The Saga Continues

Mauna Kea

Well We're back, armed with more news of our Great Hawaii Adventure. Pictures and tales of our life experience here on the Big Island of Hawaii. So Boys and Girls when last known we were completing our water system and still waiting on our building permit. Fiiiiinally we have our building permit in hand and are underway with the construction of our home. The tents are okay and we have everything a house would have but the time has come.

First however I have a few funny tales to tell. If memory serves me correctly we had been at friends for the evening and had returned to camp to settle in for the night. The stockings were....oops wrong story. Shortly after lying in bed for a while we thought the bed was feeling a little soft, coleman queen size double high air mattress Cadillac of camp comfort.... so we adjusted things a little and signed off for the night. Well .....I guess it was round 2ish am we woke to deciding we had a leak after doing the math we decided on more air and fix it in the am, nite nite..........6 am butts on the flloor head and toes on the ceiling we lie......Ok maybe we should be careful how we move off......no no no move up.....no no no move sideways well you get the idea we are laying hammock like and of course you had to laugh as to cry but once one of you started to move the other was flopped about as though on a sloshy water bed. This just isn't kind of fun older folks need so early AM.....fllipping flopping and laughing and coughing and of course everyone has to pee... lookout!!!!!!! OOOPS!! I got out first and Peg went from the hammack to ceiling and crashing to the floor the moment I got up away from the bed i didn't check but she musta peed the bed ...............Well the story ended with a new coleman cadi and things couldn't be bettah..

The Night of the Wild Pigs,

We've told you we live in a rural area eh? Dirt roads limited power and phone and very private jungle like surroundings. Deep in the jungle lives the wiley pig "The Silver Bullet" as they are called by some locals. They seem to be in great numbers to hear folks talk and they are exremely destructive. They can turn a garden or flower bed or whatever to barnyard muck in no time flat. ok ok ok anyway we've never seen any or herd any but then we live on a well traveled connector road, we figure this keeps them at bay. Meanwhile the stories of passing neighbors begin to arouse our couriosity. So we think about the day or what we might do to prevent a late night visit. The dog of course would immediately alert us to any foreign smell. Countless stories and accounts of how dogs have been ripped open from confrontations with these lighting fast jungle critters. I need tell you now of Joe and his three dogs, Joe who lives some distance away travels in and out via the road we live on and everyday Kua alerts us to them coming There is always a young retriever leading the way on a steady run usually followed by joe, in his pickup, and the other two dogs in the body both older and each a bit larger than the one before. The young dog always runs to the top of the hill and sits and waits till joe arrives hops in the truck, and away they go. Ok Thats joe and his dogs, one morning the two older dogs were in our back yard whining and jumping on their hind legs appearing as those they were confused with somthing now the old dog has light blue/white eyes big shepherd looking dog bigger than ours, freaky looking. I thought having not really met joe or the dogs perhaps it was blind and lost and in a panic. Then I heard joe's truck down the road so out I went. I find joe down at the intersection of 9 road our furtherst boundary line. So I wave a few times and after abit he comes up intros himself and I tell him his dog is in the back freaking out. He says "yeah yeah they are chasing pigs, had been through the night." So, now we are on High Pig Alert!!!! I can tell Peg's bothered because she isn't talking about it. anyway That evening, I thought, they have now been chased into our area so maybe soon. 3:30 Am, a mid night pc and back to bed awoke Peg and she grumbled a bit, as I was countering, there was a very loud grunt! The sound filled the air, Peggy responded "Is that a pig!!" as I was about to say yeah and get up, a second later comes this shreaking squeal like the biggest baddest pig of them all was right out side the tent, now bare in mind the the stillness of the air. Ok, a little background, dog is barking, pigs are squealing, dark as can be and us trying to get up, get dressed, get out, get control of the dog, calm the wife and find the pigs. Yeah ok sure out I go flashlight and BB pistol in hand, all is quiet. So I look around still see or hear nothing then I think I hear something and Peg speaks out. "Get the keys get the jeep !!" Ok yeah lots of light and noise. In the jeep onto the house pad high beams no pigs shut off the engine listen...no pigs hmmmm then the jeep door opens and in piles Peggy and Kua I ain't staying out there, so there! we sat there till sun up waiting for the biggest badest wiley pig of them all and still we see No Pig!!! This was late August and we have not seen nor heard of any since unfortunately there are no pictures of pigs though we hope you enjoyed this gripping story................

