TropicalCastaway

Beginning of May

Wednesday, May 1, 2024

It was sunny when I got up – around 7 AM.

While fixing breakfast (french toast) I glanced down at the bird feeder on the Lanai.

There was one of those green/yellow/orange birds (I wish I knew what they were) licking out the bottom of the bird feeder.

OK, . . . It wasn’t actually licking it, as I don’t think they have a tongue and can do that if they did, but it was trying to get to the scraps in the cracks and joints of the feeder. So I crushed two Ritz crackers and put the crumbs into the feeder. 10 seconds later, the bird was back (or one like it), followed by two more, two red headed cardinals, and a Northern Red Cardinal. At first, they each took a turn at the feeder, but then the Northern Cardinal began bullying the red headed cardinals trying to chase them away.

After breakfast, it clouded over like it was going to rain . . . but it didn’t! Since the lawnmower is still out of commission, I proceeded to cut the grass and weeds out of the garden areas below the gazebo and down past the shed.

Then I went out to the road and began cutting the grass along the road in front of the walk-in gate and along the property towards Lorenzo’s property.

Doing this with hand clippers took most of the day!

Thursday – May 2, 2024

Watered the tire gardens. Lettuce, turnips, radishes and squash have all sprouted.

Worked at the Ahi property at the top of the driveway.

I started at the north corner (the one closest to the peak of Mauna Loa).

Using my hand clippers, I cut the tall grass along the side of the road from the property corner to the rock column at the driveway, across the front of the driveway, and about fiften feet past the rock column with the address sign.

Then I cut the grass and weeds on both sides of the driveway as it slopes down. The driveway seems to be quite firm – not as much loose gravel as before. I haven’t tried to drive on it yet though! I’m not too confident without four wheel drive.

Spent the rest of the day digging into the debris pile near the bungalow, on the opposite side of the pile, away from the bungalow.

I have separated a pile of rocks and large branches that I want to move to the sides of the driveway. – maybe tomorrow.

It was mainly overcast and cloudy for most of the afternoon.

Friday – May 3, 2024

It is overcast this morning and lightly raining with the typical slight breeze.

Two Northern Red Cardinals are coming to the feeder on a rergular basis along with a half a dozen or so of the green/yellow/orange birds – I wish I knew what they were – I think they are a form of the Hawaiian Honeycreeper, so that is what I will call them!

Over at the Ahi lot, I worked on the plumbing drain lines for the bathroom. I am excavating through and under the concrete “footing” I have poured. I am going to need a chipping hammer to remove some of this rock.

I dug out more from the debris pile at the back part of the lot, then moved rocks and branches to shore up the sides of the driveway.

Saturday, May 4, 2024

Lazy morning – checked emails and news on the internet.

Watered the tire garden. The lettuce, turnips, radishes squash and beets are doing well. It looks like the cantaloupe (aka rock mellon), carrots and onions are starting to peek through the ground.

There are also lots of little plants in the tomato planter – at least 25 or 30. I can only hope that they are tomatoes. Time will tell.

The handle on my small sledgehammer broke, so, I cleaned out all the wood from inside the metal head and shaped the end of what was left of the handle to go into the head. Now I have a short handled small sledgehammer – 8 to 10 ” long!

TTFN

April Showers

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

I’ve Returned

It is late April, and I have returned to the Big Island.

I had a direct flight on a different airline than I normally use. The direct flight with no stops was good, but I miss the “two bags fly free”!

Looking towards **Hualālai** volcano – shrouded in clouds.

I arrived at 5 in the afternoon and caught the 6:00 PM bus to Pahala, route 90.

Sunset from between Kona and the airport.

It rained off and on all the way to the south end of the island.

I arrived at about a quarter past 8 at the Wong Yuen store in Waiohinu, between rain showers.

Wong Yuen store in Waiohinu, Hawaii after dark

This store was closed when my neighbor Scott picked me up and he took me in to Naalehu to the gas station/convenience store there for a bag of ice!

Then “home” to the property at Holowai Street! I hauled my suitcases in to the kitchen gazebo to get them out of the rain and promptly went to bed!

TTFN

Back on the Mainland

The real world?

