planting again!

Banana Delivery. I was in the house feeling sick and GB drove down in the tractor with 2 large bunches in the bucket. Yumm

Bromeliad flower

GB started working on planting the new bamboo we bought, guadua angustifolia

This is the bamboo we're planting between us and evil neighbor. I wasn't feeling well, so GB was on his own-- he went out there with the tractor and cleared some area/ knocked down a bunch of junk trees and then yesterday planted 3 of the 7 we bought!

Here's some of the cleared area (hard to tell!)

GB working hard!

Transforming the jungle (and for the record, there is not one native species in this photo- lest someone think we're doing the land a disservice)

cleared pathway to new planting area

Today, Sunday, he and Ra'am will finish the job! Go bamboo!

storm

November 2009 was stormy. We had 2 big weekend storms, the first of which resulted in 2 of our temple bamboo falling over :(
They were originally planted valentines day 2007. And then Super Bowl Sunday 2008 one of the Bamboo fell in the big landslide. It was replanted and is doing well, though much shorter than it's counterparts.

So with 2 down, we had to figure out what to do. We chose the "easy" route. Ra'am and I dug out the holes that they came out of... GB gave the bamboo a big haircut with the chainsaw, and we righted them. We're HOPING they come back ok. They're hardy plants, so they should be fine, but we're sad anyways!

Wet and stormy day! The pool was needing water before this.... now? Totally full!

Bamboo down :( Digging out from underneath

Landslide #2 (aka Rain, Rain, and more Rain!)

About a year ago we had a landslide. So, we hired a soil specialist and we didn't do the minimum. We did EVERYTHING he suggested. Yesterday we had about a FOOT OF RAIN in 24 hours.

Noam and I went to the land to survey the pool for the decking.


After we finished I walked around upstairs to see how far the rain blew into our lanai.



...and then I looked down from our master bedroom!


DISASTER!
The side of the hill has collapsed only about 15 feet from the edge of our foundation!
That bamboo slid about 50 feet down the hill and the hill slid down around it.


Part of the wall fell revealing that they, in fact, had not put any rebar under all the wall.
FRACK!


The hill slumped at the top about 4 feet and then....

...the water dug a channel about 20 feet wide and 60 feet long.


I took Noam home and Karen called for re-enforcements.


I surveyed the damage and dug out our beautiful plants....


...above and beyond the call of duty Gene and Jeff showed up to help. Jeff bought a huge plastic sheet.


Remember this is Superbowl Sunday and these guys left the game for this! Gene obviously has the good ideas.


Jeff and I mitigate the water causeway the best we can.

And when we finished, we feel better, but the rain pours down even harder as I write this. I can only hope we don't lose more of our hillside.


"tryin to find the sun;
And I wonder, still I wonder, who’ll stop the rain.”

House Progress

GB and I had a little time (plus childcare) and went over to the land to check out the house and also prep for our upcoming tree planting

We were thrilled to see the beginnings of stairs! So far we (and mostly the construction guys have been climbing up on sometimes precarious ladders)

Corner beam configuration

buckled subfloor : (
There's been so much rain. We had a meeting with Gene right after seeing this. He said they've noticed it and will try to get a refund on these pieces of plywood (since it happened even before the big rains began). In any case, they'll cut out and replace any bad sections like this


Just a quick bamboo update. This is the malay dwarf bamboo that we planted back in Feb 2007.

Feb 2007

December 2007

Birthday Surprise Hollow Tile

What a surprise birthday present for Karen!

We went out to see the progress of the previous days and found that there were guys working.... on a Sunday?!?!? I have no idea where Gene found these guys but I can assure you that it's rather unusual to find guys who are willing to work on a Sunday!

We were thrilled to see this vertical movement from the slab! These guys are laying hollow tile.

The temple bamboo (as well as all the bamboo) is putting out some large shoots. Bamboo shoots look like asparagus spears to me.GB is standing next to this same "spear" for perspective.

And the pool!!! Looking very "pool-ish"!

Moving forward and earthworks

So far each day there's been some major changes at the land. After a weekend in South Kohala with Mike, we came home to see what had been done. Even though we were pooped, we were so excited to see what was new!


Looking up towards the water tank, you can see the beginnings of the pad for the shed.

This is a close up of that shed pad
Looking down on the future house. Looks like the slab will take up the whole area.
Markings on the house area to show where the footings will go!

Unrelated to the house.... our lovely bamboo that we always write about has gone to seed. We're not sure exactly what this means (many conflicting reports). This is a flash pic of how the seeds look, and then some close ups. They are very pretty....

GB looks happy :)Luka too