For the past week, I have been sorting through everything and separating what I want to take back with me to Arizona on the 17th – if not physically, at least mentally. The main things will be my journal, and the dirty sheets and pillowcases from the bed.
Today, I poured the 5th section of concrete between the columns at the Ahi gazebo. The 6th section still has some large rocks protruding above the surface of the new concrete, so I will need to find some way to remove them – a hammer and chisel? a large prybar? a jackhammer?
I also hauled more of the sand and gravel from the pile in the driveway. I have been stockpiling it at the base of the driveway for use in mixing concrete later. I have left only about 4 or 5 wheelbarrow loads at the top of the driveway. This clears the driveway so I can now back the car down. It does not slide quite as much going down, but the loose fill makes it want to sink in and lose traction. With all-wheel drive, it is still do-able though!
After spending a few days on Maui, I did not see my bird friends I call Bert and Ernie for a few days. They have returned to coming to the feeder.
Other birds are also coming in to grab a bite to eat.
I also saw a pair of different lizards – different than geckos, and Jackson Chameleons – out in the driveway at Holowai on the pile of lumber and pallets.
By researching on-line, I find that these are Green Anole lizards.
They apparently are territorial, and these two do not seem to be getting along.
This morning, I went down to the ocean to watch the waves.
The tide was in and the waves were crashing against the lava.
The water even was flowing over the initial lava at the shore into an area that typically has very little water.
My wading pool was full and overflowing into the overflow pool
The swimming pool was engulfed and unrecognizable due to the churning water filling it above it’s normal level.
After returning to the property, I poured more concrete in the forms I had set up yesterday,
Then I dug into the pile of branches/stumps/rocks/debris at the side of the gazebo. I hauled the large branches and logs up to the side of the driveway.
I set up the forms between the columns of the gazebo for two more sections to be poured with concrete.
I poured one section and needed more sand and water, so I did a sand/water run into town. When I returned, I had the materials for another section, maybe tomorrow This makes three of the six necessary sections are completed.
I also worked some more on moving the pile of delivered gravel and leveling the driveway.
Set up the forms between two of the gazebo columns at Ahi for another concrete pour.
Using the generator to produce electricity for the electric cement mixer is much easier than mixing it in the wheelbarrow. After pouring the concrete in this formed area under the gazebo, I worked on creating steps into the shower.
I hauled some sand and gravel from my pile in the driveway to spread out and create a flat base for the shower floor. Then, at the entrance to the shower, I built a small rock wall about 7 or 8″ tall between the rock columns. I backfilled behind this wall and leveled the area above and behind the rock wall. About 16″ behind this rock wall, I built another. Backfilling and leveling, I repeated this to create yet another small rock wall. I now have three tiers creating steps into the shower.
These will be the base for concrete steps – each step overhanging the rock wall by about 3 – 4″. I plan on pouring a concrete floor in the shower, but have not decided on a pattern yet, or if I will install a drain, or let the water just flow over the edge.
I spent the day shoveling, raking, and hauling a 15 ton delivery of sand and rock at the top of the Ahi lot that came yesterday. By no means, am I finished. I made a big dent in the pile, but it will take more work to distribute this pile to where I want it. The driveway is quite steep – my all wheel drive Ford Escape handles it nicely (except where it is lose gravel) but it would be much better if it were not so steep. I have been adding the branches and shrubs I have cleared on the property to the bottom portion to raise it up and lessen the slope. Then I cover it with this material.
It would be much quicker to have someone with a tractor - something like a bobcat – move this, but I never do anything the easy way. Especially when it comes to saving a few hundred dollars.
I put the last piece of roofing on the gazebo roof – I should say that I “placed” it there, because I have no more tar to glue it down with. I will have to depend on boards I will lay on it to hold it in place until I can get some more tar.
I stripped the forms off the “seat” I poured in the shower.
Since I have used all the sand and gravel that I have in mixing my concrete, and I want to raise the level of the driveway to lessen the slope, I ordered another truck load of 2 1/2″ minus sand and gravel mixture. This means that it will contain anything that will pass through a screen with 2 1/2″ holes. I hung around the Ahi lot all afternoon waiting for the delivery. It came around 4 PM. I had him dump it at the top of the driveway.
Because the driveway is so steep, I did not want to risk getting the truck stuck at the bottom. For the next hour and a half, I shoveled and raked sand and gravel down the slope of the driveway.
Poured concrete in the forms for a seat/shelf in the shower at Ahi. I used the rebar that I picked up in Hilo as reinforcement as well as some garden fencing.
I also poured the first two sections of concrete for the floor under the gazebo.
Raining this morning. Left to go to Hilo about 1 pm after hanging around in the gazebo hoping the rain would quit.
The main reason for the trip to Hilo was to go to the cell phone carrier store to have them re-install my phone number on my (new to me) phone I purchased on Maui.
When I was on Maui, I had done this when I purchased the phone. They could not access my data because the SIM card was so badly damaged from being in the ocean. I had to buy a new SIM card. They were able to load my phone number on the card, but that was all. They told me that I had to call Apple Support and have them download my info from the cloud.
