Another Trip to Vegas?

Because of the dementia Mom keeps forgetting that she has leukemia. She knows she has something that will cause her to die. (Dad's outlook is that they are both dying because they are 90 or so years old and they aren't getting any younger!) Since she did so well in Las Vegas with getting the transfusions prior to the trip, we discussed going to Vegas again for her usual birthday trip during the first week of November. Stay tuned for further information; we will let you know if she can celebrate her 90th birthday in Vegas in about 6 weeks.

Cousins Baron and Mona stopped by this evening. Baron quit his job and moved in with his dad 3 years ago to take care of him when his brother Chad, who was originally taking care of their father, was injured in a work accident. Baron got in to baking to provide somewhat healthier treats for his dad; he shared some of that with us this evening.

Clockwise from top L: chocolate and regular chocolate chip, peanut butter with M & M's, mango-peach-macadamia nut bread pudding

I have started cleaning out the planting area Ewa (west) of the driveway outside of the fence. If you have been reading the blog since the beginning, this was the area with the 'ohai ali'i that I was pruning on every visit so that I could safely back out of the driveway. Here's what it looked like in the very beginning.

March 25, 2015

Shortly after the photo was taken I pruned it back so that I could see cars coming up the road. But this is what it looked like on my very next visit 3 & 1/2 months later. The hot dry weather helped slow down the growth but it was still difficult to see approaching cars. (The scraggly plants closest to the driveway are the mickey mouse plant and 'ohai ali'i that I had started to kill off by spraying with Round Up. They were struggling but not dead.)

July 5, 2015

So I pruned them back once again. But here is what it looked like when I returned 4 & 1/2 months later. The cooler, wetter weather encouraged growth including that of 2 of the plants closest to the driveway that I had sprayed with Round Up.

November 17, 2015

So I pruned them back once again. But this time I painted the cut stumps with concentrated Round Up. Here's what it looked like when I was done.

December 1, 2015

Seven weeks later when I returned it looked like this! My efforts are making progress. With the wetter weather there should have been more growth. A closer inspection showed some new growth that was struggling.

January 24, 2016

In August, David and Kai pulled out the stumps of the shrubs closest to the driveway that I had killed. Since then I have done a little weeding. Now it looks like this. I am training the yellow and orange 'ohai ali'i in the background in to tree forms so that they can get bushy at a level higher that the top of the fence. In the meanwhile I need to work on the orange one a little more so I can see the approaching traffic.


The goal here is to cover the cleared area with weed barrier cloth and cover it with decorative landscape cinders to keep weeds in this area down while I search for the plants that I want to replace the shrubs that were here. I am looking for English lavender for the spot closest to the driveway; it's drought-resistant, grows no taller than 2 feet, has fragrant leaves & flowers, & is purple (Mom's favorite color). Other plants with similar characteristics are also welcomed. I would also like to find starts of a native Hawaiian plant like 'ilima papa that I can use as a groundcover.

Happy Birthday to Layonti, Naomi, Lopaka, & Roxanne! Happy Anniversary to Rachel & Terrence!