The first week of March saw me returning to the mainland. The entire month of February I had the greatest peace there can be – totally disconnected from the insanity in the rest of the world!

Swimming Pool Maintenance

Two of the valves in the pool plumbing are broken making it difficult for Alanah to vacuum the pool. Luckily, in the winter time the pool can go for quite a while without much attention!

When I built the pool, I knew that the valves I used would not last forever, but I thought they would last more than a few years. But yet, everything needs maintenance. We could hire a pool repair company to replace them at a cost of around $1200, or I could buy new valves and replace them myself for around a hundred! Adding a round trip plane ticket cost of four to five hundred dollars still makes it convincing to return and do it myself!

Opera

We also had tickets to go to the opera. We have always enjoyed going to the opera for a little bit of cultural enlightenment. At least until the pandemic when the opera required that you wear a mask and provide proof that not only you were vaccinated, but that you had also been tested for Covid within 14 days of the performance!

Anyway, we have returned to the opera now that the world has admitted that society has all been fooled by our governments, and their owners in the big pharmaceutical companies!

Back in October, we attended the opera named Frankenstein in Phoenix. We were unimpressed! In fact, we were downright disappointed! We had the impression that there were no actual songs written for this opera, but instead, they simply put the standard dialogue to music while the performers pretended that it was opera! With the computer generated scenery, it appeared to be nothing more than an opportunty for some computer technicians to showcase their abilities! While a few times, there was a decent ballet performance, the best acting was at the end, when they all stood on the stage and with hands linked, they all bowed to the audience and acted like it was a good performance!

In March, we attended the performance of Romeo and Juliet in Tucson at the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall.

On the way down, we noticed the snow on the mountains north of Tucson.

As we approached the entrance, one of the opera employees was walking past the line of patrons and telling them that only a small, clear bag was allowed to be brought in. Alanah’s hand purse was too large, so we went back to the car and left it in the trunk. Then we had to go through a metal detector and a gauntlet of inspectors. Are they thinking that a terrorist will try to take over the opera? in Tucson?

One of the employees told me that I could not take in my clear tupperware cup with a lid holding about a cup of jelly beans because “Food and drink are not allowed to be brought into the theatre.”

So I stepped out of line and walked out of their sight around the corner. Then I emptied the jellybeans into my suit coat pockets, and got back in line.

As I went through the gauntet again, I was only holding the empty tupperware container . . . and since it was clear, they allowed it inside. Once inside, I took the jelly beans out of my pockets and put them back into the tupperware container! Instead of a metal detector, maybe in the future they will have a sugar detector!

I seem to recall that Romeo and Juliet was a Drama. A Romantic Drama to be exact. This performance was closer to a comedy act. And a poor one at that. I expected the old line of Juliet at the balcony calling out, “Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art though my Romeo” with the response – “I’m in the bushes . . . quick, throw me some toiletpaper!”

They had “adapted” the story to make it more “applicable” to current times by setting it in the 1960’s! The costumes were from this era, but yet they still spoke in the Old English script of the 13th and 14th century! “Why didst though come hither in your lowrider?”

I had a hard time restraining my laughter during the death scene in the crypt! Not many people were placed in an open crypt in the 1960’s! And the acting was so predictable. I expected the actor to say to Juliet’s “dead” body, “Look what evil though hast wrought now, Bitch!”

An elementary school drama teacher would have been highly disappointed in this performance! And I expect that Linda Ronstadt will request that her name be removed from the building!

Oh well. It was a good excuse to get out and go for a Sunday afternoon drive! And like Steve McQueen said in the movie “The Thomas Crown Affair”, . . . “What else are we going to do on a Sunday?“

Gardening

I have planted some vegetables in my small gardens. Even though most of them will not be ready to pick before I return to Hawaii at the end of April, that’s not the point!

In one of the back yard gardens, I have planted summer squash and onions.

In the planter behind this one, there are two rows of turnips, and a row of cauliflower and a row of cabbage.

In the garden planter closer to the pool, I have a row of radishes and some rows of corn behind some onions that have been there for a while.

In the planter next to the driveway where we usually have flowers, I have planted 7 or 8 rows of carrots. The carrots were taking a long time to come up, so I planted radishes in the bottom of the rows.

