Vicky Durand’s Adventure Blog #107

July 27, 2025 

Welcome to Adventure Blog #107

Thanks for tuning in. It is a rainy afternoon here in Hana. It has been a pretty good week with the exception of having to put Mr. Sad Eyes down. No wonder he has looked sad as he had a tumor in his mouth and Dr. Alan said it would be a long painful death if I didn’t end it. As much as I hate doing this I never want them to suffer. This always adds sadness to the surrounding days.

On a happy note I attended my first Hana birthday party for Teava who turned two. He is so smart and loves to visit Mana dog.

I was lucky to get another big batch of mangos which I have been processing and freezing for chutney And other things.

I am starting to get out in the garden to weed and that makes me feel more like myself. I have a new young and strong weed eater, named Toby. Now that we have so much cleared the new challenge is keeping it mowed. We actually need a four wheel drive riding mower which is at the top of our wish list. Even with that here is always more hand work to do. There is a lot of hono hono grass growing up in the taro and potatoes which needs to be pulled out by hand. It is easy to pull out and a very rewarding job so I love it.

Was hoping to do some this eve, but woke up with a sore throat and feeling less than wonderful.

I have been slowly but sure digging myself out of a sh_t load of bureaucratic paper work. It is like the universe is saying OK now it is time for you to get organized and get this all behind. This job will probably go all through August unfortunately. Besides my knee followed by hip surgery didn’t help. And, I have been so focused on getting the property in order I let some paper work slide. Gardening is always my preference, but it already feels great to have started the projects. I planted this taro six months ago and this is just a small part of what we have growing.

Zac and two friends came Thursday for a small first  taro harvest. They made lau laus and are bringing me some soon which I am looking forward to.

Yesterday Heide and Jenny drove out from Kula with some of my belongings I left on Oahu. Heide brought a great lunch and it was fun to see them.

This vice will come in handy for future projects.

I am coughing and need to close this out so to make some more hot tea for my throat.

The Niu Forever film premiered this week at the Hawaii Conservation Conference and at Native Books last eve.

It will also aire on PBS and I will get the date. Hana Hou Magazine  wants to do a story on the projects so that is exciting.

Meanwhile the coconuts in our gene bank here are getting ready for planting.

Thanks for tuning in. Wishing a great week for all.

Aloha Nui,

Vicky

Vicky Durandʻs Adventure Blog #106

July 19, 2025

Welcome to Adventure Blog #106

Thanks for tuning in….It has been another busy week.

A friend Rob Kay from OAHU came out to experience Hana. Rob is an author and writes about healthy aging and other topics in the Honolulu Advertiser. I showed him around parts of Hana best I could in my present condition and he was pretty blown away. Also introduced him to some of my buddies out here and the days flew by. We visited Niketa Lewis who makes great food and picked up a zuccine lasagna.

We also went up to my friend Cherylʻs tea house and farm who is trying to build a house here in Hana. Rob helped me with some heavy projects so that was a big bonus.

On Wednesday I had an appointment for Mister Sad Eyes with a vet in Kula. Unfortunately Mister got away on the last cat carrier transfer so we visited Dr. Alan Kaufman catless. I now have to make another trip this next week. We leave early in the morning to avoid any possible road work and go out the very dramatic back Kaupo way. It is wild scenery looking up to the backside of Haleakala. There are herds of black goats and cattle along the way.

I had my hip and knee X-rays in Kahalui so I could avoid a Honolulu trip. Yesterday was a zoom meeting to let me know all looks good. What a relief to hear this news!! Now I can get back to selective gardening and bending.

Yesterday Walt the mower mowed a water hose. Luckily his wife Patty let me know so two hours later I checked to see that he had just gone merrily off leaving the water running. This would have drained my big water tank had I not checked and was able to shut the water off.

This morning was all about fixing leaks as James came to repair the hose and fix another leak.

I have been hearing from Cory that power usage was exceptionally high and something was wrong with the system. Sure enough the water pump had been running for several days and causing the system to be overused. Once again James was able to show me how to turn the pump off. It can get narly hectic out here.

Luckily I have some great help who usually will come to my rescue.

I was able to get a big bunch of beautiful mangos and am going to process them for chutney. Tenzen and Sarah have a farm and raise the best papayas ever. They were leaving on a trip so they just gave me all this fruit.

This has to be done soon as the fruit spoils quite fast so will cut this short.

I have been listening to a wonderful Audible book called Big Magic-Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert. This book is so right on and I love it.

Will sign off for now. Wishing all of you readers a “Creative” week.

