IASA #2-46

Found some old fishing poles while moving things out of sewing room

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Holiday Planning Commission Meeting

Today was the last 2 Leeward Planning Commission meetings for the year. The regular meeting started at 1 pm but we have to come in 30 minutes earlier to read written testimony submitted after the official deadline which was 2 days ago. Auē!

The Special Leeward Planning Commission meeting to review the final draft recommended General Plan 2045 was supposed to start at 5 pm. But since the regular meeting ended at 4:55 pm, Barbara, chair of the LPC said she would let the public know we would start at 5:30. When she tried to do that some of the dozen or so people in the room apparently got upset & said they would only allow us 10 minutes. Joke is on them, the meeting doesn't happen without the commissioners! So while we ate efficiently, we didn't wolf things down to meet their demand of only 10 minutes. We compromised & returned after a 20 minute dinner break.

On the plus side, one of the Planning staff made little holiday candy packets for everyone. Unfortunately for me that person is a milk chocolate person; there was not a single piece of dark chocolate in the goody bag. The regular snacks were also there.

Holiday treats.

Regular stuff.

I spent the night at the King Kamehameha Kona Beach Resort, courtesy of the Planning Department. They gave any commissioner who has to drive more than 50 miles the option to stay overnight. