No More Things That Go Bump in the Night

Not that I was not sure what was making that bumping sound; I knew exactly what it was. But I was not willing to go out and temporarily fix it in the middle of the night, knowing that chances of it coming undone before sunrise were very good. The bump was caused by the door access under the house swinging open in the wind; which means the twist-tie holding the hook latch on the nail had come undone. Which it did frequently. I had actually started this project yesterday, but I had picked up the wrong parts. The barrel bolt was the right part, just not long enough to get past the termite-eaten part of wood so there was something to screw in to. The safety hasp was just that, a safety hasp; I needed a swivel staple safety hasp. I thought I had grabbed the right type of safety hasp but found out differently when I started to install it. Today I got the right parts and installed them.  No more bumps tonight!

This is what has been trying to keep the door closed.

The new swivel staple safety hasp.

The location for the barrel lock.

I couldn't find a place that wasn't termite-eaten.

A barrel lock with a longer throw.

I did my morning walk today since it was not raining. Besides birds, I counted 14 cars & 16 trucks; I got started about 20 minutes later than normal so there was more traffic on the road. I will have to try to get out earlier since this is a country road with no sidewalks.

Thirteen minutes after sunrise.

The feral pigs had been up here eating the sugar cane.

During my morning walk through the yard I found that the pigs have once again eaten all the rat bait,  but I did also find a handful of macadamia nuts that had not been eaten so maybe they are not feeling totally fine. As I was checking around the mountain apple tree & the heliconia patch in the back I found more baby hāpuʻu coming up through the heliconia debris! There are now 5 that I can spot. I checked Sunshine True Value, they do not have drip irrigation kits but they do have all the parts including a RainBird timer; so if I can't find a kit in Waimea, I could build one myself. Then I can dig up the baby hāpuʻu and put them in pots on the north side of the garage to grow them out until they are large enough to plant out in the yard and be seen easily.

Uneaten nuts.

Mountain apples. They're about the size of a large olive.

Five baby hāpuʻu.

An unfortunate baby hāpu'u that did not make it.

Pig hoof prints on the weed block cloth

I completed laying out the weed cloth that I had. I could have bought more but I decided to stop where I did so that the weed cloth is not exposed to the ultraviolet for too long a time while I wait for the cinder deliveries to catch up to my needs. I didn't pull any weeds this time; it was so much faster! And also a lot easier on my back.

Weed cloth has come around the corner & will head down to the gas tank.

I love these loppers! It's like cutting through butter.

I unpacked a couple more boxes before lunch. Its slow going for me since I don't have the info from my moving app to help me know what order boxes should be unpacked to make things flow smoother. For example, the really old stuff could stay in boxes a little longer, but the everyday dishes and utensils need to be found, washed, and put in drawers and cabinets for use when everyone is here for Obon!

Still working on it ...

Want to get boxes off the floor to prevent more mildew.

To get things out of the way I went through the bin of reusable bags; I had not intended to ship these here but they were already in a bin and someone put them in the "To Go" pile, so here they are. I pulled some out to put together a "bag of bags" to take to the grocery store. Besides bags for general groceries, there is also an insulated bag and a bag with partitions for bottles. (Think sparkling cider bottles. Or wine, if you prefer.) The Bag of Bags also now has a dedicated space in the kitchen where everyone will know they can find bags for shopping; I think since last July grocery stores no longer give out one-use bags. You have to bring your own or buy a multiple use bag from the seller. Or if you are at Takata Store you can use a box if one is available.

The FoodSaver and the Bag of Bags.

I was going to get ice cream for Uncle Kazu this afternoon. But I was a little too late; he was already eating his afternoon snack. So I sat and watched television with him. Usually he watches UH Rainbow Wahine volleyball, but today they were watching Monster Jam. It was monster trucks doing stunts. It sort of reminded me of a cross between gymnastics floor exercises and horse jumping. Think of the monster truck as the horse going over jumps but in whatever order the driver thinks will be the most spectacular. They destroyed a number of the vehicles; I am sure it is not an inexpensive sport.

The view from the incoming traffic lane.

The small rectangular area.

The larger triangular area.

Monster Jam.

PT Sugi came by while I was with Uncle Kazu. I told him how Uncle Kazu was unable to stand well enough to use the slipper I had jury-rigged with the furniture slider. He will begin working with Uncle Kazu tomorrow to strengthen his leg. Hopefully he will be able to get strong enough that we can get him in to the car in July for Obon.

I worked on more boxes after I got back. I had opened up all of the boxes in the area between the stove and the shelf unit to get an idea what I was dealing with. I made a plan to unpack the everyday dishes first, then the old stuff. Grandma had a bunch of the Golden Wheat design dishes; I remember using these. I couldn't remember if these were the ones we pasted stamps in a book for or what. Wikipedia says they came in Duz Detergent boxes; I do not remember ever seeing that type of detergent at Grandma's house. I also remember the dishes with the apple design, I liked those, but I didn't find any of them when I was initially packing things up.

This fell into my hand when I was unwrapping one of the Golden Wheat plates. Good thing I figured out what it was as it was falling into my hand!

I had Jessie's vinha d'ahlos and salad for dinner again; I almost forgot to take a photo. But I was looking out the kitchen window at the sunset and took a photo of that. Which reminded me to take a photo of dinner!

Nine minutes after sunset.

I am revising my thoughts on how much rat bait the pigs need to eat to reach the LD50. I was assuming that the article I read meant mg of the rat bait in the form I was using it, i.e., Ramik bait bars. Since I wasn't finding any dead or dying pigs, I reread the article. They are actually talking about the active ingredient Diphacinone, which the bag says is at 0.005%. It's a 2 kilogram bag, so there's 50 milligrams in the entire bag; pigs need to eat 150mg/kg of body weight to reach the LD50. I couldn't find any information on bioaccumulation or the half-life of Diphacinone in pigs; but in humans its 15 to 20 days and rats eliminate 70% of the Diphacinone within 8 days. So the pigs are just enjoying the little rat bait snack bars. I wonder if the rats are getting any?