen feet long. I hooked them together and hooked one end to one of the hooks at the front of the truck. Then I walked over to Brian’s and told him my dilemma. He doubted that his truck could pull me out because it is not four wheel drive, but he suggested using his ATV, which IS four wheel drive.
It was a struggle, and we had to do a bit of digging out to give the wheels room to climb out of the holes they were in, We even used a couple of small pieces of fibreboard siding. It took us about an hour, but we finally got the truck up on Ahi road.
It left two deep ruts in the driveway. I guess it is not as firm as I thought!
Afterwards, I climbed on the roof of the bungalow to look at the view of the south coast!
Back at Holowai, it appears that something is eating the sprouts of my vegetables in the garden, so I sprayed them with insect repellant.
TTFN
TropicalCastaway 