We've been waiting forever for our building permit for ever now don't you think Well there was good reason and a good story as well lesson # 34 learned. Anyhow we finally have our building permit and are ready to go. But before we get to the building stuff lets have look at some of the players. From early on we were given the name of a fellow who runs a small dump truck and lives here in The Acres. He goes by "Bear" but his name is Mike and he has come to be a good friend as well as a trustworthy business man. More than once Bear has saved us through his connections. Bear rides with a sidekick named Hermione, a 2 year old female golden retriever her nickname is hermie. Full of mischief and sweet as can be is how I think of her. then there is Annabelle, she would be the truck, making her job easy is everyones first concern. Bear recently brought Betsy, the rock hammer over and installed a 16 ft temp phone pole so we can get some inexpensive phone service and high speed internet. Here are few photos of the gang.

Oh Oh Oh ,so much to remember, Our neighbor Matt has a small animal collection and everything in his world is unique in it's own way . I've told Matt he should offer his property up for filming. To step on his property is to step into another world. 25 years ago Matt came and built and landscaped with many tropical plants and trees and today everything is monstrous and mostly overgrown. His critters are the big attraction for us, lets see we have Fred and Barney the pigmy goats that can't be left alone, Jasmine the 300lb pot-belly pig and a new arrival Tara another pot belly pig that was pregnant and ,of course, the alarm clock group roosters and chickens exotic bantams very very pretty. Of course the piglets are the showstoppers, I guess it was a couple three weeks after they were born we had a rather heavy overnight rain event and Matt let them out of their pen to sleep under the house with the other animals. I guess come morning they decided they would all go out for a walk and came down to our place at sunup. Peg was getting ready for work and I was making morning rounds when she yelled out David there are pigs in the yard, now she was not all that familiar with the new family and thought they were wild and were after our garden. I came out from the container to see that it was mother pig and the piglets so I went over to them. Immediately the piglets were on the run and mother pig was on high alert that I was coming near. I reached out gave pig a rub and called her to follow. Meanwhile little pigs are scurrying up the side of the road single file until they disappeared one by one into Matt's driveway. so funny to see their little feet all going together up the road. Matt gave them all names a few of them are bootsie, spot, inky, supersow, I forget the rest..... I must say it's been fun watching them grow and get into mischief.

Here also is another as they have aged some.. Of course Fred and Barney are always good for a laugh Just the other day Matt was out walking Makela and stopped for a minute to talk and visit. After a short time you are first alerted by the sound Maaaattt Of course Matt turns and angrily says "yeah I can't go anywhere out of their sight." He is trying to train them to stay home yeah? but they keep coming after him, once again up the road yelling YAH YAH.....

Oh yes the house stuff well after final grading came the first load of foundation material concrete piers, posts and beams its always bad when you dread the first step in a project but these pier are 150lbs + and their placement must be exact. A hand truck proved to be a useful tool for the job. 32 posts and piers will support us just nine feet up off the ground. This has made for some interesting challenges so far like the weight of the material. Having been saturated in a borate treatment, for insects, the wood varies in weight some pieces near twice their normal weight. But i've kept everything at a manageable length so at worst the heaviest is right at my handling limit so far so good. Of course help is always available as far as a phone call or as close as a shout. This safety net eases the stress level considerably. I was rather excited when the first load came. It had pallets, now keeping things off the ground here is very impotant if left on the ground i suspect the jungle would eat it up in no time. Almost all of the piles of brush we created has been absorbed. On quiet rainy days you can hear the jungle falling in on itself as some of what grows out here is very soft and fast growing.

After about a week of setting and leveling and squaring we were ready for posts, brackets and beams. I'll tell you , having got through this step gives me hope hahahaha ..Here is the sequence of shots

The foundation made rigid with the cornered shear walls. There are five rows of 4x10 beams 32 ft total length. This is ready for floor framing.

