Vicky Durand’s Adventure #48

January 27, 2024

Thanks for tuning in to Vicky Durand’s Adventure Blog #48

In a another day (January 28th) I have been having this adventure for a year. What a learning experience and fun time!

This has been another interesting week and one needing a lot of patience. I think living in Hana requires a certain “able to deal with it” attitude. Something is always heading south-not working. But, then this presents a challenge and some problem solving which keeps life interesting. And, eventually someone shows up to help. Last night as I was watching the sun pass over the hill with the beautiful evening colors a thought crossed my mind that I had done all this before. HUMMMM At any rate life here continues to be magical and I am grateful to be having these experiences and adventure.

Monday brought another siege of high winds and rain. I had to re-tarp the bunk house and put towels down in my space to protect the antiques. When Bob and I came here we never experienced any rough weather like I have experienced. Bob always thought of half walls, but we were never here in Kona storms that are merciless bringing wind and rain straight in to the front openings. But, after being here I realize something more has to be done asap. For practicality and comfort unfortunately the large front door opening that faces the channel and the big island has to be walled in.

I have been trying to figure out how to do this with out me trying to haul a lot of lumber. Tying it down is the problem as most workers won’t do it for liability and I am incompetent at this. Luckily Thursday morning Bradley texted me he was going to Kahalui, and what do I need. I quickly got on the phone with Honsador and ordered the needed lumber. Bradley was able to pick it up and delivered it yesterday morning just as a new handyman arrived. Mikey is now in the process of framing and making the walls. I am turning this into a wall with the door on the other side. More pictures to follow as it looks pretty rough right now.

By tomorrow this situation will be solved just in time for Kira’s arrival next
Sunday February 4th. She is a (WWOOFER) known as Willing Workers on Organic Farms. There is so much to do and she will help with all the projects here such as setting up raised vegetable gardens, weeding, cats, etc. One of our main project is to get the hill ready for coconut planting in February. I have had great results with squash so that will be the ground cover.

Over the last months I have been doing paperwork applying for a large agricultural grant from the USDA (united States Department of Agriculture) This grant would be for clearing the invasive trees here and planting the coconuts along with five kinds of native trees. Keeping fingers crossed I get approved.

On the down side of things my builder Chris has only showed up for one day of work in 3 weeks with no communication. His helper went for a higher paying job to work for a tourism project monitoring water use and site visitation places. I called around and found he has taken another job. He said he would be here today, but it is now 10:30 and no word.

On Tuesday morning I was heading for a yoga class and my remote would not open the gate. Turned out ants got into the box. I got the blower to blow them out and sprayed ant poison, but it still wouldn’t open. I texted Chris and he said I will be there Sat. Well, I though this is really great I will be a prisoner here for five days. Later on in the day Chris the weed eater man came and got the gate open.

In the excitement of all this I accidentally left the truck key in the ignition
and did not realize it till the afternoon.

Wednesday morning when I went out early to head for my first physical therapy session the truck battery was dead. So, no PT. I reached out to four people but no one showed up till Thursday morning when John came to do a jump start. I had heard Auto Club charged $500. to come out so I didn’t bother calling them. Then finally yesterday my friend said they are right in Hana town and I could have called. Another learning experience.

Since it will be weeks before getting my kitchen sink with water in yesterday I set up a beautiful coveted red sink in the front yard. The sink had belonged to Eric, my brother in law. With the help of Mikey I set up my first sink P trap with a vacuum hose that will water the plants with the used water. I know this looks pretty sad (fed by a garden hose) to all of you with beautiful kitchens but it but it beats carrying all the dishes down to a sink further away.


Before moving here people asked what are you going to do for food. Let me tell you that there is so much food here. My refrigerator is always full with more than I evcan eat. There is a Friday Farmers market where besides the vendors selling vegetables, fruit, fish, local meat there is a Maui Hub box of choice. This box is ordered on line after Saturday noon and before midnight on Monday. Choices are vegetables, fruit, bakery items, meat and much more. The box is delivered to the Friday market for pick up. Besides this there are two small markets with everything one could possibly need. The market is a great gathering place with occasional music and art. The third picture is John Keegan and Lola. John is a great healer and masseus who helps people all over Hana. A special bonus is he studied at the Edgar Casey Foundation and loves animals.