There are also two large pots on the back patio with tomato plants.

These have flowered and have little small green tomatoes just starting to grow.

Birds

Hawaii is not the only place where I am going to the birds!

Every time I have come out the door to the carport, there has been a hummingbird hanging out there. It would just hang there in the air for about ten seconds, and then fly away. I wondered what it was doing there.

Today, I found out. There were all kinds of bird droppings on top of Alanah’s Mercedes. Not big droppings like from a duck or a goose, but little droppings. They were definitely bird droppings, and there were lots of them. Directly above them is a series of ropes and hooks that I installed to lift the top off the convertible. On the ceiling above the ropes there are more of these droppings. Nestled within these ropes is a very small nest made of grass and leaves and paper shreds, very tightly woven together. It is smaller than a golf ball.

As I looked real close at it, I could see movement at the top of it, two small beaks poking up out of the nest, moving back and forth.

Then after we had gone in the house, I looked through the window in the door, and there was the hummingbird, on top of the nest, feeding the baby chicks.

Golf

My dad used to say that he wished he had the time to play golf. . . not that he would ever play, he just wished he had the time!

When I am here, I like to go to a small 9 hole executive golf course over in Mesa near Alma School Road and US Route 60.

It has a lake that is the center point of the property and the golf course winds around the lake.

Looking across the end of the lake towards the 4th green

In the past, the lake has been only half full, but due to the recent rains, it is now overflowing.

The 7th tee. Normally there is no water here . . . just grass.

I’ve only been playing golf for the past fifteen years, and then very sporadically.

I like to tell people that I am twice the golfer that Tiger Woods is . . . I get to swing my clubs twice as many times as him, I get to hit the ball twice as many times as he does, so I must be having twice the fun!

If only!

When the first Japanese people saw Americans playing golf, they told their friends that Americans play crazy games. They chase a little white ball around a grassy field trying to hit it with a stick! Game is called, “AAAH Shit!”

A couple of more weeks and I’ll be back in Hawaii!

TTFN

New Bathroom

Ahi Lot

I have started to build a bathroom at the Ahi lot.

I leveled off an area that was the proper distance from the property lines – 20 feet set back from the front, and 8 foot setback from the side.

I set up some forms and started to pour concrete.

I did not have the plumbing fittings necessary for the toilet drain, so I left that part undone. I will finish this section after I get the fittings.

Initially, the toilet will be a composting toilet, and the drain plumbing will not be necessary.

In order to install a standard flushing style toilet, I will need to also install a septic system. Maybe I can use the hole I have created by removing the large rocks to reinforce the side of the driveway!

Once I have this bathroom built, I will remove the temporary outhouse.

TTFN

Block Walls

Holowai House

When I was here earlier this year, the last thing I worked on was the foundation for the “shack near the beach”.

The next step is to lay block walls to set the floor framing on.

I started on the corner near the kitchen gazebo.

I know this sounds crazy, but I’m not sure exactly how high I want to go with these block walls. I am thinking that I want enough room underneath to walk, but that makes the floor almost 8 feet off the ground. Which is not so bad, as this would maximize the ocean view.

With room underneath, I could store a lot of things. I contemplate this as I lay up blocks in each corner.

I find that there is a height difference in one of the corners, so I set up some forms and attempt to pour a riser to make up the difference

With the four corners built up to 2 feet tall, I start on the columns in between the corners on the long side of the structure.

I back fill around the first corner along the path near the kitchen gazebo to makre it easier to walk past. I have always worried that I would fall in as I walked past this corner.

I decide that I want to go at least one more course higher, but I have used all the block I had stacked up by the gazebo. The only other block I have is the block that are stacked as stairs leading up to the porch/lanai of the shed. If I take these, a set of stairs will need to built. Luckily, I’m a carpenter! But first, I really need to repair/replace some of the deck boards.

With the deck a bit safer, I can build some steps up to this lanai.

Now I can use these additional block to lay another course on each corner.

I am contemplating filling in between the two corners and the two columns on the side nearest the street so that I can backfill this area as well. That is an issue for another time!

TTFN

Wildlife

While traveling past the lookout on the highway just outside of Na’alehu, I spotted a whale splashing out in the bay.

