House Progress


It feels like we're really advancing on the house projects. Instead of removing, we're adding. Heaps upon heaps of weeds and unwanted vegetation has been removed and we've constructed planters all along the front of the house and along our curved rock wall. Pieces of flat pahoehoe lava form the border, and the inside will be filled with red a`a lava. We've hauled about ten truck loads up here from lava fields so far, but we need more.


My soil scientist husband tells me the soil in our yard is terrible and I believe him because he's really smart, and because many of the fruit trees that were here when we moved in were almost dead and the grass is patchy. So Monday, we brought in two truck loads of nice red soil and a also a truck load of gravel to create the pad for our future gazebo. We also rented a bobcat for two days to move the dirt around.


We practically spent our life's savings at Sunrise Nursery Saturday (a great place by the way, she had everything on our list except the sugar apple which I am told is pretty hard to find) Now our investment can thrive in good soil. Wow, digging holes for fruit trees is a chore in our rocky soil. A jackhammer would really be in order.


Chris waters the plants we bought Saturday: white bird of paradise, Tahitian tiare gardenias, croutons, seven orange trees, a pomegranate tree, a star fruit tree, a mango tree, a jaboticaba tree.


Ben spreads dirt where Chris plans to make a parking area with grass blocks.


I forgot to mention Chris refinished our front doors. It's too bad I don't have a before photo. What a difference it made!

Our Strange and Incredible Ocean

Duane took us on an overnight deep sea fishing trip last weekend and we had an amazing time. Duane is energetic and optimistic at every opportunity and he loves to fish. We trolled until just after sunset and had two good strikes but no hook-ups. Then we headed a couple of miles off shore and set out our parachute which drags in the water to slow the boat down so the current and breeze don't push us too far. Next, we sent two lines down with small fish as bait, and Duane put out one floater line near the surface.

Not long after dark the squid started biting and we filled up a cooler with squid to use as live bait. The rest came home for calamari. I get so caught up with the squid that I forget about the potential of getting a bite on the big reels. Squid are one of the strangest animals I have encountered. Their tentacles grab you while you're trying to place them in the cooler, when you reel them out of the water they spit ink everywhere, and in the water they are amazingly fast, stealthy and they can even light up in a fluorescent green color. Dolphins show up frequently to hunt the squid. It's a thrill to hear them breathing heavily as they cut through the water, chasing squid and hunting as a team. One dolphin swam just under our boat and snapped up a squid right in front of my eyes.

When the dolphins show up the squid scatter and quit biting. A couple of squid tried a different approach and came right up to the boat and held perfectly still to avoid dolphin detection. Always a hunter, I reached over the edge of the boat and snatched up one a squid with my hand before it knew what happened.

Strange, strange creatures swim around the ocean at night and all kinds of crazy, indescribable animals were attracted to our underwater light: long, needle-like fish, various blobs, a small flying fish, tiny crabs that float around. When it comes to ocean animals, fact is stranger than any fiction of science fiction humankind can imagine.

We caught a really nice mahi mahi (about 30 pounds) on a live squid, and later they let me reel in a small ahi. The fish are beautiful- so brightly colored, strong and streamlined. Really amazing creatures! I was even more impressed the next evening when we enjoyed seared ahi for dinner.

Duane shows off our 30-pound mahi mahi.


We found this bizarre creature stuck in our parachute the next day. I'm telling you, there is weird stuff out there.

Blowing Up Some Cheap Chinese Junk

Americans are terrible consumers. With all the practice we have at shopping you'd think we'd be good at it (my mom sure is!) but too many of us make purchase decisions based on price alone and we completely ignore quality. This has made airplane travel miserable because airlines provide minimum service so they can compete on price. It has also resulted in stores packed with cheap junk that we insist on filling our houses with.

The fridge in our old house only lasted seven years. My parents' water heater lasted about that long. Chris installed a brand new Chinese piston into a 50cc scooter, and it wore out after one week. Next, the windings in the motor of our Shop Vac melted after less than two years of ownership. So to get full enjoyment out of our Shop Vac, we sucked up some gasoline into the machine and watched it explode.

Safety tip: If you want to vacuum up gasoline with a Shop Vac, take a few steps back.

A chance to stretch my legs

I've always wanted to hike into Honokane Nui Valley, which is the next valley past Pololu Valley in Hawi. After a week of constant sitting at my desk at work my legs were happy to make the trek down into Pololu, up the other side, then back down into Honokane Nui. Chris and I took our time and made a whole day of it. The view from the ridge between the two valleys is incredible! And the drop down into Honokane Nui is pretty fun because the 2006 earthquake wiped out part of the trail, making the descent super steep. Someone put a lot of work into stringing ropes between the trees. With those to hang on to, the descent wasn't too difficult. We also enjoyed walking through a small bamboo forest in the bottom of the valley that gave way to a babbling brook. Very peaceful.



A view of Honokane Nui Valley from the top of the ridge.



Chris demonstrates the steep section of trail dropping down into Honokane Nui.

A view of the beach from the top of the ridge.

The beach. We've arrived.