My Summer Vacation: Moving Hāpuʻu

Around 7:30 Kamaka texted, letting me know they were in Waimea having breakfast. They arrived about an hour later. It was Kamaka, his stepdad Kaloa, and his brother Kū. Kaloa has had experience moving hāpuʻu before; it was great having his expertise here to supervise. From the part of the hāpuʻu that would be too close to the extension they got one very large trunk section and 5 smaller plants.

Hapuʻu yesterday morning.

Kaloa holds up the hāpuʻu while Kamaka cuts it with the chain saw.

Kamaka makes the next cut.

Kamaka checks the location for the next cut.

Kamaka & Kū move the largest piece.

Discussing how to remove the final piece.

Kamaka with the largest piece; he said it weighed about 50 pounds.

The remaining portion of the hāpuʻu.

Here's where that big piece ended up.

They also cut the one hāpuʻu that was leaning in to the pathway; Kaloa said if they tried to prop it up it would probably break any roots it had developed over time and the older portion was no longer attached so it would be unstable. They got one large trunk piece and 2 smaller keiki. Overall, they planted 4 pieces in the ground and potted another 5 that I now have in the holding area.

This hāpuʻu blocks the path.

They figure out the best way to handle this.

Kamaka has taken the keiki off & is getting ready for the final cut.

Cutting the trunk off.

Kaloa stabilizes the trunk once it is cut.

Kū & Kaloa move the trunk to its new location.

The cleared path.

A close up look where the trunk was removed.

The trunk in its new location.

For each planting hole Kamaka dug, he put a layer of steer manure on the bottom then the hāpuʻu went in the hole deep enough that it would stand without support. Black cinder was packed around the trunk for drainage, then a layer of soil to hold it steady, followed by a top course of black cinder for drainage. They did a similar thing for the potted hāpuʻu (Cibotium glaucum).

Kamaka brings the trunk over to the hole.

He first checks that there is a good fit.

Then adds manure to the hole.

Kū poses for the time lapse photo as Kamaka checks that the trunk is straight.

Kū flashes a thumbs up!

Kamaka adds cinders to the hole for good drainage.

After backfilling with soil, he also puts cinders on top for drainage.

Kamaka fills one of the larger pots .

He also adds cinders to the pot for good drainage.

Before he started digging the first hole, Kamaka set up his phone to do a series of time lapse photographs for his social media. After spending 3 years in Madagascar in the Peace Corps, he is spending this year doing various jobs in order to pay off $50,000 in student loans. He will do whatever job for anyone who contacts him; you pay him however much you think he should get for the work he did; its called The Race to $50K. He documents his jobs on line for full transparency.

They also helped me prop up the hāpuʻu that was leaning against the side of the house. They got it to be almost upright. And Kū moved the rocks to form the westerly edge of the westerly planting bed. After all that they even loaded up all the green waste and took it to the dump!

This hāpuʻu is no longer leaning against the house.

Kū moved these rocks out from under the house.

Loading the green waste.

Mahalo to Kū, Kamaka, & Kaloa!

I appreciated the birdrise warning wake-up this morning. I was expecting Kamaka & crew to be here early so I did not want to oversleep this morning.

Birdrise at thirty-one minutes before sunrise.

Twenty-three minutes past sunrise.

This morning, before I went out to work in the anthurium garden, I put the butter chicken in my crock pot that I had found yesterday when I pulled out the blender. I set the timer to turn it on about 10 and slowly warm up the meal without burning it. I had never thought about using a crock pot just to hold & warm something that I had already spent time cooking by some other means. But it worked out wonderfully; I will have to remember this alternate way of using a crock pot. I think for butter chicken or another dish which gets better when it has a chance for the flavors to blend, it might be a preferred option. I think this is also a good thing if I am going to be working hard and unlikely to want to cook when I am done working! It will just mean I have to plan ahead better!

I should probably use a power strip to spread things out a little.

While I was waiting for them to arrive, I started removing the blue ginger (Dichorisandra thyrsiflora) near the planting holes. I did a combination of digging up tubers and cutting down canes. I also pulled a bunch of Syngonium sp. off of 2 of the hāpuʻu.

Digging up the blue ginger tubers.

After all the planting was done, they all took showers in the downstairs while the rice was cooking. As I was cleaning up and getting things ready, I saw Martina in the kitchen window. I watched her stalk and catch a fly that was in there with her.

Martina waits for the fly to make a move.

It moves, she strikes & misses.

She strikes again and catches it!

She moves lower.

She hides while she is eating.

During lunch Kamaka was telling me how he enjoyed being able to have a job in the shade and without fire ants! Apparently in many job sites in Hilo there are fire ants and he frequently gets stung by them while working. Kū just graduated from high school; they had both a drive-by & online celebration for him. He has been accepted to every university he has applied to but has decided to stay close to home at UH Hilo since almost all are only doing online classes this year due to COVID-19. Hopefully things will open up next year and he can complete his associate's degree in regular classes; he will then transfer to one of his choices in California to get a bachelor's degree. I also found out the Kaloa was raised in Palolo, so he knows Kaimukī town well!

After they left, I put up some fronds that I had saved to create some shade for the holding area. In the early afternoon there is about a one hour period when most of the holding area is in full sun. Even though the plants are getting regularly misted for about 10 minutes every hour I wanted to give them dappled shade so it is not as hot for them. I tied the stems of the fronds to the pipe and then tied them to each other; I will find out tomorrow how well my idea worked.

Too much sun.

The fronds provide some shade.

Here's how I tied them up.

Almost as soon as I got back in the house, Jessie called me. She said the Census 2020 folks had been by and dropped off the census packet on my gate; she said they hung hers on her front door knob but never knocked to let her know they were there. I had been outside when they got here and didn't hear them.

Just before dinner I thought I heard Wiley meowing again; so I put out food for the cats. Almost immediately the tabby walked up and started eating; that was the cat I had heard! About 30 seconds later Wiley showed up; the tabby quickly moved away from the food. But it only went down the ramp and sat there until it decided it was time for a nap.