Birds

It took a while after I returned for the birds to acknowledge I was back and start coming to the feeder.

My first visitor was a single red headed cardinal, or a red crested cardinal or a yellow billed cardinal. I call them red headed cardinals, but I think they are the yellow billed cardinals???

These cardinals that come to my feeder don’t have a large crest and the coloring under their beaks is usually black instead of the red of the red crested cardinal.

These colorful little birds have started making themselves at home in the feeder. I think that they are what is known as a Red-billed Leiothrix. Try saying THAT twenty times real fast!

I think that they are also called a Pekin Robin, or a Pekin Nightingale.

They seem to be calmer than the yellow billed cardinals, and don’t scare off as easily when the regular Northern Cardinals come around!

I have created a roof over the feeder to keep the cracker crumbs I feed the birds dry when it rains.

The yellow billed cardinals don’t seem to be phased by the roof.

This brown bird is possibly a Laysan Finch. I have only seen a few of them, and none of them have come down to the feeder, the same with the few zebra doves I have seen. Of course, the zebra doves could be spotted doves! What do I know?

These two birds may be what is known as the Omao. Or they could be the House Finch! On past trips, I have had a pair of Myna Birds making use of my makeshift fountain. Of course, I have named then Heckle and Jekle.

Cameleons

This female Jackson cameleon was spotted outside the bungalow at Ahi in a christmas berry tree about seven feet off the ground.

This guy was crossing Makaniakua Road just before the “s” curve at Amapela!

When I stopped and approached him, he turned and wanted to return the way he had come.

He was not too happy when I picked him up and he actually hissed at me!

I was surprised at how quickly he scampered out of my hand and up my arm and around to my shoulder, before jumping off!

This guy was walking across the driveway at Ahi.

After being hissed at by the other one I saw a few days ago, I didn’t pick him up.

He came from the Hilo side of the driveway and after doubling back two or three times to avoid me and my phone/camera, he eventually ended up in the tree at the bottom of the drivewayon the Kona side.

Of course, there are also many geckos at the gazebo at Holoway as well as at the bungalow at Ahi.

TTFN

Driveway

Early January

The driveway at Ahi is still too steep. The reason I say this is because I backed the truck down the driveway and then could not get out. The gravel was too loose and the rear wheels only dug in while the front tires just pushed the loose gravel into a pile in front of the tires. I could not get any traction. I used two heavy straps I had and tied them together. Then I attached them to one of the hooks at the front of the truck and trailed the straps up the driveway as far as possible. I had to enlist Brian, my neighbor to pull me out with his truck. Unfortunately, I took no pictures!

So, the next day, I had a load of 2 1/2 inch mixture of sand and gravel delivered. I had the driver dump about half in the driveway and half up on the road in a pile.

Last August, I had a load of sand and gravel delivered to Holowai. Both Scott and Brian saw me moving this pile with my shovel and wheelbarrow, and suggested that I use Bill’s “side by side” they called it. It is a 4 wheel drive gasoline powered cart with a scoop attached to the front. I was reluctant, as I did not want to be responsible for it!

I resisted their suggestions and moved the pile by hand with a shovel and wheelbarrow, just like I had all the previous loads. This time, I asked Bill for help.

He was able to push the pile that was dumped in the driveway further down the hill. Then he started moving the pile from the road by scooping it up and dumping it about halfway down the hill. When the cart was down the hill, it could not get traction in the loose gravel. Eventually, it slid off the side of the driveway and while trying to get it out, it began overheating and the fan belt broke. We had to pull it out like I had to do with my truck a few days earlier. (again, no pictures) Then we towed it back to Bill’s house on Holowai where he could work on it in his garage after ordering a new belt.

That left this pile in the road by the driveway.

So, it was back to the old tried and true method of the shovel and wheelbarrow!

As I moved the gravel to the bottom of the driveway, I concentrated on one side to create a raised path for my daughter and her kids to walk down.

February

After the grandkids left I ordered another load of sand and gravel.

This time, I had it all dumped in the driveway.

Then I started the process of scattering it down the driveway raising the height at the lower level to make the slope more gradual.