I called Apple Support and went through the obligatory computer generated nonsense about different languages, and different options for many different issues; all just to waste time so that you didn’t include this time with the further wait time until you actually spoke to a live human being who might be able to help you. When I finally got a human, they told me that I needed to go to their website and sign into my account. I did not remember my user id from when I set up the Apple account five or more years ago, and the password was anyone’s guess! The Apple Support technician told me that after I had created my new account with a new password they could transfer my info from the old account to the new one, but I would have to wait 9 days so that they could be sure that this was not a fraudulent scam. 9 days? What is magical about 9 days? Well, I decided to do this when I returned to the Big Island, hoping that maybe I could do some research and maybe come up with the old userid and password. Well, I was able to find this information in my little black book of passwords. The userid worked, but the password did not. I had three different passwords as I had changed it at least three times and I did not know which was the latest. Apparently, none of them were correct, so even though I had the userid, I still needed to change the password. So, I tried to change the password and the website said I still needed to wait 9 days, or I could call Apple Support and answer the “security questions” . So I did that. As part of this process, the tech from Apple support told me that I needed to erase all the programming from my phone before he could download the nes password and my old info. He told me that I would have to shut off the phone after erasing the programming, then wait 3 to 5 minutes and turn it back on. Then he would call me back and assist me in downloading everything from the cloud.
It wasn’t until after I had done this, that I realized that there was no way he could call me back. My phone had no programming . . . including any phone number!
I was back to where I was when I first got the phone on Maui! I knew that I needed to have someone with more knowledge do this for me, and I found that type of individual at the store for my service provider. So, I decided to go to Hilo. When I get to Hilo, I find that my phone service provider store is closed for remodeling, has been for three months, and there is no indication of when it will reopen – if ever! So, I go to the store of a competitor. Within five minutes of my arrival, the sales guy at the competitor service provider has restored my phone number to my phone along with the basic programming.
So, I went to the lumber store, to the grocery store, got gas, and picked up some pallets at the back of the auto parts store. I also went to a plant nursery and got two Norfolk Pine trees, an Ulu tree (breadfruit), two macadamian nut trees, and a hibiscus. Then it was back to Naalehu .
While we were here on Maui, I had picked up two boogie boards, and two beach chairs – along with 8 to 12 baggies of sand from the various beaches we had visited. I wanted to take these all back to Hawaii island with me, so, I needed a checked bag, as I didn’t think the airline would let me carry this all onto the plane. I put the baggies of sand in the pockets attached to the two beach chairs – each chair had a couple of zippered pockets. Then I sandwiched these two chairs around the two boogie boards and tied it all together with about 20 feet of 1/4″ rope. The agent at the check-in counter said, “I don’t think this is totally legit, but if you walk away real quick before my supervisor comes past, we won’t have any choice but to send it through.” So, I did just that.
When I arrived in Kona, there was a slip of paper in one of the zippered pockets of one of the chairs from the TSA telling me that they had inspected the contents, but all the sand was there – success!
I caught the early afternoon bus to the south end of the island and arrived in Waiohinu around 4:30PM. I had texted my neighbor asking for a ride, but he had npt responded, so I stashed the beach chair/boogie board “sandwich” and my carryon roller bag behind a rock wall in some tall grass, put my backpack on my back, and proceeded to walk up the hill. A little more than an hour later, I arrived at the property on Holowai Street. I put my back pack under the gazebo and got in the car and drove down towards town to retrieve my luggage.
Even when only traveling about a hundred miles away, it still takes all day!
The unit we are staying in at the resort has a washing machine and a dryer, so we took advantage of this and did a load of clothes. I wish I had brought more of my clothes from the Big Island so I could wash them a bit better. So it goes!
The architect I have been working with responded with a price to provide plans for this simpler design – basically a rectangular plywood box. His price is the same as he charged me for the more complicated plan – $4,500.00, so I contacted a different architect and asked him to work me up a price.
The resort is holding a class on how to make a lei,
so we went to the pool area and each made a lei with purple plumeria flowers.
Then we decorated a sun visor.
Now it is time for the beach.
We drove south on Kihei Road towards Makena Beach but ended up stopping at Palauea Beach to spend the day sitting on the sand, soaking up the sun and watching the waves. Right at the shoreline, the waves kind of dumped onto the sand abruptly, making a rather sudden and immediate entry into the water when we went in, but once we were past the first 10 feet or so, it smothed out.
I need to backtrack a bit here, to lead up to how we spent the afternoon. On Sunday, (or maybe it was Monday, I lose track of the days if I don’t immediately write it down) we went back up to DT Fleming Beach near Kanapali, past Lahaina. We had picked up a boogie board from a thrift store and we thought that DT Fleming had a shore break that was good tor boogie boarding/bodysurfing. After we parked, I saw another boogie board leaning against the trash can – someone must have decided it wasn’t worth the hassle to take it home with them, so they just left it. Actually, it was busted – right across the middle – but it is still functional to catch a few waves. So, that is what we did for an hour or so, before going up to sit on the sand and eat the lunch we had brought. That is when I realized that I had my cell phone in the pocket of my swimming trunks! - DAMN !!! When we got back to the timeshare unit, we tried putting it into some rice, but that didn’t work.
It must have been Sunday when we went to DT Fleming Beach, because Monday was spent on line trying to find a replacement phone. We did find one from a boy for $215.00. We arranged to meet him on Tuesday in Kahulua, near the airport at my phone service carrier’s store. That way, they could check the phone over and make sure it would work as a replacement before I paid for it.
So, that is what we did on Tuesday afternoon. He could not meet us until after 4 pm as he had school. The phone carrier was able to check the phone out and transfer my phone number to this “new” phone, but they could not transfer my contacts, or my pictures, as the sim card was damaged and I needed a new one. I would have to contact Apple to have them transfer the rest of my data from the cloud. I could not remember my Apple.com user name or password, so this was a real hassle, as I had to set up a whole new account . I had to give them all my info and then wait 9 days until they would transfer the info to the new account, but I was able to manually enter the contacts I could remember, and now I was no longer in the dark ages without a phone!
Alanah was leaving for the mainland at 11:00 pm, so we returned to the resort in Kihei, had dinner, she finished packing and I drove her to the airport – I will be leaving tomorrow at noon to go back to the big island.
TropicalCastaway 