The floor framing, main house 2x10, lanai 2x8 all spaced 16" this is another change to the plan I've made, the draftsperson called for 2x8 spaced 24". I'm glad I made the change. I've also included more than required blocking in the frame. We will now be better prepared to make finished floor selections, anything we can afford is doable. I spent an extra week here with brackets bolts and blocking now the subfloor is complete it i'm very pleased with the floor framing. The lanai flooring will be 2x6 treated fir.

Here is something you get to experience occassionally Vog volcanic gases in the form of fog. We don't usually experience it but this is a shot of how things looked one morning and the sun comes through the trees. Rather smelly like sulfer lasts untill the wind kicks up and then it blows clear within minutes. Other parts of the island arn't so fortunate even some of the other islands get socked in. It's all good in Puna!!

Remembering to stop and smell the roses
gets you other kodak moments like this one of the clouds and they are always so close seems like you could almost reach out and touch them ...

Peg went to a semi annual plant/tree sale
she came home with a whole array of fruit trees this pictured is a veregated lemon among others were orange, lime, star-fruit, cinnamon. tangerine, fig, grapefruit, kumquat, avocado and a gardenia. Most things were fruited and all are dwarf size trees.

Off course now we have this permit we can really get flying except now we are in the rainy season and more times than not things get put on hold. Ok so today we think we have a plan, it's a proven method and depending on height limitations it has the potential for providing a dry environment in which to keep building. Let me tell you as I type this morning it is some wet out there. Good though gave me a chance to walk in the rain it kinda like smelling th

e flowers, actually I'm more interested in how the water flows and where. It was crap shoot when we got here, with regard to how the water would flow but now six months later we are getting a feel for things. There will be times, I'm sure that we will be very very happy we have built so high off the ground.

Well yet even more Great News !? PeggyAnn went back to work !! shsjnfbkjnbd!!!! the fuel costs getting so far out of control makes everthing more expensive so a little faster trickle of nickels has become neccessary. The outfit she works for, HPM Building Supply Co. Big high priced outfit but handy if you happened to building a house.......actually it is more Island Mana at work that and our good karma is driving this adventure machine of ours. She works 8-5 mon-fri, she travels 15 mins and more like 30 in the morning because of the traffic coming down the mountain. So it is official she lives and works and registers her car in Hawaii.

Hopefully one day when this speed and connection issue gets worked out completely she will post some of her take on all of this. It can be demanding on ones' patience some times the photo uploads can take close to 30 min. So we now have our official pole and we need just a couple of minor things along with the install date and we should be good as long as they have room for us as a dsl customer if not I' m afraid it is broadband wireless.

I hope this catches you up to date on our adventure so far we have hunkered in for the winter and wish warm breezes your way ..........drive safely now !

Oh! wait a minute there is still more to tell. There is someone new in my/our life her name is Makela and she is 2 years old she has come to stay with Uncle Matt and Auntie

Bo. She hollers from the road each day while on her walk with Uncle Matt. She loves to quietly and slowly walk among our things. I introduced her to lettuce, from my garden and she has fallen in love with it. Matt was saying he had a nightmare of his goats , Fred and Barney, were coming down to eat all our new fruit trees and garden things. I told him after watching Makela eat my lettuce that maybe we should watch her not the goats!! she continues to bring something special to our life and we hope and pray she has a wondeful life.

Made some upgrades to the camp, we bought a used frig and dishwasher and new washer so Peg doesn't have to go set down to Suds and Duds on her day off. I'm amazed at the ability of our little power plant to run a full size frig, waterpump, charge a cell phone, charge a computer and Watch 4 hours of TV everyday. Then wash 4 load laundry vacuum the floors (In Tents !! ) and iron Pegs' clothes weekly. Now we are doing this with the smallest of solar systems and a backup generator that we run 1 hour a day just for keeping things in good supply. Those of you that know personally would laugh your behinds off to see this up close for those just lurking and wondering this is a very doable adventure so stop thinking and start doing...........

In Hawaii,

Dave & Peggy

and Kua too!!

The Saga Continues

Sorry !

Lots of technical issues have kept us from being able to post here on the blog we hope to have these issues taken care of soon. So please be patient cause lots of exciting things are happening here.......see you soon

The Water Catchment Tank

Hi I'm Barney, Dave & Peggy's

neighbor from across the road.