This meant a lot of shoveling and the use of the wheelbarrow to move it further down than I could throw it with the shovel.

After filling the wheelbarrow, I have to drag the back legs through the gravel as I descend the hill. I can lift the handles so that the legs are off the ground and allow the wheelbarrow to descend about four feet downhill, before lowering the handles to steady and stop the wheelbarrow. Then I can step closer to the wheelbarrow and repeat the process. With any weight in the wheelbarow, gravity forces it downhill faster than I can run to keep up with it! That’s why you see the drag marks in the photo below!

Each day, a little more is moved further down the hill to fill in over the other stuff I have dumped in the driveway.

By adding to the gravel at the lower sections, it reduces the slope of the driveway, making it easier to walk and to drive up and down . . . a little bit, anyway!

I stack limbs, branches, grass, empty cement bags, and other organic materials in a layer and then cover this with the sand and gravel. This adds bulk to the driveway, and the organic material helps the gravel stay in place. Engineers will tell me that all this organic material is unstable, will decompose and shrink requiring me to add more to maintain the same slope. Probably! But I figure that I have raised the level of the ground at the base of the driveway 16″ to two feet! The first two loads of sand/gravel cost me $450.00 each. The next four loads have cost me $500.00 each. Any subsequent loads will cost me $550.00 – costs keep going up! I figure that I have $3500.00 invested in material to fill the driveway, ans I have saved the cost of at least one load by using branches, grass, empty cement bags and other stuff!

More than once, I have lost control over the wheelbarrow and it has run down the driveway out of control and crashed. I figure, that it all neds to be moved downhill anyway! As long as the wheelbarrow does not get smashed, it is all good! And like they say, “What does not kill you, makes you stronger!”

Eventually, I have the pile gone from the top of the driveway, once again.

Now, the problem will be keeping the gravel from sluffing off the sides of the driveway.

So, I begin piling large rocks along the side of the driveway.

I have been able to line the lower section and shoe up a pathway from the driveway to the path that leads to the gazebo/ bungalow!

I will continue to stack rocks along the side of the driveway.

Fortunately, I have a source of large rocks not too far away.

I figure that after I have removed all the rocks that I need, I can fill this in with limbs and branches from the pile of debris back by the gazebo/bungalow, and let them decompose into dirt and mulch!

I have been removing branches from this pile of debris that was dumped here thirty or more years ago when they first built the roads in the subdivision. I have been piling these limbs/branches on the Hilo side of the driveway.

I have all the gravel moved to the driveway and rocks piled on one side to reinforce it, and large branches on the other. I still think that I will need more fill material to help make this driveway easier to use!

TTFN

Tourists

February 5, 2023

After missing their plane on the 4th,, my daughter and her kids arrived the following day, the 5th! (see my previous post – “Expecting Company” for the explanation)

I rode the bus into Kona to meet them. I was not confident about my truck, so I rented a car for the time they were here.

The line at the car agency was longer than usual.

The two teenagers wanted to go to the beach, so the next day, we went to Punalu’u Black Sand Beach.

Punalu’u Black Sand Beach

On the way to the beach, we stopped at the overlook and took pictures.

Looking west towards Kona from highway overlook

We were not the only ones there. There were also some “residents” sunning themselves on the beach.

The teenage girls wasted no time in getting into the water,

while Parker was a bit more hesitant.

He did get in, eventually

and he joined the girls out in deeper water

while mom stood on shore anxiously watching

The two girls enjoyed laying out on the black sand beach and sitting on the rocks at the water’s edge.

They even got wet a few times while sitting there, as the waves lapped up onto the rocks.

No waves were harmed in taking these photos!

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

The next day, we drove over to the Volcano National Park.

The only part of the park the girls were interested in was the entry sign!

We walked through the visitor center, only because Grandpa insisted that they had to!

Then off to see waterfalls!

Rainbow Falls

After the visitors center, we drove into Hilo and went to Rainbow Falls.

After looking over the edge at the falls, the girls asked, “Can we go down there?”

After being told that they could not go to the bottom of the falls, they lost interest in it!

Instead, they found a huge banyan tree.

They basically got lost up in the branches of this tree.

If you look real hard, you can see the girls way up high in the tree!

