Vicky Durand’s Adventure Blog #20

June 17, 2023

Welcome to Vicky Durand’s Adventure Blog and thanks for tuning in this week. Hard to believe it is already up to #20.

It has been a good week progress wise.

Early Sunday morning I went to the bay with my mask and fins and had a great swim. Derek came later and we worked together to clear brush that exposed some beautiful old rock work. Makes me think the Kings Highway might have gone through here. I am planning on doing some research to see what I can find. The area overlooks Wailua Cove and the stones are each about a ton forming steps up a steep cliff. It has a special feeling and I will try to get some pictures.

Ryan from Wispering Winds came in his antique red truck on Monday and loaded up the big wooden box holding the metal roll up door and it is finally is out of the front yard. Turns out Shane who is doing the septic can use it so I was happy to see it go off to a good home. And, we did a trade for the extra materials he needed for the septic system. A win win situation. Turned out there were extra costs not figured in the original quote as Patrick had to deliver four loads (13 tons each load) of special gravel from town to spread out over the leach line. This was a necessary, but huge project that I am very happy to have behind.

Tuesday morning I turned in my application for a mini grant to kick start the first coconut planting in August. After that I watched a zoom for the next Hawaii Department of Agriculture government farm grant coming down the pike which I will also apply for in the next weeks. I am keeping fingers crossed for success. Indrajit has thought of another exciting plan for the coconut/niu project and I will be sharing this when things firm up.

Early Wednesday morning I took Haumana back to the vet for an Xray. She is healed up so can now be out of her cage. This is a big relief for both of us although she was an exemplary patient. Hopefully she will stay away from vehicles from now on.

The early morning drives to town are magical as there are hardly any cars on the road so we drive down the middle avoiding some of the twists and turns. The sun rise coming through the clouds over the ocean is spectacular.

However, the return home in the afternoon after endless errands and with sharing the single lane bridges with steady streams of tourist cars is less than wonderful. But that is the price for living here in this heavenly place. When the building is finished town trips will hopefully be very infrequent.

We had a big rain Wednesday night so the ground was pretty muddy Thursday and progress seemed so slow. And, it is now Friday morning 11:30 and the workers have not arrived. Every three months there is metal recycling and supposedly they are there in line. But, there is so much to do here I find it extremely frustrating…

On a positive note my new gate is on and waiting for installation of the solar unit. They have cut one hole for the six foot sliding door and are making the wooden frame. After much manual and machine work the piles of dirt and holes in the immediate yard are all smoothed overt now are ready for grass and gravel.

The cats are having a ball with all the loose dirt, heavy machinery and tree branches to play on. Since Mana has been out of the cage she is not chasing them as much. The mongeese have discovered the cat food are are making messes. I have been trapping them and relocating near the land fill.

I listened to an amazing zoom put on by  the San Diego Writers Group put on with Rabbi Steve Leder. He has been the Rabbi at the Beverly Hills Synagog for thirty years and has written five books. Among many interesting ideas he said the happiest and most peaceful  people are living both their professed values and their living values. Also that everyone has had adventure, love, sadness, loss and we just want to tell our story so our loved ones will know how to remember us.

This is one reason I am doing this blog, but also to document the story of my Niu Now movement here. Before moving to Hawaii for my first chapter in life, I grew up on a five acre farm with chickens, horses, dogs and cats. I was a member of Future Farmers raising animals. We all fell in love with Hawaii and that was the end of farm life in Southern California. But, now, I am happily back on five acres with my own farming adventure. 

It was a great week for book sales and I am anxiously awaiting more books from Ingram Publisher Services.

Today is International Surfing Day and so cool that Wave woman was on the first International surfing team to Peru where she took first place.

Thanks for tuning in and best wishes for a great week.

Aloha Nui,

Vicky