Aloha Nui,

Vicky

Vicky Durandʻs Adventure Blog

Welcome to Adventure Blog #105

July 6, 2025

I had to skip last weekʻs blog because I was too depressed with Rennie leaving. She and her husband Billy were here for two weeks helping me and feeding the cats. They had to get back home and time for me to get a grip and move on. I have to admit It has been a very challenging time trying to keep everything going here and heal. I am going to PT two times a week and it is getting better. I have now moved to using cane in the house which makes me feel better.

So this has all dramatically affected our progress here,but the coconuts are growing and I am hoping to get the web site finalized asap.

July 13

A whole week has now passed and I have to get this out today. I must admit this has been a VERY difficult time recovering from two surgeries and trying to get mobile again. Been using a walker and a cane which makes getting around this big place awkward, slow, and very tiring. The only good thing is that I am getting more mobile and stronger, but it is a slow process.

For the first time I did not have to drive my dog. Mana to Kahalui for grooming. Mana, a feisty Golden Doodle, hates the car-particularly the two hour windy road. She used to throw up which has mostly stopped now, but she is miserable in the car. We are blessed to have found Irena  who has a mobile grooming service and Mana loves her. Irena came out and spent hours clipping, trimming and bathing.

Besides everything else being away from my desk for so long has left me with a huge amount of overdue paper work which I am trying to dig through and organize.

PT is taking a lot of time with the exercises, stretching and icing. I have been going to Hana Health to a state of the art setup. Now Brendon is on vacation for two weeks so I have to do it all on my own. I have been seeing Brendon for a while now and he is a wonderful help.

A feral mother cat showed up here and has managed to have several litters. I finally got some neutering appointments and my friend helped me set traps yesterday. We only managed to get three, but I think one was the mother. I delivered them to Sharon this AM who takes them to the Humane Society in Kahalui and brings back tomorrow. This will be ongoing for awhile.

The cat food seems to bring in the mongooses and we have been over run. I have been setting traps, catching them and rehoming. Most people out here just kill them, but even though they are mean little buggers I canʻt bring myself to do that. Trapping them will also be ongoing.

This is short because a friend from Oahu is due this afternoon (soon) for a couple day visit so I need to get going. 

I guess the big adventure is just getting through this period in time and moving ahead. We have had a lot of off and on rain so everything is growing like crazy. In the last couple of days I have been able to get some trimming done. This was a papaya tree that was going to fall on my laundry shed.

The pool got icky so it had to be drained and is now full. It will be good for PT in another month when I can get it.

Wishiing everyone a great week in the midst of this difficult and sad political time.

Aloha Nui,

Vicky

Vicky Durandʻs Adventure Blog #104

June 21, 2005

Welcome to Adventure Blog #104

It has been a quiet healing and PT week. Each day I am getting stronger, And it is easier to get around.

It has been really great having my daughter Rennie and husband Billie here. They have been a big help especially with feeding the cats and dogs. They will stay till the end of next week and then hopefully I can manage on my own.

This past week has also been about weed eating and clearing grass that due to frequent shower storms has been growing at a rapid pace.

The big news is the rock wall progress.. I canʻt get up there right now but my friend Cheryl took some pictures. Slowly but surely the rest of the walls will be uncovered and rebuilt.

This will be short as this is sort of a down time for recuperation.

Some old friends from young days cames out to Hana to visit me yesterday and we had a lovely late evening. We spent some of yesterday recovering. It was a hard day with the news of the bombing and the loss of Bradley cat the day before.

Thanks for tuning in-wish I had more exciting news.

Aloha nui,

Vicky

Vicky Durandʻa Adventure Blog #103

Welcome to Vicky Durandʻs Adventure Blog #103

June 15, 2025

Well, this has been a very unusual past few weeks-days I do not want to repeat.

The long Memorial Day weekend was wonderful! We got two new varieties of Hawaiian coconuts planted along with 8 new trees. More hau clearing took place up on the hill. Slapei made me a new banana garden. And, we got lots of odds and ends accomplished to make a successful weekend.

We decided to take an early plane back to Honolulu on Tuesday morning. I was going to have my six week check on my knee replacement and be back home on Maui six hours later.

The best laid plans somehow occasionally go wrong ………And, it took 16 days to get back home. 

Right after landing I went into the womenʻs room and before I knew it I got side swiped by a teetering woman next to me. I didn’t even see her coming at me and I just fell smack to the hard floor on my left side and broke my left hip. Luckily there was a caring nurse in the bathroom who along with her friend scooped me up. I should have called the ambulance right there, but I muscled it down to Jitʻs truck and got myself in. We went right to where I was headed anyway, but to the ER at Straub.  ER said it would be two hours before I saw a doctor. I knew I had an appointment so I unchecked myself and headed up stairs in a wheel chair. It is a  long painful saga, but after a two day wait I finally got my surgery on Thursday morning to pin my hip. I stayed in the hospital until Sunday JUNE 1st when I took a transport to Rebab of The Pacific .