Well things are still progressing at a snail's pace but there is progress. We been doing more clearing which helps with air movement. In doing so we occasionally run across some very interesting photo opportunities. Just off our soon to be lanai is a tree, that we do not know the name of yet, but it has the craziest looking roots. Finding them, buried deep among the rest of what grows here, is pretty interesting. This first photo which may be hard for you viewers to appreciate because it is only a small piece of the whole thing but it truly makes you stop and wonder, is it tree or ............

To put into perspective from the top of the root ball to the ground is about 5 feet.

Well, we have a water catchment tank, yet another piece of the plan in place. We decided before we arrived to pack and bring an above ground swimming pool, We substituted the original style vinyl liner for a black potable liner. The potable or safe drinking water style liner will allow us, once we get better at this catchment process, to have ample storage for all our water needs. All that's left to do is the cover and plumb in a supply line, from the homes gutter system. We think it has better curb appeal than the standard corrugated galvanized tank. The cover frame which we designed from materials we bought here was a pretty successful project and saved us big money. The cover itself will be a complimenting light brown poly style cover with a long twenty year warranty. It is something we have to order from the mainland and have it shipped directly to us unfortunately the shipping cost is more than the product.....but we will still be saving by using this approach. a picture with the cover will have to come later.

I must tell you we were and still chuckle about making it a swimming pool only because it is so hot and it looks so inviting but for now we stick to the plan and who knows one day we may decide on another for lounging with a cold drink and a good book.

Here was the process





There is actually two heavier courses beneath what was being spread here, some very large rock and then some 2 inch stuff. This is a first run sand mix that gets compacted well in place and then the number 4 sand, no rocks.

Here after compacting the vertical piers in place and laying the bottom rail all was level and ready for the wall.

Ok one last compaction, in the rain, It make not appear to be raining but water was dripping from the top of my head, the reason for the silly grin....

The pool wall up in place, boy what a buggah the roll started at 200 plus lbs and just about the time was over help showed up. I've decided that was a good thing because no one working for free need be called upon for such a task. Besides there was plenty left to do and many thanks to Scott for his help with the vertical supports lots of screw driving..

The frame work above the pool is my creation for a cover support. This will keep the tank free from debris the cover from making contact with the water. The cover is ordered and coming soon. Then it will be time for some plumbing and filtering. We've decided on a reverse osmosis system with the ultraviolet sanitizer for clean healthy water.

The strawberry guava is ripening and we have been sampling the couple of varieties we have, they are plentiful and most folks think they should be eradicated . The tree itself grows quickly, it is also a very hard wood and I'm sure will come in handy later on for other things. We are told that the wiley pig loves them when they fall to the ground. Neighbors say that the wild pig can be a real problem ,though we have not yet seen any at our place .........YET ; ) boar and sow are usually accompanied by up to a dozen piglets why just today we saw two that someone decided to make road-kill of I know gross huh but they are a real problem here and are very destructive We have a plan for their coming to our home............LUAU hahahaha Actually many folks do hunt for the meat.

Well things in the garden have been struggling lots of different bugs eating all our favorites so we decided to erect a small green house. Here you see the beginnings attached to the container. I said the guava tree would come in handy....

This is a continuation of our garden mostly the plants that folks gave as welcoming gifts...Gosh we just love the banana trees and Japanese pumpkin plant has gone crazy believe it or not it is growing out of a little 8 inch grow bag the vines must be near twenty feet now and show no signs of stopping.

Same area but more around the curve of the driveway. Yep that is D road in the background or should I say Alula Road Mostly folks say D road.







A frontal view of the greenhouse note the lattice we thought it gave it some curb appeal....hahahaha

I've also been clearing more all the time this will be the view from the front lanai looking abit left gives you yet more examples of how rough the landscape is on a 500 year old lava field.

Thanks for stopping by and Aloha !!!!!

Hi Everyone, Our neighbor, Tamala, who works at Kalapana Tropicals dropped these beautiful flowers off one day. Aren't they gorgeous? She is so sweet, always passing by and giving a shout out the window "Hi" to one of us whether she sees us or not.

Thought it was time for an up close picture just in case you were missing that smiling face. Also want to say thanks to the many that have emailed us and left comments here on the blog.