This week I spent some time shoveling the chips into a tub. They have turned into this amazing fertile soil. I weeded and did this till dark and full moon rising several evenings-pretty spectacular. This was taken the night of the full moon.

These past weeks there have been a lot of work shops about the coconut beetle and other invasives. Indrajit was a panel member on a PBS show last week. If anyone wants the link email me at Wavewomanbook@gmail.com

The mornings have been supper cold and it has been difficult to leave a nice warm bed. I bought a thermometer to check the temp and it was just about 60 degrees. Must sound wimpy to those of you in really cold weather, BUT it seems freezing to me.

I got a great write up in our last Punahou Bulletin. They forgot some of us surfers, but oh well…..

Next Sat I will be doing a book talk here at the book club. There are a great group of women so am looking forward to that.

Time to move along here. I guess the words of the week are patience and persistence.

Here is the link to Indrajits panel last week. In the last weeks there have been several workshops on invasives.

Aloha nui,

INSIGHTS ON PBS HAWAIʻI Invasive Species Alert

Thanks for tuning in.

Aloha Nui

Vicky

Vicky

Vicky Durand’s Adventure Blog #47

January 20, 2024

Welcome to Blog #47

This has been an interesting week and a very different adventure, but mostly it ended in a very good way. And today is gorgeous as anyone would ever want.

With the huge deluge of rain on Monday and Tuesday along with other issues there has been no work on the project here. In fact no builders have showed up. This was after multiple daily trips to Hasegawa General store and getting Mr. Hasegawa to help find the needed parts. This is an amazing old fashioned store with a little bit of everything. This is the produce and luckily we have a farmers market every Friday.

The rain and Kona storm came straight in from the big island and and I spent two days shoring places up. I had to tent and drag wood to the front of my camp house as it was getting dark. The wind was bringing the water straight in and the cats were very unhappy. The green house tarp patio had huge puddles of water that had to be released before the entire frame broke. No one was around and I couldn’t push the water up and out so I had to cut the tarp and bungies. The next day that called for a new and improved covering which I was very lucky to get Derek, a life saver, to come and put a new tarp on. The windows on the ag shed are not sealed until the back patio is completed so water was coming in on my antique furniture. I had to gather every available towel and put the on the floor to mop the incoming pools of water. Luckily a day earlier I got the puunee up off the floor on a frame. It was all a big tiring challenge!

I have been looking into getting a WWOOFER to come here and help out. This is a world wide organization for people who want to volunteer on an organic farm. They are screened Willing Workers On Organic Farms. In exchange for room and board (food) they volunteer for 20-25 hours of work. Many of the farmers here use them and it can be a great situation for all. I have been in conversation with a German woman who loves cats so stay tuned.

Early Thursday morning I drove to Kahalui (what people here call “the other side”) and caught a plane for Honolulu where I had a whirlwind adventure visiting friends, a lunch and breakfast meeting, doing errands and eating some good food. The medical situation here on Maui is beyond bad so I am keeping my Honolulu doctors and dentist for maintenance work.

A highlight of the trip was revisiting my water aerobic class at the P Club. The women in the class were and are so supportive, and it was so great seeing them again and being in the water together. They were the ones that first encouraged me to do my adventure blog so they would know what I am up to. I was thrilled when so many of them told me they were reading and enjoying the blog.

I have always had an interest for social justice. Right after high school before I got waylaid I was trying to figure out how to get to the south to campaign for racial equality. So, besides the projects here I have been working on some social justice issues for a few women who are trapped by a biased, unjust and broken legal system. We are hoping to bring some media attention to bring public awareness to some situations. Linda Lingle has her Women’s Prison Project, but it is leaving some bases empty. I was able to meet with an attorney working on this issue and also a Civil Beat reporter which will hopefully expose some facts where a couple of women are getting unjustly crucified based on lies by officials.

