Clean-up Days #5 & #6

I'm starting with photos of the end of Day #4. I got all the boxes out of the front bedroom and cleaned things up in anticipation of Chris' help the next day with moving furniture. One of the boxes that had been put down to protect the floors had some mouse droppings and a very large dead roach beside it.

Mouse droppings and dead roach

Living room, end of Day #4; large box by windows contains stuffed tiger toys.

Front bedroom, end of Day #4; need help from Chris to move the rest of this

I also found a box that had rice trickling out of it (not the same box with mouse droppings). It turns out there was good news and bad news. The good news: the lid for the glass storage canister holding the brown rice had come off in transit, thus spilling rice all over. As I was getting ready to put the lid back on I found the bad news: a piece of broken glass in the rice, I dumped it all then started to look for the source of the glass. It was the canister of ancho chiles, sadly they will also be dumped. But the further good news is the canister of chipotles (and 2 other canisters of stored goods) survived the trip. I am going to try to salvage the lid so I have a spare lid.

Brown rice with ancho chiles

The highlight of Day #5 was lunch with Uncle Kazu. I did a little work in the morning. (I realized I could move the crates of books by myself, so I did. Though it did involve a little reorganizing of the book wall since I had forgotten about the crates until I unearthed them from the pile of boxes.) We went to Minnie's Ohana Lim Style Restaurant. As I got Uncle Kazu out of the car a woman came up to him and gave him a hug & a kiss. It was Ipo, the daughter of Frank, a guy Uncle Kazu used to work with, she now works at Minnie's. While we were talking to Ipo, Celeste (the other server) set up a table for us on the lanai at the front of the building. Uncle Kazu had the mahimahi special, I had the roast pork plate. (I still have not got the hang of this blogging stuff and tend to start eating before I take the photos!)

Mahimahi special

Roast pork plate

After lunch we went to Mahukona, Uncle Kazu wanted to go and see the harbor again. It had been awhile since he had been there. We could see the yellow manini darting around the rocks near shore.  While there he told me about how the ship Humulua would anchor in the deeper water and a skiff would take passengers out to it. (Mom remembers this as a very terrifying part of the journey to Honolulu.) When they were hauling cattle, they would swim the cattle out to the boat, someone would swim under the animal to get the sling under it, then they would haul it aboard. There was an old rusted chain out on the rocks that Uncle Kazu said they would anchor the boats to.

The bay at Mahukona; Maui and Haleakala in the background (potential watercolor subject!)

Big old rusted chain attached to the rocks, boats used to tie up to this chain

On the way back from Mahukona, we stopped at Kapa'a Beach Park. I told Uncle Kazu my most vivid fishing memory was here. A day would be chosen for the fishing expedition during the period when the moon was very full. Grandma and the moms would pack a dinner and stuff for breakfast and herd all the kids to the cars. Grandpa and the dads would get all the fishing gear ready. We would arrive at the pavilion after lunch and get set up for dinner and camping over night. After dinner, they would herd us kids down to the edge of the rocks, set us out about 10 feet apart (so we wouldn't hook each other with our fishing poles), attach a flashlight to each of us, and get us ready for fishing. Just after moonrise the upapalu would begin to bite as they moved along the edge of the rocks. It was the type of fishing that really appeals to kids, you didn't need to know how to fish, they would bite on a bare hook even if you weren't paying attention! Kapa'a is where I learned to swim. Kapa'a is also where our friends Sonny & Sherman would take their piglet Upolu to swim with us. That is, until he became too big to fit in the jeep. He later became kalua pig.

The inlet at Kapa'a Beach where I learned to swim

Chris showed up after work to help me move the stuff. We had to move the treadmill and flat file out of the front bedroom. Then move the beds, dressers, & bookshelves back into the front and middle bedrooms. It turns out I actually could have moved the treadmill by myself, I must have been very tired when I was trying to move it yesterday. I did not figure out that if I angled the treadmill I could get the leading handhold out the door then rotate it around the doorjamb and get the other handhold out! Auwe! Here's what the rooms looked like after Chris left; much more like a house now!

Front bedroom, Day # 5

Middle bedroom, Day #5

Living room, Day #5; a lot more stuff in here, some of which was moved prior to bedtime

Sewing room, Day #5; flat file will be stored here until new room is built

This morning I met Lem and Fran for breakfast. When I saw Lem earlier in the week, he said his daughter Fran would be coming for a visit; so I texted Fran, she called when she got here & set this up. We went to King's View Cafe; Lem had the Kapa'au Omelet, I had the Ho'ea Omelet, and Fran had the Build-Your-Own Omelet. Sorry, no photos at all. Had a great time with them, though. We are already making plans for the November trip since Fran's November visit will overlap a little with mine.

After breakfast, I moved the boxes that were temporarily in the living room, into their respective bedrooms. They will stay there until I start to unpack them.  I also started to clean up the dressers and bookshelves to I could start putting things in to them. I stopped since I will need some specific cleaning supplies to take off some things on the wood; that will be a task for then next trip.

In the early afternoon I shifted my focus to the landscaping. I marked the African tulip trees, octopus trees, and Christmas berry shrubs for removal. I will make a list for Masa and find out how much extra it will cost to have him remove them. There are probably 15 to 20 that need removal, plus the very tall grass growing in Grandma's anthurium garden.

Obviously I have not gotten everything where it needs to be in order for Mom to visit next month. I will be making another trip in November to finish stuff, between Las Vegas and Thanksgiving. The plan is to get stuff out of the back bedroom so Mom can use that bedroom (its her favorite room). Then I would go there with her in December and we would have a housewarming!

Happy Birthday to JoAnn & cousin Michael! Happy Belated Birthday to Fran & Dennis!