 I STAYED there rehabbing for twelve days before getting back home this last Thursday June 12th..  My daughter Rennie was coming for vacation, but came a few days early to take me back to Hana.

ROTP had  three hours of pt everyday and was a great place for beginning recovery, . The aids, nurses and doctors were the absolute BEST. But the food and coffee was just the worst The dinner trays would arrive as early as 4:15 which is a horror for someone who dines at 8. Some old friends came by to help me and bring food and that was great. Being as I did not plan a stay I had no clothes. A HUGE help was Karen who was on her way to the Goodwill and had some cast off clothes. Both she and Josephina went out and bought more clothes and pjs. and now I am home to continue the work. Getting home was a tad challenging.

I am really so lucky I didnʻt hit my head, break my left arm and or damage my knee replacement. IT WAS also fortunate to get a lady to stay here ad feed the cats. It  was all on the same side so that has slowed my knee bending down a tad.

I am looking forward to getting strong again and baking to my regular life. Yesterday a few Hana friends came by and today My dear friend Cheryl came with her beautiful flowers.

Gotta take a rest now. So happy to be back home.

Thanks for tuning in.

Aloha Nui,

Vicky

Vicky Durandʻs Adventure Blog

May 18, 2025

Welcome to Blog #102

It has been another mostly nice week here. I say mostly because getting to PT is a big hurtful challengeI keep doing my exercises and icing and am hoping each week gets better. This has been a huge drain on my energy.

Actually things are getting a little better as I made it out to the garden yesterday to do some weeding. This always is good for my soul and I hope to get back this afternoon.

Also during my lay-up the mongooses have taken over. During the last ten days I have trapped and rehomed about twenty five of the little monsters. When they start bothering the cats I draw the line. Most people just kill them, but I canʻt do that. Bad karma…..I take them all to one place about five miles away where they can reunite.

The best news of the week is Koali Niu got itʻs first donation. Jane Schmaus who was an early founder of the Oceanside Surfing Museum kindly made a generous donation. With these funds I have hired Ben who trained with Hanaʻs master rock wall builder and  says the rocks speak to him to start the first redo on one of the ancient rock walls. Gradually as more funds come in this will be one focus. Then we will plant taro in front of the walls and the hill will be gorgeous terraces with rock walls, coconut trees and taro reinstating the ancient landscape.

Another biggie this week is I finally got my rattan furniture that had been at Rattan Creations on Beretania Street for over five years. Over the years I kept going there and trying to get her to complete the refinishing. It was always some excuse with a promise of “soon” it will be ready. Apparently she was conning me and my pleas went on deaf ears because she would not comply. Then, a while back I noticed the building was for sale and she was hardly ever open and never would answer my phone calls.  Finally I knew I had to take some harsh steps or she would sell the property and I would never see her or my furniture again. There was an Aha Moment when I explained this situation to my helper friend Dana. I gave Dana the address and she has the info to find the broker. Dana called the broker and said we were going to put a lien on the property if I didn’t get this furniture ASAP-like the next Saturday. The broker said OK and we said a friend will pick up the furniture on Saturday and it had better be ready. Two Saturdays ago Jit went there at the prearranged time and picked up the furniture and the following Monday took it to Royal Hawaiian Movers for an Easy Move. To make a long story short my friend James picked it up on Thursday and delivered it Friday morning where it now graces my living room. I call it my BIG furniture Coup. If anyone is thinking of taking any furniture to Rattan Creations I would definitely say BEWARE. The motto of this story is never give up!!!

We have a big work weekend planned for next weekend so the blog might be put off till the following week. There is still work to be done on the web site, but it is a start and gives a rough idea of the coconut gene bank project. Check it out…..   Koaliniu.farm

I will have some pictures in the next blog. Wishing everyone a great week.

Aloha Nui,

Vicky

Vicky Durandʻs Adventure Blog #101

Welcome to Blog #101

May 11, 2025

I am a day late with this blog because most of yesterday was spent working with Heide to get my Koali Niu website up and running. I now have three domains-Koaliniu.farm, Koaliniu.org, and Koaliniu.com. Right now it is under Koaliniu.farm. At our next board meeting in a few weeks we will decide which one to focus on.

There are still glitches Because I can pull up the site from my phone, but not my computer. Hoping to get that fixed tomorrow. We will be adding much more to the web site as we go along and this is just the beginning.