The flight back to Maui was amazing as I had all three seats to myself and we went right over the backside coast of Molokai. To get to this side requires an eight hour hike or a boat ride. This is where Bob owned a couple lots and spent two summers filming his movie Molokai Solo. It is such a beautiful untouched side of the island. After Rell Sunn saw the movie she organized a kaiak trip that I joined. And, then years later I made one memorable trip with Bob by boat.

Time to close this up and move on. My thought for you this week is based off a conversation I had with a writer at the club when she told me she had trouble believing in herself.

I was surprised to hear this and the thought keeps going through my mind. To fulfill dreams and get stuff done Always believe in yourself-that you can do it no matter what! You might need some help along the way but once you get out there in the fast lane moving ahead I have found that help usually appears. I think this was my mother’s (Wave Woman) philosophy that allowed her to take on and accomplish such varied and difficult tasks.

Wishing everyone a lot of BELIEF.

Aloha Nui,
Vicky

Here is my little feral dog Ehui and Boki loves suitcases

Vicky Durand’s Adventure Blog #46

January 12, 2024

Welcome to Blog #46

Thanks for tuning in but this is just a quick note to say it has been a very tough week and the blog will hopefully be back to normal next week.

We had a big rain storm on Tuesday which created a day’s work moving furniture away from the unfinished windows and shoring things up for the cats. It was a straight on wind/rain from the big island.

None of the workers communicated or showed up until today so there has been only minimal work. But today the water got hooked up via water hoses which is a biggie. The pvc pipes won’t go in until the back patio is finished.

Besides the frustration and work from the storm and no progress, this week has been very sad. I lost Lucky cat to mouth cancer on Thursday. Many years ago I rescued her out of the forest at Roundtop where her previous owners decided to dump her. She was such a personality and always knew when to show up for important events including photo shoots at Liljestrand. She was on Bob’s bed when he took his last breath and center stage this summer at my land blessing. She has been staying at my side for the last few months and I am really missing her already.

I will be back next week for Blog #47 and hopefully with good news.

Thanks for tuning in and wishing everyone well.

Aloha Nui,

Vicky

Vicky Durand’s Adventure Blog 45

January 6, 2024

Welcome to BIog #45

After a very quiet weekend I woke up new years day with a wonderful feeling of lightness and excited for this years adventures. I think it is going to be an amazing year as there is going to be some big progress with the coconut project. We will be planting trees and having a gene bank for the niu, a tree of life, where every single part is useful and culturally revered. This tree provides food, liquid, medicine, building materials, rope, fire and baskets. “It is a tree that will allow a profound relationship with the fullness of the natural world.” (Dr. Manu Meyer)

The film Niu Forever is in it’s final stages and will preview this June in conjunction with a Pacific Art and Culture Conference held every four years. The world authority, Dr Rolan, will also be visiting Oahu and hopefully Hana.

This week has seen some major progress. I happily spent the days listening to sawing, drills buzzing, hammering and answering questions on how I wanted things. Such a joy after so many days of silence. The rest of the patio roof (all but one last piece) is on now on so things are dry and I have put a little punee on the patio for sitting, sleeping or just hanging out.

An awning was finally installed on the west side to prevent rain from pouring in. The water system is slowly taking place with partial gutters. We are waiting for more rain to fill the tank so the system can be primed. More gutter work is planned for this coming week so that should help.

My long awaited kitchen shelves are now up with dishes. We were also able to hang some art work. Slowly everything is nicely fitting into a place of it’s own with things looking less cluttered. Unfortunately the stainless steel sink rescued from the Wilder House will be four weeks for instalation. It has to be cut, rewelded and polished. We have had a couple of sunny days so the solar shed got it’s final coat of paint as well as the side wall.

The neighbor’s two cows once again broke through the fence and came to visit around 4 am Wednesday morning. My little dog Ehu does not like these visitors here eating our ti leaves so there was a lot of barking. Her barking scared them back through the fence, but then they reappeared around noon just as I had left and the guys were having lunch. Patty and Walt came to shoo them back and repair the fence. Hopefully this will keep them contained.

