My 2nd Favorite Hardware Store!

I arrived in Kona about 8:30 Monday morning; my hot spot is acting up so I am posting this on Tiuesday morning from Kohala Coffee Mill. I wanted to check out HPM Building Supply in Kona to see if I could find towel racks that match the hardware on the shower door. No luck; but I was impressed by what they did carry. They are also employee-owned. So I have decided if I can't find it at the Sunshine Hardware in Hawi, I would go to the HPM in Kona; I signed up for their e-mail deals.
 

My plane the Monday holiday morning was very empty; there might have been about 30 people on the plane, including the flight attendants & pilots! Boarding & deplaning was fast & easy; no looking for an empty bin to put your carry-on in! Finding a suitcase at baggage claim was also really easy.

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I am the person sitting the farthest back on the plane; the standing woman is a flight attendant.

The first rental car I got had a unique problem. The belt for the seat belt had been folded in half and was stuck in the groove for the buckle. I wasn't able to move it and neither could Gary, the attendant that checks you out of the lot. They ended up having to send it back to the mechanic to fix. I ended up with a Hyundai Elantra; it looks like Uncle Kazu's wheelchair can fit in the trunk. If the bicycle flag is still missing I might even be able to get it in the back seat. Getting out of the air[port and into Kona was a breeze; the roadwork on the Queen Ka'ahumanu Highway looks to be mainly complete. Instead of 1 lane each way, there are now 2 lanes plus left & right turn pockets. Not only is it faster it is also safer since it is also now a divided highway.


I made a quick stop in Waimea to pick up granola for Curtis at Village Burger. I have never tried their burgers, I only go in to pick up the granola. One of these days I will have to try a burger; they sound very interesting and tasty.

Menu at Village Burger.

When I arrived at the house I discovered that the Aikane Nursery folks have removed some vegetation that I did not want disturbed; they trimmed up the bushes along the road, the calamondin, & the pua kenikeni; now you can see all the way to the house & it is much noisier. Auwe! We will have a lot to talk about since they also have not been keeping up with removing the suckers on the invasive trees I had them take out a year ago and there has been no maintenance on the fruiting trees that they also worked on last year. I was patient and gave them a year to do the work when it was the appropriate time but didn't see any work being done.

They weren't supposed to trim these shrubs; note the bright white scars where branches were removed.

I found that the miniature anthuriums that I planted on the hapu'u on my last trip has survived and one is even thriving & flowering! The orchid that Suzanne bought for Mom's hatsubon has 2 flowering shoots, one already has buds but I will probably miss the actual flowering. The orchid start from the last surviving orchid that Mom raised is hanging in there.

White miniature anthurium doing well.

The other white miniature anthurium start is alive but not flowering.

One of the flowering stalks on the orchid Suzanne got for Mom's hatsubon.

Keiki from Mom's last surviving orchid that she planted.

I also checked out the branch that broke off of the macadamia nut tree; it's on the back side so is not visible when I looked down the driveway. The branches have also blocked off the path the wild pigs use to get in to the yard from Jessie's yard. There are a lot of nuts on the ground; I will have to pick them up before the pigs find them. While I was at it, I checked the other fruiting trees.

From the end of the driveway, looking at the back yard. Where's the problem?

The broken branch is on the back side of the tree, away from the driveway.

Dragon fruit on stump in front of the macadamia nut tree.

Dwarf Samoan coconut behind the macadamia nut tree. Looks like there will be a lot of nuts in the future.

The banana patch.

One has a flower bract that is just opening up.

The Fairchild variety mango. I have been told it can be pruned to 8' to make harvesting easier.

Mountain apple.

L to R: tangerine, lychee, tangerine. Yes, there are 2 tangerines.

The Murashige variety avocado.

Olena.

I have drafted a list for Greg from Aikane Nursery. It starts with, "STOP ALL REMOVAL OF SHRUBS & TREES THAT PROVIDE A SCREEN FROM THE ROAD". Exactly like that in capital letters. Yes, I know it's like yelling at someone; I want to get the point across. I have also listed the 4 items that I had requested that they do when I started this one year ago, which I do not see much evidence of having been done satisfactorily. Like getting rid of the grass that has encroached in to the anthurium area and re-establishing the substrate in the anthurium garden.

This grass was supposed to be killed/removed and a path was supposed to be installed.

This hapu'u & anthuriums were supposed to be moved out of the proposed building footprint.

The hapu'u & anthuriums were supposed to be moved to this gap to the left of the stake after the grass was removed.

Here are some of the neighbors in back of the house. I like having these type of neighbors; this is as rowdy as their parties get.


I discovered TSA did not search my bag this time. And I even have the Waterpik Nano in my suitcase!

Look, Ma! No TSA note!

I started vacuuming and mopping the floors.  But since I can't do a lot of vacuuming at a time in order to not tweak my old back injury again, for today I have only done the kitchen & bathroom & the hallway that connects them. Those are the most important rooms to get done first. I cleaned the kitchen sink & counters as well. Later tonight I will clean out the shower.

It's dinner time and it's raining right now; it rains a lot here, but that's why it is so lush and green. Jessie said yesterday was hot and sunny but this morning it also rained.

I got the microwave set up; as much as possible I am going to try to eat stored food from the freezer. And peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. I am also going to clear space around the treadmill so that I can use it for exercise while I am here. On my last trip in July I cleared an area around where my bicycle is set up on the trainer and rode it a little, but I had forgotten shoes so it was not comfortable; I brought the pair of Skechers, that is too worn for me to use for walking, for use on the bike until I can find my bike shoes.

Hurricane Norman is now in the Central Pacific; it is a Category 1. It is about 970 miles east of the Big Island. It is currently moving at 21 mph but is expected to slow down & weaken over the next few days.

At 8 p.m.

Happy 2nd Birthday to Darien!