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!