Friday, May 30, 2008

Wednesday evening pictures

GB and I went out Wed evening. There were 2 feral cats taking over the downstairs of our house. Since we already anticipate the move being really stressful for our 3 kitties, we knew we had to remove those kitties. Our cat Kika is really territorial, but he's also old and missing teeth and still picks fights.... and with each fight we run the risk of abcesses and stuff....
See my long justification for catching the cats and taking them to the humane society??


This is how we started the day

But the house!!!

a few doors are finished

beautiful railings are up and waiting for glass


decking on the downstairs ceiling is almost complete!

the red tv room!

more railing!

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Bonfire!

GB discovered that the phone line had to go right underneath the massive scrap woodpile. What better way to get rid of it than an impromptu barbecue/ party/ bonfire, where a bunch of prepubescent kids could build a humongous fire.

Noam went early to start it up.

Around dinner time a whole gaggle of kids was there, enjoying the flames
The fire continued to grow (that pit is at least 6ft diameter and 2ft deep)
It was also Liberty's birthday, so a cake was in order
The fire was massive. Here it's at least 2' above the ground and HOT HOT HOT. We brought stuff for smores, but the marshmallows had to be roasted over the grill.
Here's Buck singing with the kids. He made a up a song- something about believing in yourself.... they are ALL singing with him.... there's a short video of them singing below. It's hard to make it all out, but I still had to include it.




post script. The bonfire was on Sunday May 25th. Today is Thursday May 29th.... the fire was STILL burning under all of the dirt! I was there earlier today and there was some smoke. In the evening, we all endeavored to put it out. I couldn't believe how much was still embering!

plantings

We've planted a bunch of stuff recently, but haven't always taken pictures (the main way I remember). So I thought I'd put a list of what we've stuck in the ground this last week or so, so we have a record of it
  • lemon tree on Hamakua side of house
  • lime tree on Hamakua side of house
  • black bamboo.... bambusa lako near areca palms
  • bamboo along road bambusa multiplex - the bamboo is the one from the Hatton's house in Papaaloa

Friday, May 23, 2008

utilities and fish tank!

We got the aquarium today! It's humongous..... It's hard to tell from this picture.
Here you can kinda get a sense of it. It looks really great in the built-in area.

The REAL reason for today's trip to the land was to lay this telephone wire. GB and I went to town in the morning to pick it up.... 1900 ft. ugh.
The guy at Alpha Electric Supply loaded it into the truck with a forklift... not a good sign!

The thing probably weighed about 100-120lbs. That's a lot!
GB was rolling it up to our starting point near the highway.
We quickly veered down towards the gulch- so that the wire wouldn't be in our way at all. It was pretty jungly at first.
Then we headed down into the gulch- or rather the walls of the gulch. It was steep and slippery, and there was little place for traction. GB did the vast majority of the work (while I carried the machete)- it was ROUGH! he looks a little stunned here. It was HOT too.
Phew. Up and out of the gulch. Here we crossed the road. We dug a small trench. GB started it... And then I completed it while he went to get some material to cover the cable with.

He wasn't there to take a picture of me.... So I took a picture of the little trench. In the ROCK. It was one of the easier parts of the day. But still HARD.Tractor guy is here with a load of cinder
But we had to get back to the roll of cable. We decided NOT to go back into the gulch on the other side of the road, but rather to put the cable in the bushes just at the edge of the road.

Here's me doing the most I really did, rolling that thing. I took it across the bottom of the goat enclosure. I was huffing and puffing. It was hard.
But somehow, we made it all the way to the water tank!
We should finish up this weekend.... The rest of the way should be a lot easier. For one, the spool is a lot lighter. Another thing is that we don't have to go thru any more bush! We have to do some digging, but will most likely use a lot of the ditch that's already there.

And tonight? Pooped and sore. But it's good.

May 22 update

Things are moving along at the house! The upstairs is really close to being complete.

Super papa carries the child and some lights down to the house. See the new blue cast on his left foot there?

Luka checks out the front door. "Mommy, there's a fish on it!"
The indirect lighting valences we created are all done and look great.
Align CenterDavid and Lynn were there putting the cabinets in the laundry room.

Loren has been working on the railing posts.

The top of the pond is framed for pouringend of the day chocolate face

Sunday, May 18, 2008

planting weekend!

Saturday evening GB and I took advantage of the gorgeous weather we're having and popped over to the land to plant a couple of things. We brought over some cycads (as yet unplanted), but did stick in the ground one kaffir lime tree and one variegated ficus.

Sunday we went back, this time with Luka and Noam, do plant a bunch of palms and bananas.

The palms are native loulu palms-a slow growing but really pretty fan palm.

The kids played down by the mango tree (in the shade!), and GB and I got to work.

Apparently this pic wasn't good enough.... GB was trying to get a picture of my face
Here I am!
oh, and those overalls I'm wearing?? I begged my mom to get them for me when I was in 7th grade. I needed them. They were like $70 then, and she must have been the nicest mom ever to get them for me. Aren't you glad they still fit mom?? and still being worn??
my happy smile in the last picture was short lived. Luka had been having a rough weekend- lots of frustration and long crying jags. I had no patience left....


Here's me hiding in the car with my headphones out... drowning out his crying. That sounds mean.... but he was being truly unreasonable and inconsolable. Better I remove myself.


Lunch break.
Luka is over his issue.
Luka somehow manages to get filthy every time.

Luka and I headed over to Buck and Lena's house and picked up some keiki bananas. They've been clearing out their whole banana patch.

These guys went straight into the ground behind the water tank

Noam was really helpful- with Luka, with the palms, and here with some scrap wood we were using to keep the grass down.



Friday, May 16, 2008

pond! and light!

Ferrocement the pond!!!



looks awesome
dining room light!