Picture Day

I've decided to have Picture Day. As time permits and interesting subjects become available I'll post them on a Picture Day

Here are some shots from around the yard and our ocean view, from the driveway.........)

......................Aloha !

click where there should be a picture it will take you to a group of them

The Campsite

Well we finally have graduated from sleeping in the back of the Jeep to a somewhat real bed. A queen size inflatable high riser, pretty comfortable all things considered. This past week has been beautiful weather wise, high 80's bright sun. The day actually starts out quite damp and cool but within minutes of the sunrising the temp soars, the sky brightens and the birds, dogs and roosters begin their morning call. Fortunately the dogs and roosters are fairly far off so we are mostly blessed by the 49 million morning doves !!! Pillow over the head kind of morning doves. They do seem quite extreme with their short repetitive call.

Camp has come along quite nicely we decided to be off the ground because it is so uneven with so many things that go stab in the night !! We built a raised plywood floor of some 500 sq ft which gave us his and hers tents spacious kitchen and dining complete with all the joys of camp life. We even have a combo shower & lua tent and yes the shower flows on demand hot water. I could elaborate on the bathing from a bucket but like the experience of it, a bit personal........ So really that's about it for this week it was work work work but we are done for the holiday!!

Please enjoy these few shots of our new digs

Personal Effects Arrive !!

Our vehicle arrived first and on schedule. the folks at Pasha did a great job with no damages and a full tank of fuel, that we thought for sure would be gone. The shipping container however was another story. Perhaps you remember the difficulties we had with loading on the day we shipped. Well same issues arose again here. The delivery company we consigned to pickup and deliver our container found that it was too heavy for them as well. The shipping company, Matson, documented the net weight to be 13,620 plus the container which should of made it 18,220. Both outfits claimed they could handle 22,500 but neither could lift. We off loaded some of the heavier items........bummer!! 2days later I and a friend Scott, lightened it around three thousand pounds. They delivered it and all seemed fine until we opened the doors......... Unfortunately offloading left the remaining load less secure and the road we live on is terrible at the beginning for about 100 ft so some of the load shifted and fell out of place creating an extra day of work removing and repacking. I'm happy to report that no serious damage occurred that we have noticed yet. It is great having all our things and now we can get things done a bit more efficiently.

The weather has been excellent again for the last three days bright sun, light breezes and moderate temps in the low to mid 80's.......The muck is drying up and road is becoming dry and dusty. The muck is the most difficult thing to handle where there is soil there is so much natural composting going on that it holds water and once disturbed it becomes muck not mud, muck a black sticky rich earthy smelly muck. almost impossible to shovel heavy and sticks to the shovel .

Met yet another new friend from about a half mile away, Paul. Paul is building a Bamboo Home, absolutely incredible I might add. They are manufactured in Vietnam and shipped here as panelized kits, simply bolt together. It is still under construction. Paul has gone to the mainland for 10 days and has asked us to check on things and water some of his plantings during his absence.

Still peeling Ohia tree bark. They are beautiful pieces of wood and very unnaturally round I hope to use them in other locations besides the driveway gates. I'll get some good pictures later of the pile.

............Aloha Everyone!!

Week 2 Pioneering

The title for this weeks post was inspired by a young fella and his Dad who passing by stopped to pass along words of encouragement and Aloha. The young man's question "Pioneering ?" brought a smile to my face and the sudden realization of how important it is to provide good examples to all our young people. So forward we go pioneering our new life with respect for the aina (land) that we might not destroy what nature has created.

Week 2 has yielded way to the making of a useable semi circular driveway . An entrance and an exit if you will. We had to employ a backhoe/ram to do some minor lava ripping just enough to level things off so we could keep our base course material to a minimum, not cheap at 14.00 per ton ( approx 10 ton per single axle dump truck ) The small dump trucks leave a less intimidating load on the ground to spread and 2" minus drain rock (crushed rock) spread by hand shovel is extra good for the soul. : )

Peggy settled into her new office and gives the ole coach/monitoring technique a try out here in the bush......Fairpoint commentors might ask how it's working out.....I've dropped the occaisional hint that 'that dog won't hunt here" She has since found a new calling, "stripper of the bark" yes I spelled it correctly. You see, the Ohia tree here in the forest is a very slow growing hard wood . It actually is the first thing to emerge from the lava, once cooled. With respect again for the aina we plan to use these trees, that needed to be removed, as gates for our driveway The bark is easily removed by simply beating the tree with a stick. This pounding fractures the bark from the tree and allows for easy stripping. she has cleaned 4 nice long ones.

Many people driving by continue to stop and offer their Aloha and words of encouragement. One lady stopped by Weds. and blew her horn a yelled through the trees " Goin to dump want me take these trash bags, we had setting along the road side. I went to greet her because again I was amused by the offering. she said she was on her way and might as well take those that we had too. I asked her could you wait one minute I had two more she could take also . She fired right back, "sure but make it snappy!! " Too funny!!! she waited took them gave a wave and drove off. Her name was Annie and another fine example of the neighborhood hospitality.

here are a few pics of us and recent developements Thanks for looking and Aloha !!!

Week 1 "Reality of the Dream"

I suppose as with all dreams of the perfect place there comes that moment of Reality when things aren't quite as perfect as you had envisioned. Well that moment has come earlier on than expected. This first week has certainly been eye-opening. Not only has the real beauty of things opened up but poor choice and do it again has reared it's ugly head as well. What I'm trying to tell you is, it has been impossible to decide where a good place for anything might be. The ground cover here is as much as 10 feet tall and impenetrable. The choice you make to clear in this direction or that is always a good choice just not neccessarily for the reason you had in mind. Trying to find flat ground for any long distance seems to be a throw of the dice. The contours change as much as 3 feet at any given moment and soon it is time to regroup and begin again in a new direction. We have however found as good and flat a place for our driveway and cement slab portion of our home as we can find.

The forest here is mesmerizing and teaming with the sounds of birds and little coqui frogs. The road along our property gives way to the sound of slow moving vehicles crunching and bouncing over the crushed cinder and rough lava, not a fun drive but sure keeps the speed of the traffic down to under 20mph. The weather here in the rainforest is ever changing light rain, sunny, cloudy, a little heavier rain, breezy, still but always comfortably warm regardless of the conditions. We've not experienced any big rain yet but I'm sure it will come in time, the road signs are everywhere "road floods during heavy rain"

Day after day another passer-by stops in to say Aloha and welcomes us to the neighborhood. Just about all our direct neighbors have come by bearing gifts or advise and even a helping hand. The first question everyone has on their mind is " when are the bulldozers coming" Our reply thus far has been "they're not". it is an issue here as so many new folks coming, with visions of creating their own paradise, hire these enormous D-9 ripping bulldozers to come in and clear and rip the lava up and crumble it to a size they can level then loads of yet smaller stone are trucked in to make a perfectly flat and clear palatte. To each their own I guess, we simply choose to work with a more natural environment and most folks seem happy that we have chosen that path. All in all this is as wonderful a place as we remember and home is where the heart is and both of our hearts are right here and very very happy!!!

Take a moment to check out our progress and Thankyou All for your comments, Aloha !!