Kukio Beach

The next day, the kids wanted a whte sand beach, just for something different than the black sand at Punalu’u. I remembered that the lighter colored sand beaches were on the Kona side of the island. In fact there was one there, in front of a resort that was quite wide and very sandy.

We drove up past Kona to the Four Seasons Resort where Kukio Beach is located. I seemed to recall a long wide stretch of tan sandy beach in front of a resort, and I thought that this was the one that I remembered.

I was wrong. But they still enjoyed it all the same.

The girls went snorkeling out into the bay while Parker hung around the shore line looking at all the sea urchins. A couple of times, he was even had a turtle bump up against the back of his legs as he was knee deep in the water.

The girls enjoyed using the lounge chairs set out by the resort. I was sure that someone would come tell them that they could not use them, but teenage girls get away with all kinds of things!

Today is Alyssandra’s birthday! On the way back to Naalehu, we stopped at Kona to get a birthday cake!

After a late dinner, we had birthday cake!

Earthquake!

The girls wanted to see the sunrise at the beach.

The closest beach is Punalu’u Beach which is a 15 to 20 minute drive away!

The sun comes up at about 5:30 AM

That means that we would have to leave at 5AM to be at the beach for sunrise.

After explaining this to them, they looked at me as if to say, “And so, your point IS???”

My point is, that we would need to wake up at 4:30AM! “OK!”

They had the truck at Ahi where they were staying, and would use it to get to and from Holowai!

I was up at 4AM and walked over to Ahi.

As I walked down Ahi Road towards the property, I saw the two girls were in the truck heading my way. Alyssandra was driving. Parker ran up the driveway and got in the truck just before they pulled away.

I stopped them and told Alyssandra that I would drive. She is not old enough to have a driver’s license and I did not think it wise for her to drive past the Police station to get to Punalu’u Beach!

I drove out towards Wakea Road when Sienna asked, “Grandpa, Where are you taking us?”

“To the beach!” I said. “Last night, that’s where you said you wanted to go!”

“What about Mom?” Both girls asked.

“What about her?” I replied, “I assumed she was not coming, since she did not get in the truck!”

“She was going to meet us over at your place!”

“What?”

“She’s walking over to your place!”

We turn around and head back. By now, the sun is almost up!

After picking her up, we head down to the beach. As we pass the overlook on the other side of Naalehu, the sun is already up! We missed the sunrise at the beach!

Turns out, it was not the sunrise they were interested in! They just wanted to be at the beach as early as possible!

We were there with no towels, no drinking water, no food. So. I left them there and returned to the property to get stuff to spend the day at the beach.

While they frolicked in the ocean, I stopped off at the Punalu’u Bakery for malasadas – a large type of doughnut, with no hole!

Immediately after paying, the building started shaking. Things began falling off the shelves onto the floor. At first the others in the bakery just stood there looking at each other. Then they all started hurrying to the exits!

We had just had an earthquake. It only lasted for a few seconds, ten or fifteen. the initial reports were that it measured 6.0, but later it was downgraded to 5.7! The power was out in some of the businesses in Naalehu.

I tried to get a bag of ice from the gas station/convenience store, but their doors were locked and the power was off! So I went to the hardware store. Alyssandra texted me that they needed some tweezers! After an earthquake, they needed tweezers?!?!

At the hardware store, the door was closed, but not locked, so I pushed it open. There were more items on the floor than on the shelves! Three people came rushing up to tell me they were closed. I said,”I just need a bag of ice!” One girl went to get the ice. I asked about tweezers. They had some hanging on a display right next to the cash register, which still functioned as they had power!

Back at the beach, the lifeguards were not letting anyone get in the water. They were concerned that there might be a tsunami caused by the earthquake, and were advising everyone to stay out of the water. Also, in rushing to get out of the water after the earthquake, Sienna stepped on a sea urchin and filled her foot with spines! Ouch! We decided to leave!

The kids wanted to go back to Hilo to the banyan tree!

When we got there, there was a woman who had called the park rangers and told them that there were people beyond the signs telling visitors not to go to the river.

And that there were people climbing in the banyan trees!

a real busy-body, buttinski!

