New Washing Machine

At about 10:30 today Shane & Kurt from Hakoda's Building Appliances delivered the new washing machine; they also took the old one away. I got a front loading washing machine; they are more efficient and I can also unload it easier than I can a top loading machine.

Shane directs Kurt in backing down the driveway.

Kurt & Shane remove the old washer.

They load the new washer on the handtruck.

Kurt hooks up the incoming water lines.

Kurt moves the washer back in to place.

Kurt runs it through various parts of the cycle to make sure it is working.

The old washer ready to leave.

All pau!

Ready for its first load!

I tried it out with a light load of a sheet, a pillowcase, a towel, and a shirt; it was great! Very quiet. And the Fast Spin cycle that Kurt told me about did get a lot of water out. I hung things out in the sewing room before dinner and before I went to bed they were dry!

It first checks to make sure everything is okay to run.

Then it tells you how long it will be doing what activity!

When its done & you open the door there's a light inside!

I hung it on the line that Grey had rigged up in the sewing room.

This morning I realized I have been giving you the wrong sunrise times since I got here; the sun rises about 7 or 8 minutes earlier here since it is further east. I will now be giving you the correct sunrise times! (So that darned Saffron Finch is not getting up a lot earlier than the Honolulu birds as compared to sunrise.)

Twenty-seven minutes before sunrise.

Eighteen minutes before sunrise; the other birds are getting up now.

Looking towards sunrise from the kitchen window.

I checked on the gate fairly early this morning. The pigs had not tried to crawl under it last night; they did not disturb any of the leaves I laid under the gate. I also checked out the things I left across the other trails; I wasn't really sure they had not come in to the yard last night.

Everything is still in place.

But my tell-tale was down on this path; though I could not see how they got in.

Since I am throwing all the fallen mountain apples over the fence I don't really have anything for them to eat in my yard; which I prefer. So it makes it more difficult to know if they have come through in the middle of the night. But I have something they also seem to like, rat bait! They kept eating all of it the last time I was here.  


Since its about 2&1/2 hours to Hilo plus the meeting at the mortuary, then dropping by to drop off supplies with Grey & pick up the key & bedding, then lunch, and a 2&1/2 hour drive back; or an all-day trip. I decided to pick as many mountain apples today as possible since I'll be gone pretty much all day tomorrow. All total I picked 164 mountain apples this morning! I split them up between Grey, Charmaine, Jessie, & Laurel. I dropped off the ones for Jessie & Charmaine today; I will give those for Laurel & Grey to them tomorrow.

Bucket #1 = 54 mountain apples.

Bucket #2 = 38 mountain apples.

Bucket #3 = 39 apples.

Bucket #4 = 33 mountain apples.

When I texted Grey to let him know I would be coming to Hilo & I could pick up the bedding & key from him, I also told him I would be bringing more fresh mountain apples & some other stuff for them. He asked if he could have more salted limes, "the strange limes from the front yard are a big hit, ending up in all the food." I bagged up the limes I made almost a year ago; I like to age them for about a year before I start giving them away.

There are 75 salted limes in this bag!

The flowers for the 2nd crop of mountain apples are already starting to bloom! I did not think I would still be here to see them bloom.



I propped up 2 of the hāpuʻu that are leaning. One is leaning up against the garage; it would have to be removed if I were to do another termite tent treatment. The other effectively blocks the path.



I also worked on re-marking the location for the enlarged sewing room. I need to decide how large I want that room to become. Right now it is 6 feet wide and 14 feet long with a 4' x 6' closet space.  Expanding by units of 4 feet is prudent since there would be less wasted material if the space is just added on to the existing space. Currently I am thinking of increasing the width by 8 feet for the length of the room without the closet which would make it 14'x14'. But I could increase the entire room out and make it 14' x 18'. I need to talk to Chris about this.




I also set up the irrigation line. Right now I am just using it the keep some plants that I rescued from the landscape moist.

The spray pattern for the sprinkler.

Baby hāpuʻu to be rescued from the weed eater.

The rescued hāpuʻu.

I also checked on the avocado tree. Its fruit is currently smaller than my thumbnail.


I cut the African tulip tree sprouts on my side of the fence then treated the cut stump ends with full strength concentrated Roundup. I paint it on with a brush; its what we would do to blackberries to get rid of them.


Tonight was the last compost run for this trip. After I covered the compost with leaves, I used the bucket to picked up the fallen fruit; there were 72 of them! I chucked them over the fence for the cattle.



I also started collecting items for projects I could do while in quarantine when I return; I got house numbers to install on the wooden posts out front and picked up a Bona premium microfiber mop and hardwood floor cleaner. I also talked to Jake at Sunshine True Value about picking up the red lava rock on the next trip; the plan is when Bill goes to pick those up they call me and I give them my credit card number. 


Since Laurel & Bill said they would pick up supplies for me when I return, I started taking photos of the things I know I will need. Like unsweetened soy milk, peanut butter, parm crisps, spaghetti sauce, and heavy cream, for starters.

The unsweetened has way less carbs.

I like to reuse the jars for storing grains & beans.

Either this or the original flavor is good.

I prefer crunchy but will eat creamy if there is no good option.

Heavy cream from happy cows.

Here are a couple more photos from Tomiko's photo show, Passage. The chair is still here as well as the pillows. The door in the sewing room "now" photo is not the same door as in Tomiko's photo; Chris widened the doorway and used the old hardware on the new door.

(Photo by Tomiko)

It's under there; somewhere.

I know where the pillows are.

(Photo by Tomiko)

The sewing machine is still there, just hidden behind artwork & boxes.

There were 13 new cases reported today to give us a total of 517 known COVID-19 cases. A bunch more showed up on Hawai'i Island due to a cluster of cases at a MacDonald's in Kona. The total number of people needing hospitalization climbed to 45, with deaths remaining the same at 9; 333 people were allowed to leave isolation. The epidemiological curve is holding steady. O'ahu on the ZCTA map is looking redder.






Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Lois, Brenda, & Maia!