Although the days are shorter now, the lighting and skies colors seem more intense and have been awesomely spectacular-both morning and evening. I put little solar white lights on the three patio kiawe upright posts and Bob’s big copper bowl serves as a fire pit. Things are looking pretty spiffy and an enjoyable place for evening cocktails and dinners when it is warmer.

I finally made it down the road past seven pools to Kipahulu for a Saturday morning somatic yoga session at Erin’s house. Her house is on the edge of a cliff with the sounds of waves crashing. It is a twenty minute drive passing several water falls that were pumping lots of water from all the late rain. Pretty spectacular all in all!

Time to move onward to some physical therapy for my arm and hand. John, an amazing body healer is here. Besides studying with some local Hawaiian healers he studied and worked at the Edgar Casey Institute in Virginia Beach. Edgar Casey was an advocate of hot castor oil packs. I feel very lucky and grateful to have met him.

Wishing everyone an amazing year-health, happiness and dreams being fulfilled.

aloha nui loa,

vicky

my dinner partner

I

Vicky Durand’s Adventure Blog #44

December 30,2023

Welcome to Blog #44

Christmas has come and gone and we are inching into a brand new year. In Hana it is a big time for family get togethers and cookouts. Life was made a little more complicated this year due to a nasty flu going around and the bad weather. But, it has been a quiet week around here with all the rain and overcast days.

Indrajit came with his children and we were hoping to start planting coconuts, but because of the rain the ground cannot be cleared till dryer days. This will probably happen in February according to local advice. He was able to trim the orange tree for the rest of the patio roof. I planted that tree and it is now full of oranges so I have been resisting a trim, but it had to be done. I am saving the oranges and hoping they will ripen for juicing.

Jit brought a childhood friend, her husband and their fifteen year old daughter. They were lovely people, both doctors, but this place was not for them so they went back to Waikiki the day before Christmas. Before they left they cooked some amazing Sri Lankin food: Banana peel curry, banana flower curry and banana curry. The husband gathered plumeria and made little flower arrangements. We had a nice lunch all together.

Unfortunately this week was a two and a half day work week. As I write this I feel like this project is just creeping along way to slowly. And, of coarse the holidays are not helping. The holidays, cooking, the flu and dealing with dysfunctional families became high priority during the past weeks. And, I am so focused on getting running water and moving ahead it was difficult to get interested in Christmas. I just consider it to be my year off. Leaving here to be with family was not possible so we just honed in here trying to enjoy what was happening.

Getting the water system has been a lot more complicated than I ever dreamed. Just when I think we have everything to make it work we keeping having to get more parts. This has been going on for weeks and the parts are not that easy to get out here. Yesterday they dug a trench to put in the electric wire for the pump and filtration system. The heat will come from a propane gas on demand heater.

A lot of papayas and bananas are ripening and I am trying to figure out who to share the extras with. The Pride of Burma tree is also flowering and so beautiful. Bob and I brought that tree over from Oahu many years ago when you could get on a plane with trees.

Besides the rain it has been quite cool so quite a few cats have moved in with me. They find little beds all over.

Well, time to wrap up and get the show on the road for this year. Thanks for tuning in and your interest. Wishing everyone a happy, healthy, and peaceful year. This beautiful rainbow is from Christmas morning. There have been some beautiful skies lately.

I am looking forward to an exciting 2024 with a lot of progress for the Coconut Institute-koali Niu.

Aloha Nui,
Vicky

Vicky Durand’s Adventure Blog #43

December 23, 2023

Welcome to Blog #43

I missed last week due to a trip off island for some appointments and a very special graduation party. My friend Megan graduated Cum Laude in environmental science
following the footsteps of her great grand father who was in charge of National Parks under President Reagan. It was a very touching and heart warming event.

During the past two weeks we have had tons of rain which has slowed progress. I am trying my best to remain calm, but it is a real challenge some days.

The good news is rain water off the roof is finally filling up the 5,000 gallon water tank. As soon as the rain stops the filtration system and rest of system can be set up. Right now there is no end in sight and the place, particularly the driveway is turning into a mud hole.