Now that we are a non profit there have some promised donations. It will be interesting to see if and when they show up. Every little or big contribution helps with this project. We will be naming coconut trees after large donors.

It has now been a month since my knee replacement and I am still struggling with painful PT and getting around. I can ride my Kawasaki Mule around the property to feed the cats and I can hobble around to feed myself and take care of necessities. It is always interesting and thought provoking to see who shows up and who doesn’t show up to help in a time of need….

It has been a beautiful week here with my favorite flowers the gardenia and pakalana blooming profusely.

I am swamped with taro, breadfruit, papayas, arugula, watercress, and cherry tomatoes. There is no way anyone could possibly starve out here. Before moving here some friends asked how I was going to get food. HA Ha ….This is the “bread basket” it was hundreds of years ago for thousands of Hawaiians.

The Mid Week article came out just in time for Motherʻs Day and I am pretty happy with it. I had THE BEST MOTHER and I am grateful everyday to have had such a shining example of what a great mother can be.

HAPPY Mother’s DAY TO EVERYONE and may we have a world a the best possible mothers.

ALOHA NUI,

Vicky

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Vicky Durand’s Adventure Blog #99

April 26, 2025

Welcome to Adventure Blog #99

The last two weeks have been an adventure in pain and recovery from a knee replacement. Thanks to all my special care angels life is looking brighter and I can barely wait to get back in the old routine of gardening, swimming and just plain old living. After ten days away it is really great being back home with my buddies.

The couple of days on Oahu before the operation were nice and particularly a lunch at the Outrigger Canoe Club with Yana and Joey Cabel. Jericho flew over from Long Beach to be my Wing Woman and she was wonderful. She came back to Hana, got me situated and flew back a few days ago.

The Straub Hospital food and service seemed highly improved from when Bob was there several years ago. The doctor team was great as well as the wonderful nurses.

First Dinner

After one night we went to Makaha to recoup for some days and regain strength for the trek back to Hana. There was a gorgeous bouquet there from my girls Marcie and Rennie.

While at Makaha my friend and healer Bill came to support healing with acupuncture and various other techniques. My sister Gloria was also there and very helpful.

I am now doing PT here in Hana with a state of the art healing center at Hana Health and my pal Brendon the physical therapist. It is mostly all very painful and Brendon says he likes my screaming voice.

Pals and helpers Megan and Eli came out with lunch and installed a shade for the door window.

I wanted to get some form of my regular blog out, but there is not a whole lot to report. I have a wonderful garden helper Sarah who is filling in and she managed to get six squash starters in the ground this last week. Since I have had such good luck with this squash the plan is to have them cover the weed cloth and make a nice salable ground cover. We have had two  harvestings of green beans which have been delicious.

The coconut seedlings are sprouting and we will have the next big planting on Memorial Day weekend.

We had a few days of rain while I was gone, but now we have to do some watering. It seems like there is much less rain when compared with the past years.

I have to close now and get to my PT. Wishing everyone a great week.

Aloha Nui Loa,

Vicky

Vicky Durand’s Adventure Blog #98

April 5, 2025

Welcome to Adventure Blog #98

Thanks for tuning in….This is going to be a very short one as I am getting ready to go to Oahu for a knee replacement and there is lots to do in preparation.

I will tell you briefly it has been another good week and we are finally getting some rain.

The sun is out and it is a beautiful sparkling day. The two kinds of recently planted potatoes are doing great.

Everything is going great actually. In a while they will hopefully cover the hill for a ground cover.

Living off the grid has its challenges. Yesterday James came and changed the water filter. This morning there was only a trickle of water coming out and then nothing. Luckily after I had tried some things he came up and found the pump had just gone off. So, that was an easy fix. Then I told him how the pressure was so different between the hot and cold water in the kitchen sink. So he looked at that and found that plumbing debris was clogging the hot water. All fixed now and rolling.

I made a trip to the dump this morning which is not a glamourous activity, but I had all kinds of stuff that needed to be cleaned up. It always feels so freeing leaving with an empty truck. So that is done.

I have quite a bit of gardening to do before leaving so will close for now. I am mainly writing because people worry when there is no blog. I will probably skip at least the next blog and see how I feel in two weeks.

I am continuing to make little clean up fires on the hill. Slowly, but surely it will all get cleaned up as we move higher and higher.

We have a great source for veggies and fruit here besides the Friday Farmers Market . On Tuesday and Thursday morning there is a truck at Hana Health selling all kinds of locally grown produce at reasonable prices. I try and stop there as much as possible.

Luckily my friend Jericho and her son Rolf are coming to help me get through all this. Hopefully the recovery will be speedy.

Aloha Nui,

Vicky