Friday, March 22, 2024

IASA #3-7

Jack from Warmshowers.org spent a very rainy night here in a dry bedroom instead of a soggy tent.

 

Friday, March 15, 2024

IASA #3-6

With Hawai'i Island Audubon group looking for White-tailed Tropicbird in Kilauea crater.

 

Friday, March 1, 2024

IASA #3-4

 

Fire at Lapakahi. Burned out before reaching buildings.

Thursday, February 29, 2024

Park Open Again!

About 10 this morning Dane sent a text saying Lapakahi was officially open again. Hūlō! I hope the tourists are happy now. Though I am sure we will now be getting complaints about the ash blowing around.


I was in Kona when the text arrived. I was at the Hawaiʻi County Leeward Planning Commission meeting. Members of the Kohala Culture & History hui asked me to apply because of my planning background. I am observing to see what this commission is like.


After the meeting was over at about 4 p.m. I started my Kona errands. The 1st was to Office Max. Two weeks ago I purchased a black ink cartridge for my printer. I could not find the double cartridge that was currently in my printer; but the saleswoman said the single cartridge would work. She also said they did not carry the double, it was an online order only item. Well, it turns out the single will not fit; fortunately they took it back even though I had already opened the package.

I also went to Petco. Paʻipaʻi had so helpfully punctured the silicone mat that was keeping the water she splashed out of the new water fountain off the floor. I needed a new one. But they did not have any that were rigid plastic with sides. And I figured I was wasting my money buying a new silicone mat.

She has done this nearly every day since I set up the new water fountain. Auē!
Today she went further & tore up the silicone mat in 3 places.

My final errand was to Island Naturals; I was out of peanut butter. I brought 2 containers with me today; I grind my own peanut butter there. No additives, just peanuts!

Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Day Off from the Park

Since the chief had declared the fire extinguished & Luisa had decided not to open the park until tomorrow, I did not go to Lapakahi today; I let Dane handle things. After all, I am usually there only 2 half days a week (= 8 hours) & I had already put in 19 hours! Instead I chose to work around the yard. Specifically, mulching the avocado with some of the wood chips from the recent tree trimming work I had done.

Mulched a 3' radius around the avocado. Mulch pile visible at left.
There are a lot of flowers & buds. I hope I get some fruit this year!

I also worked on cleaning weeds out of the white camellia at the front of the house. I did a little under the kokutan as well. Those areas were mulched, too.

North side of white camellia weeded & mulched.
West side of white camellia weeded & mulched.

Ultimately I would like to clean out the weeds all around the kokutan. Then on the south side of the kokutan I would like to move a clump of iris over to that spot. And clean out the weeds in the mondo grass by the ramp & mulch the planting bed under the bedroom windows in preparation for the red & pink ginger. Then there is the back yard ...

Kokutan on right needs weeding & mulching. And a bonsai-style trim.
Area on right outlined by bricks needs weeding & mulching so iris can be moved here.
Mondo grass needs weeding.
This used to be a nice stand of heliconia but the pigs dug it up before I moved in permanently.

That pretty much used up the energy I had for today. I spent the remainder of the day relaxing.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Peggy, Ann, Roger, Winnie, Vickie, David, & Shawn!

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Fire Pau!

In the morning there were light drizzles on & off. With the relatively clear sky to the east we had some great anuenue (rainbow)! Hawaiian culture interprets the appearance of anuenue as a good omen.

A very different scene than on Sunday!

Yesterday, when we 1st deployed the "Park Closed" sign, it was after the peak of visitors to Lapakahi. Larger amounts of incoming traffic begins about 10 a.m. & goes through about 2 p.m. It peters out after that. Then the gate for incoming traffic is usually closed at 3:15 p.m. Because of the sign, the glut of visitors beginning at 10 a.m. did not happen today; we just had a trickle. But still had that same statement from tourists that they only had a couple more days of their vacation left. Auē!

Could we have made this any clearer?

I left at just after noon; I had already been there my usual 4 hours for Tuesdays. A couple hours later Dane texted; the fire chief said they would be closing up their operations at around 5 this evening. Now we are waiting to see when Parks management determines it is safe to let tourists return. Since both Tracy & I started coughing a lot & feeling stuff in our lungs after walking along the trails adjacent to the burned area, we feel they should give it a couple more days for more ash to be blown away. We shall see what happens. 


Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Jane!