Vicky Durand’s Adventure Blog #6

March 17, 2023

Welcome to the news of this week and thanks for checking in.

It has been a beautiful amazing week with lots of sun and heat (almost too much actually) and such a contrast from the cold and rain of previous week. Haumana, my golden doodle and I made it to the beach for a short but lovely swim.

There were quite a few highlights this week. One of them was a two night visit from my young student helpers-Alana, Megan and Eli who arrived on Sunday. I am forever grateful to them for their help on Oahu and helping me get the cats over here. They camped and we had some lovely times together and great dinners around a big bon fire.

Eli also constructed a frame around the cat greenhouse. I will put a tarp on the frame and it will give some added protection from the rain and sun. Eventually I will make a little patio there and add some outdoor furniture.

On Monday the three of us hacked our way through the thick hau up to the pool and water fall on the top of the property. Unfortunately some big tulip trees had fallen on the hau and Eli had to looper our way thru in several places. In the next months I am hoping to get this trail opened up and made more direct so pool access is easier and a shorter walk.

Some creature comforts were added this week and the hot shower is now working perfectly. I also got a barbecue for the kitchen that will bake as well as grill. My little kitchenette is functioning great for compact cooking. With all the sun the Eco Flow solar generator is performing like a champ and so I decided to add a browning crock pot that arrived yesterday. Looking forward to making some meals in that.

The orange tree I planted eighteen years ago is now twenty feet high and full of oranges. I have the best juicer ever and have big glasses of fresh squeezed orange juice every day. Three oranges make a huge glass.

Work continues on the agriculture shed pretty steadily this week.

A couple days were shortened by issues. Chris’s truck broke down and his main helper Daylan had to take his wife to the doctor and then child care on Friday. Seems like there were also a lot of equipment failures this week. Bradley, who is moving some earth around, had his big backhoe breakdown so I am waiting on him to have a spot to plant taro, potato and fruit trees. He is also flattening a place for a plastic shed that will go next to green house.

Then, yesterday I was hoping to get Cliff to do some clearing on the next lo’i up mauka and he texted me his van broke down on the way here. So, this work is rescheduled for Monday. He did show up last week to trim the breadfruit trees which were way to high for picking. Life moves at a much slower pace here with many delays which I am getting used to. I have had several lunches up in the shed with the building team. Besides being so nice, they are super cooks and bring hot meals and often include me. If there is extra they leave it here for my dinner. Such generosity and they are a fun loving threesome who listen to music, laugh constantly and have a great time while working. It is a joy to have them here.

There is no garbage pick up here. Yesterday I took a truck load of metal scraps to the local dump for the once in every three month metal recycling day. Today I am taking another truck load of trash to the land fill . I am working on keeping things cleaned up and going every week with all the black bags.

Gradually the piles of building materials are moving out of the front yard so things are looking better each week. Besides constant rearranging I am doing a lot of one of my favorite activities-weed eating. I just love it as it is immediate gratification. Speaking of gratitude I watched one of Audrey Katagawa’s zoom on gratitude which I thought was pretty interesting. Here is the zoom link 

https://www.multiculturalcooperationa.net/content/interfaith-service-of-remembrance-gratitude

Other creature comforts was a cat drinking water fountain. It looks like the cats are loving this and drinking more water which prevents kidney disease. I am delighted to see them all drinking.

Another plus of the week…Many years ago I found a big metal framed picnic table sitting along side the road. I took it home to Tantalus, bought some new tiles for the top and had it in my garden there for years. Then, when I relocated to Saint Louis Heights I moved it there with the idea of painting, but it was always too windy to spray. Then, It came here in the container of garden materials. Yesterday, I finally got it sanded and painted coconut green, I have four new stacking chairs and am happy to finally have a table for meals or gathering here in the yard.

OK, I thought this week’ blog would be short, but it seems to have grown a little with important happenings. And, I am off to the Jungle Spa to get my hair cut now. 

Thank you for tuning in on Blog # 6 and please leave comments.