I had to stop this and run into town for herbs, water and motor oil for my new turn key generator to charge the solar system when there is not enough sun. There is something wrong with my current generator and it will have to go to the repair shop in Kahalui. Luckily my solar guru Cory was in town and picked up the new generator yesterday and delivered it this morning.

The first of my kitchen shelves are finally up. We are waiting for more stainless screws from Kahalui to complete the job. Looks pretty puny at this point which I hope will change when more shelves are added above.

A lovely family from Sri Lanka is visiting and the herbs are so she can make a dish out of the banana flower. I had a taste of it yesterday and I am hoping to learn how to make it as I have lots of banana flowers.

A couple of weeks ago I some how managed to get this flu that has been going around Hana. In spite of a flu shot it really knocked me out. I decided to visit the local doctor to make sure it was not covid which it wasn’t. This is his waiting room overlooking Hana Bay.

It is always something here living off the grid, challenging and rewarding. This has been a very friendly community to me and I love it here living in such a beautiful place. Thursday I drove to visit Amber, a new artist friend at her gorgeous family home high on the hill. It was like being in green acres with the Hana airport off in the distance.

I don’t have lots of news or pictures this week, but hopefully more next week. I want to close without rambling on much longer and I have to get to my PT.
I wish everyone a very happy holiday weekend.

Thanks for tuning in.

Aloha Nui
Vicky

Vicky Durand’s Adventure Blog #42

December 10, 2023

Welcome Blog #42

This is a day late as I somehow got a little bug that made me feel less than wonderful for a few days. Hopefully it has now passed as there is no time to feel under the weather.

This is still very much a construction site, but there has been progress this week. Unfortunately, I always have hopes for more real work time. Monday I was finally able to drive in to Kahalui to pick up the Lowes shed which will house the water pump, the filtration and the heater. When I arrived at will call I was startled at the large size of the box. Luckily it just barely fit in the back of the truck and was fork loaded on. The shed is assembled and we are now waiting for the equipment to arrive via Amazon. There has also been a problem getting one small pieced to finalize hooking up the water tank. The part is now waiting at ISI in Kahalui for pickup.

I finally got the piles of stones set out. Ethan and his brother came and put weed barrier on the front patio space and laid out the black stones. It is just the beginning of the patio floor project but at least the dirt is covered for the time being.

Chris laid out the slate stones from the roof of Kawaiaha’o Church that Bob had acquired many years ago. The mud and dirt are a constant problem with so many four legged running around and then inside. The screen hardware has not been put on and the animals can open all the doors.

The place got mowed on Friday and lots of weed whacking so everything looks beautiful. We have had some lovely sunny days and I was hoping the sun would hold for another try at chipping on Tuesday. Unfortunately it poured in the night so am not sure if the ground will be dry enough by Tuesday. Moving forward here is a huge challenge between the weather and available needed materials.

Yesterday my new handyman Mikey came to primer the solar shed and a wall. Before starting he assembled a bed frame. Earlier in the week a great big centipede crawled out from under a pillow that had fallen on the floor. At this point I decided the beds have to be raised. I also ordered diatomaceous earth to spread around the door openings. This is also supposedly good to mix with the dirt around fruit trees to kill the ants and other pests. Such is life at the edge of the jungle.

The the animals all seem good. As usual Mana is up to a lot of tricks and I am hoping she will soon mature and settle down. She takes slippers and hides them (I just found one under the blankets in Ehu’s kennel) and chews glasses. She is a doll and like my shadow-constantly near, and sometimes too near.

Time to close this out as the afternoon is moving on. Thanks for tuning in and wishing you a festive week.
Aloha Nui,

Vicky

Vicky Durand’s Adventure Blog #41

Welcome to Blog #41

November 30- December 2, 2023

I am starting this early as Saturday morning is our book club.

This week has been an unusual one! Monday I had high hopes of getting three big piles of cut hau chipped to make way for cutting down seven tulip trees. For weeks the day had been carefully coordinated with Ryan pulling his big chipper here on his tractor from twenty minutes down the road in Kipahulu. When he arrived Bradley’s two workers were here to feed the chipper. Unfortunately after much maneuvering and a few minutes of chipping the operation had to be called off as the hill was too wet and dangerous for heavy equipment.

