Groundhog day continues

Aloha everyone. We hope you are all well and safe. Hawai'i island has a total of 74 cases and it has been holding steady for a number of days. We are beginning to see signs of more commerce via more traffic. Shortages present at Costco of all places. The mayor of the island has opened up some county parks. No sun bathing or picnics, but a number of beaches are now open for running, walking or swimming. Judy and I are still taking it slowly. We wear masks when we go out (required at stores here in order to do business). We are hoping to start seeing some people in our home. It would be nice to start socializing, even keeping 6 feet apart.

Judy has been masterful at planning and developing the landscape. Our garden is really taking shape. Taming jungle is a real challenge. And, of course, we are now in the "rainy" season, so the weeds grow faster than anyone can remove them. A constant challenge to keep the tropical jungle at bay. We are proud of the accomplishments we have made in 5 months. Below are 2 pictures, the first on moving day, Nov. 29, 2019. The other is May 8.



Judy has and continues to execute a wonderful landscape. Mike is working on an irrigation system so that we do not have to spend 2+ hours per day watering when there is no rain. We are very excited that an hibiscus of unknown flower color has finally burst forth. We think it is quite gorgeous.  See for yourself.


In our front yard, we have alternating palms and all white hibiscus. They have been favoring us with wonderful blooms of late.


We ventured out to Hilo area this past weekend to purchase bamboo poles to construct a compost area. The bamboo poles will be stacked like Lincoln logs. The guy who sold them to us certainly knows how to use bungees to keep the poles in place. The entire trip back we had no issues with the poles moving or shifting. Now at the house, we have to wait for the bamboo to age (we could smoke or burn them, but do not have a way of doing that) so that the bugs are not a problem. How long will that take? No telling. But for now, they are stacked vertically, aging gracefully.


Solar is almost done. We decided to locate the inverter and batteries outside, but it needs a waterproof cabinet. To build it, the shelf of blue rock (very dense lava) needed to be cut down in order to allow room for the doors to open--a task for a young man with an electric jack hammer that took one full day. The rain gutters went in this weekend. We are close!!!

We look forward to hosting family and friends. So, when the corona virus is tamed, we hope that you will come stay with us. In the meantime, stay safe, stay healthy, and please be aware that we think of all of you often.

Love

Judy and Mike

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
  Finally catching up on Judy and Mike's adventures As most of you know by now, we left the island at the end of March, fully vaccinated at the time. We got to spend a month in Carson City participating in our daughter and her family's life for the month. Very enjoyable. Our son and his family came from New York in August and we had a delightful couple of weeks with them. The boys are getting so big and mature. We actually had the complete family together for one weekend which was truly special. While in Carson City, we began planning for our return to our home in Concord at the end of May. When Hawaii sold, it included much of the furniture so we had to build a household. Maintenance and upgrades were due in Concord. So between figuring out furniture including beds, timing of deliveries and repairs, it was an interesting daily challenge. We also reclaimed the yard and made necessary upgrades including a new fence since part of the old one fell over during a windstorm when we w
Read more

Farewell Hawaii house

Image
Well, it is official. Papers signed Monday. And, it appears that our VW eGolf (electric) will also sell this week. We head to Reno on March 30 and stay in Carson City for the entire month of April. We will get to see our older grandchildren and spend time with them. Oh, and of course, their parents, our daughter and her husband, Kim & Sven. We are leaving behind here in Hawaii all of Hamilton's dog friends and their families who have become part of our community. We spent lots of hours in the small dog park and the dogs play joyfully as the owners are entertained and chat about life here, families all over the world and the latest on the COVID vaccination front. We will also miss our dear neighbors to the North of us who have shared so much over the last year and then some. We are now at Kona Zona where we lived before and it has been fun to be part of this little neighborhood. We are looking forward to seeing family and friends on the mainland and part of us will be missing ou
Read more

A long overdue update

Image
Much as happened since our last blog post. We have a new president and vice president, our democracy has been attacked in a way never before seen or contemplated by the founding fathers, our lovely cat, Lucy, had to be put down, and, because of the poor quality of medical care on this island, we have decided to move back to California and sell the Hawaii house.  This past week has been stormy here on the big island. We went down to a beach to watch the ginormous waves. These are some of the results. Please enjoy. Our cat, Lucy, had irritable bowel syndrome since we got her 10 years ago. Unfortunately, it was a long, slow decline and finally when our 7 pound cat shrunk to 5 pounds, was clearly in pain and not eating, we knew it was time. Poor Hamilton was beside himself for a few days when Lucy did not come home with us.  We made the decision to sell the house around thanksgiving time and spent weeks moving items out of the house into a storage unit. It feels like we are living in a mod
Read more