This spooked the kids so they didn’t want to stay. They didn’t want to get yelled at!

Instead, we went and got shaved ice!

Before returning to Naalehu!

They had to pack, because they were leaving the next day. Their plane was at 8AM, so we were up at 4:30 again in order to get to the airport in Kona in time to check in and go through TSA security. I did not want them to miss their flight!

TTFN

Expecting Company

Door Panel Walls

My daughter and her three kids are coming over for four days, the first week of February.

She told me that she had found a fare on Hawaiian Airlines for $220.00 round trip. I did not believe her.

Three days later, I went on the Hawaiian Airlines website, and sure enough, there was a round trip fare leaving Phoenix on February 4, and returning on February 8th.

On February 4th, for a variety of reasons, they missed the flight! The tickets were non-refundable, non-transferrable. My daughter called Hawaiian Airlines. The Customer Service Agent she talked to confirmed that the tickets were nor-refundable. She asked to speak with a supervisor.

The supervisor was able to issue a refund on the original tickets, and my daughter bought new tickets for the next day, February 5th, and returning on February 10th!

Go figure!

I was kind of hoping that this would not happen. As February got closer, I began to realize that I was not prepared for visitors, and part of me was thinking of canceling their visit!

I had nowhere for them to stay, not enough bedding, and I was concerned about fresh food due to my small refrigerator.

The gazebo at Ahi had a roof, and a floor, and no walls! There was also a section of the floor with a large rock sticking up. when I was here before, i tried to remove this by prying on it with a big prybar, and pounding on it with a sledge hammer to try to at least break it up to below the floor.

I mentioned this to Brian and he told me that he had an electric chipping hammer. that I could borrow it if I helped him with a project . Scott’s water line is sticking above the ground where it crosses Amapela Road. Brian had told Scott that he would bust out the rocks so that the water line could be lowered. I agreed to help with that!

Using Brian’s chipping hammer, I was able to bust out the rocks in the gaxebo floor to below the floor line. Now I can pour this last final portion of the floor.

I also used it to bust up a large rock in the path leading from the driveway.

After removing these rocks, I decided to tackle the project at Amapela Road. No good deed goes unpunished. I found that where Scott’s waterline crossed the road, there were four other waterlines there as well. I was careful not to damage any of the other waterlines as I was chipping out the rocks for a trench below them all. Unfortunately, I nicked one of them, which required my running into Naalehu to the hardware store for the needed fittings to repair it! Like I said, no good deed goes unpunished! I was successful and Scott’s waterline is now buried where it crosses Amapela road!

Then I turned my efforts to building door panels.

I started to make door panels to stand up and secure between the columns.

I figured that I could use three door panels in each of the 6 sections between the columns. That means I would need to make 18 panels.

I set up the table saw and started to fabricate the styles and rails for these door panels.

In the process, I created a lot of sawdust that I can use in the composting toilet!

Using some of the pallets as a work bench, I got to work putting them together.

I also needed to do some taking apart as well as putting together. I took apart more pallets to get the 1″ boards for the interior panels.

Slowly, I built more panels

Slowly, I kept at building panels.

As I stood them up, I had to add reinforcing and blocking in the ceiling to hold them from falling over.

I ripped some 2 x 4’s and screwed them to the ceiling joists – one part inside, and one part outside. This will work for the two ends of the gazebo.

For the four sections along the gazebo sides, I decided to make the center door panel of each section of three, movable by hanging them from overhead tracks.

As the work continued, and February got closer, I got more and more stressed out because of how unprepared I was.

Yet, I kept on busily cutting rails and styles and dismantling pallets to build door panels.

Even though things were coming together, I still was concerned about other issues for their visit.

I went to Hilo for more blankets and sheets. I also picked up some tracks and hangers for the doors to slide on. I cleaned and washed two ice chests, and decided that for the four days they were here, we would live out of them and I would get ice every day if necessary.

Another issue was that there was no toilet at Ahi.

So I built one.

Using pallets as a floor and walls, I built an outhouse with a composting toilet.

Basically a shelf with a toilet seat over a bucket. Good thing I had made all that sawdust cutting the frames for the door panels.

Slowly, the time came. And they were here!

TTFN