Monday the concrete slab got poured for the shed which will hose the water pump, heater and filtration system. Now I just have to pick up the shed at Kahalui Lowes and hopefully by the end of the week things will be in place.

On Wednesday and Thursday we weathered our first big Kona storm with lots of rain and road closures. This place is no joke when the big storms come.
In some places Hana had twenty inches of rain in twenty four hours (luckily not here). I have learned to just stay put as driving can be very dangerous with water flowing across the roads. Happily I am not in a super wet area, but the lack of sun plays heck with the solar power. I have an amazing solar man, Cory who monitors my system. He found the batteries were low, texted me to be careful of use, and came over here in the rain to hard wire my gas generator into the system to boost the batteries back up.

We had book group today with eighteen amazing Hana women at Terry and Michael’s beautiful house and nursery. After the discussion of the book Lessons in Chemistry Michael gave us a tour of the garden. I feel so blessed to know these wonderful people.

And, I just met a masseuse who is coming tomorrow morning to work
on my frozen shoulder and damaged hand.

This coming week is going to be a week of progress.
Thanks for tuning in.


Aloha Nui,

Vicky

Vicky Durand’s Adventure Blog #40

November 25, 2023

Welcome to Blog #40

Wow! here I am back at the keyboard typing with damaged fingers. I am supposed to start using my right arm and hand but it is not an easy transition. The PT stretches are hard to do and very uncomfortable.

It has been a short work week, but with some important progress. I am always so happy to see the arrival-Chris and Daylan along with Haouli Girl and Bella.

I am happy to finally have the drawer pulls on my kitchen cabinets. This is a big help for getting things put away and reducing clutter. Now I just need a sink with running water. Another biggie is I got my closet hardware installed so I can get my clothes that have been sitting in plastic boxes for eight months organized and hung up.

The water tank is almost hooked up. Unfortunately when I picked up the plumbing parts I did’t realize a key component had been left off the order. Hopefully that can be picked up this next week along with a Lowes plastic shed to house the water pump and filter. In preparation for a concrete foundation this marker was laid out for this next week’s pour.

I had a Thanksgiving dinner invite. Amazingly the one person who invited me is the grand daughter of my mother’s flying heros and her inspiration to take up flying. Cory and Mary who put my solar unit together and are banana farmers were also there and it was a lovely evening. The twenty minute winding road drive to Kipahulu was very dark with jungle terraine. Coming back home with not one car on the road in either direction I caught a quick glimse of a white owl.

And, the last big accomplishment for this week is the solar gate opening panel is finally installed so I now have a clicker and no long have to climb in and out of the truck multiple times to manage opening and closing the gate. SO EXCITING especially on dark nights.

This is a short one, but there should be some big stuff happening this week for the next blog.

I am so happy to have some healing ad be able to feed the animals. And thankful for all the people who came forth to help me through a very difficult period. The days are now short andf the nights long but the lightening is spectacular. This is what I woke up to this morning-a view from bed.

Thanks for tuning in. Wishing everyone a peaceful week.
Aloha Nui,

Vicky

Vicky Durand’s Adventure Blog #38

Welcome to Blog #38

The big news of the week is that I saw the orthopedic surgeon in Honolulu on Friday NOV. 17TH and he said, “Congratulations, you’re healed! We’re taking off the brace. AND, I don’t want you wearing the sling. And you’re going to start physical therapy.” I’m now doing PT for a “frozen shoulder.” It is a set of repetition stretches five times a day. So, this will keep my days full.

Luckily with the help of friends the animals have all gotten fed since Oct. 5th. I think it has been hard on Mana. Because of her jumping I had to keep my distance from her and my arm.

The second best news this week is that they got the big water tank moved into position: fifteen feet from the agricultural shed and fifteen from the property line. So, the plumbing is in process of being hooked up for water.

I have a special Thanksgiving invitation out in Kipahulu. There is so much to be gratefull for and I’m wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

My right hand is slowly starting to work and I will be back to the regular Saturday blog.

Aloha Nui,

Vicky