Cyclists Not Bikers

I have been told I need to be a little clearer in what I refer to Warmshowers members as & use the term "cyclists" not "bikers". I have always used the terms interchangeably but I will now try to remember to say "cyclists" when I am referring to people who get around by providing their own peddle-power. Like Gage. We grabbed a quick breakfast at Kohala Coffee Mill before he headed off to Waimea on his bicycle.

Gage with The Works breakfast.

Ready to head to Waimea.

I had lunch with Lem & Fran at Kohala Rainbow Café later. We also spent a couple hours just catching up. They got back earlier in the week from a brief visit to Las Vegas.

Fran had sweet & sour pork plate; Lem just had a burger.

I had the chicken, zucchini, & mushroom plate.

We also watched the mother hen & her chicks that hang out at Rainbow. Lem feeds them in the morning & said she is a very good mother; he says she has had 2 broods & has not lost any chicks to the cats or mongooses that live nearby.  

Today Chris & Spencer started working on the flooring as well as the bookshelves for the Lumi Pōpoki! And also the concrete landing at the bottom of the stairs down to the anthurium garden. It is getting even more exciting; there is a light at the end of the tunnel! And it is not a train!

Panorama of flooring progress at end of day.

Reference Point F, looking at bottom landing for stairs at midday.

From the deck, looking at bottom landing at end of day.

This afternoon the Civil Defense alert said the National Weather Service has extended the wind advisory until tomorrow morning. I forwarded it to Gage who texted back & said the wind made it brutal going over the Kohala Mountain Road to Waimea. He's hoping it helps him tomorrow as he heads to Kona.

After the NKCDP Access committee meeting, I went to the Kohala Night Market to help out at the table for this year's Kohala Reunion. I also picked up dinner at the Night Market; but I forgot to take a photo of it before I ate it all!

Upon returning home, something strange was in the headlights as I was entering the garage. Turns out it was one of the pieces of cardboard I was using to kill the grass so I could plant an ʻŌhiʻa along the fence. The wind was so strong today it blew the cardboard  & the piece of plastic fencing I was using to hold it down in to the garage!

Episode #12 of the Kīlauea eruption started out strong this morning, then paused around 10:30 a.m.; the photos are after the pause began. I am glad the heavy trade winds have returned; when you look at the VMAP Vog Forecast map you can see how the wind advisory-level winds are blowing the vog rapidly out over the ocean instead of allowing it to linger over land like the weak winds we have had over the past week have done. My cough is not as bad today as it has been over the past week.

VMAP Vog Forecast map.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Alina!

Warmshowers.org

I belong to a group called Warmshowers.org. It is a group of bike enthusiasts who provide a place to stay overnight & a warm shower to fellow bikers in all parts of the world. It was started in 1976 with one guy & a Rolodex of 600 names. It is now a US non-profit organization with a worldwide member base of over 185,000 cyclists & hosts. I learned about Warmshowers in October 2023 from Kyle who was biking around Hawaiʻi Island; I had met him on Oʻahu a few years earlier & he did not know I had moved here. Since then I have hosted Taj from New Zealand, Jack from CA, Connor from WV, and Tony & Taren from CA. Tonight I am hosting Gage who is from South Dakota; he will be spending about a month biking around Hawaiʻi Island. We picked up dinner at Kings View Cafe, then went to the Pololū overlook to eat.

Gage at Pololū trailhead.

Today Chris & Spencer worked on preparing the wall where the built-in bookshelves will be in the Lumi Pōpoki. They also installed the cabinets in the Cat Genie Room; they are a lot taller than I anticipated but will provide a lot of closed storage space off the floor. I am looking forward to that room being completed & hooking the Cat Genies up in there. The final thing they did today was cut the hole for the cat door that will go out to the deck. Those kitties better appreciate all the work being done specifically for them!

Panorama of today's work.

Cat Genie room with cabinets!

Close-up of cabinets.

Cut out for cat door to deck.

I tried the Immi Spicy Red Miso for lunch today. And it was spicy! Kinda at the edge of my spice tolerance, but flavorful. 

There is a wind advisory that was issued this morning. It is expected to last through tomorrow evening. It will surely make things a little more difficult for Gage as he rides along the coast road. It could also impact him if he rides along the mountain road.

Episode #12 of the eruption at Kīlauea began early this morning with a sluggish lava flow. I think they were hoping for it to get more active; they waited about 2 hours longer than the usually do to send out the daily update.

VMAP Vog Forecast map.

 

About 3 hours later the eruption at Kīlauea did become more active with fountains up to about 165 feet.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Marilyn, John, & Briy!

IASA #3-3

New kitchen window with same openable area & twice as much viewing area.

 

New Kitchen Window

Today Chris & Spencer worked on replacing the old kitchen window on the north side. The original open area for the window is the same size as the new open area. But in order to make that happen, I had to order 2 slider windows each the size of the original open area. Why? Because the original windows slid in a track along the wall. If I just had a slider window sized for the opening, I would have lost half of the actual openable area. Which would mean I cut off half of the main inflow of air that cools the house down; not a good idea for the summer! With the 2 windows, I keep the airflow, but Chris had to do additional carpentry to resize the window opening & create new trim. It's worth it! I retain the airflow plus I have more view of the  outdoors & more natural light indoors. I am happy with it & glad I paid the extra money!

I had to move all this away from the window.

The safe on left & range on right will be moved when needed.

By lunch wall opening has been widened & new windows temporarily placed in opening.

By end of work day finish framing is almost complete.

Here is what it looks like from the outside. The 1st photo is at lunch break. The 2nd is at the end of the work day; still needs a little more trim to be installed & painted.

 

I am now 100% sure that the buds on the Makali Ahu ʻōhiʻa are flower buds. At least the round ones are. And that's what makes me so sure. One of the buds I was originally seeing has become elongated & is turning in to leaves. The buds in the other cluster have remained small & are getting rounder & plumper. I hope I have not stressed them out too much; I do not want the flower buds to dry up & fall off before they get a chance to bloom. That would be very sad.  

I also checked on the "light pink" ice plant. It is much more pink now; almost as pink as the "pink" one. So the color does appear to change based on how much sunlight the petals are exposed to. I should try an experiment & cover half of a flower to see if I can create a half light pink-half white flower!

The eruption at Kīlauea is still on pause. Scientists say another episode is "most likely to begin in the next 3 days."

Those scientists were right! Episode 11 of the December 23rd eruption of Kīlauea started up again about 6:30 this evening. 

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Paul, Greg, & Justine! This blog is also 9 years old today!