We've been experiencing some rising costs just like the rest of the you and decided to nip a few things in the bud before spending gets totally out of hand.

We've been keeping food in a cooler and that required ice which required traveling for the ice so we said time for a frig, but wait!! we don't have electricity! and you can't get power brought in until you have a building permit unless you want a temp pole which has to be installed by a licensed contractor. Okay then, we are all set with that to the tune of 1500.00 to 2000.00 plus we would have to pay upfront a sspp (special subdivision power policy) payment of 1500.00, per our location and because that is under 2k it must be paid up front. Over 2k the power co. will let you make payments over time. Being that we are not energy consious folks, as of yet, we figured a mthly power bill of 100.00 mth. Well we decided to look to alternatives and found that for the same money, actually a little less, we could get into a startup solar system and we could add to it yearly for the same amount as a yearly power co. payment. So we started with 3 solar panels, 4 deep cycle high capacity batteries, A 5000 watt inverter, charge controller and 75 amp battery charger for when there are long spells of rain. The system was fairly easy to install and within a day we were making our own power. This has given us back all our creature comforts and stopped the ridiculous spending we were doing on things like gas and ice. By the way when you see coolers advertised as 5-day coolers it absolutely means nothing as blocks of ice, at best with newspaper and extra Styrofoam , only lasts 3 days. It was costing near 200.00 mth just to keep food products cold. Our system is still a bit on the small side but we are able to now run a frig, water pump, tv, our computer and pretty much anything else we want with respect to drawing from a limited source. Once a day I also run our generator for 1 hour which has proven, for a couple weeks, to supplement during long periods of rain sufficiently. so we run with the sun during the day and batteries during the night. best of all no rate increases no power outages and best of all no mthly bill.

To offset the food bill, like we've always been used to, we have a garden growing. In just 45 days we are picking tomatoes and soon to pick string beans. We also have lots of other things growing as well and will soon be looking only for sources of protein. There are some very good buys on meat here as well as fish can be bought at the dock for half the supermarket price and sometimes less. Fruit, well the fruit here is quite frankly awesome!!!!! and either very inexpensive, at farmer markets, or free from neighbors or along the roadsides. The day I spent with the fellow I bought the solar equipment from Peggy sat outside and picked up all the mango that had fallen from his tree and I must say it was the most delicious mango we had ever had. Peg bought a pineapple, it has been in the pantry tent and this morning when I went in for our staples tote the smell of sweet pineapple had filled that tent, makes my tongue juice just thinking of it. As a matter of fact right after I'm done with this post I'll be cutting into that little darlin ; )

Well We're near ready to begin installing our permanent water catchment tank, a 21 ft round doughboy swimming pool but with a food grade liner so after filtering we will have drinking water for free as well. Our little camp catchment, which we don't drink from, is now full. that is some 500 gallons which we use to shower and clean dishes with. So we have it down to 1 needless trip for trash and drinking water. Things are coming together slowly.

More good news we have our house plans complete and in the hands of the architect for finally approval then of to the county for permitting still a ways off but we still have plenty to accomplish before building can begin. I was hopeful to start the posts and piers this week but I'm going to wait until the water catchment tank is up so maybe 2 more weeks. If you see our elevation drawings and don't quite understand them, we are building a post and pier home 8 ft off the ground with a 24 x 32 living space which is basically one large room like that of a studio with the bathroom being pushed out of the main living space onto the lanai (deck/porch) The entry side lanai is 10 x32 with an 8 x 16 L. The roof is metal the wall construction is described as single wall, no sheetrock!!!!!! no insulation !!!!!!! which is built with 4x4 studs @ 4ft oc with one continuous header around the whole place. the ceiling will be vaulted with a 6/12 pitch and the ridge beam will be a whopping 6 x 14 x 24 so there will be no posts in the living area.

Well that concludes this posting of Dave & Peggy's Great Hawaii Adventure........ALOHA !

All Play & No Work

Wow! how time flies mid July and before you know it summer will be over !!!............but not here ; ) We are all tied up with blueprints and permitting processes. the good news is we have drawings and as soon as i can share them I will. We have decided to build a wide open floor plan with a wrap around lanai (porch/deck). The lanai will near equal the square footage of the interior living space and the whole thing will be up on 8 foot posts all snuggled up close to the trees so we should have a nice tree house effect when completed. We hope to start construction this week. Please remember this is a one man show so things progress but very slowly. I mean why would one want to work when they can could be someplace like this....

Aahhh....... the ocean, a humbling place that simply reminds you just how insignificant we really are. The photo is of the coastline at McKenzie State Park.

The park is an Ironwood forest and the floor is covered in ironwood needles so it makes it great for tents. Although there is no admittance fee a permit from the county is required and a time element is involved. I suppose so folks don't take up permanent residence looks like a great home away from home to us !!!

Here are some more coastline shots

Amazingly the drive there has the same amount of wow factor to it most of the time we were on one lane dirt/mud roads very little sunshine due to the canopy foliage incredibly thick so thick what use to grow on the ground now grows in mulch plies mother nature made among the crossing branches. I'm sorry the photo just can't quite capture the awe of it all.

This road went on for miles through the jungle with very little appearance from the sun, the canopy is so thick.....

The deeper into the jungle we went the darker it got and the road became narrower and much less traveled practically a jeep road......thankfully we have a jeep !!! ; ) and being a booney crasher from way back Peg did a great job of negotiating the pot holes and the occasional coconut lying about.

Here are some shots of the tide pools of Kapoho where the snorkeling is out of the world, sorry to say the film camera that is needed for under water shots isn't quite full yet so I'll save those shots for later but here are some of the area.

The tide pools from the water world is amazing one second your in 2 inches of water and the next 15 feet. The coral variations and colors are far greater here than most any other spot. I'll try to get here often. There are many other photos and We'll try to squeeze them in from time to time

In closing our little excursion we ended the loop passing by our favorite little volcano who seems to be quite busy down at the coastline. For those not familiar with this volcano it has a main crater and many legs or rift zones and at certain locations along these rift zones new vents occur from time to time which is what happened last July and it is this new vent that has fed new lava to the sea via tunnels. The point of entry into the ocean is explosive and best viewed at night here a couple of shots one day one night from different directions.

Till next time Boys & Girls ALOHA!!!!!!!!

Gettin Busy

Camp is good, all things considered, we learn our lessons enjoyably slow and we take time everyday to give thanks for all the wonderful people, places and things we come in contact with. From the rain pounding on the ceiling tarps to folks dropping by with gifts of welcome. Wonderful folks like Scott & Julie, Randy & Tamala, Patrick & Virgina, Richard & Lily, Matt & Borum, David & Kelly, Paula, Katherine, Annie and Mr MacDonald. We'd like to Thank everyone for their Warm Alohas and many gifts you've made us feel so welcome.
















Cruiser is a chameleon changes color from brown to vibrant green, he hangs around camp along the driveway. I was lucky enough to have Cruiser pose for pictures.








On a more serious note it's time to report on the state of the project............Oh !!!that's right we're building a house.. For two weeks we have lugged rock and filled a major trench through the middle of the proposed sight, not a good time. Trench filled with 4 truck loads, of 1-2 man minus ( it's a local term for rock size) Then all the rocks are rolled and turned and fitted together like a puzzle. Time consuming but does a nice job of making a deep hole filled with nearly solid rock to make a nearly level level surface on which to build our house. From this point we ordered up some 1 inch minus red cinder to fill all the small "pukas" holes/spaces around the big rock. The cinder, 3 loads, we spread with the tractor and raked out the finish product........aahh starting to look like something now!!











rock by rock, biggest in the bottom - smallest to the top,



















All the rock in place, our pad now ready for a finer coat of rock





















The red cinder not good for anything but looks and filling holes, very light and washes away easily












































also generated another two truck loads from the cesspool hole. Cesspool ??? Well here, because drainage is so good, they allow these 7 ft round 12 ft deep holes for all household waste a pretty simple and straight forward method.

An example of one of the many gifts folks have dropped by with. The plant name is Vandiea, a gift from Tamala

The next area we've begun working on, clearing trees and stumps and soil, is the site for the water tank, a 21 ft round pool with potable liner and like the house pad it too has a major low spot so looks like more rock to lug.......Peg's turn !! ; )





ALOHA!!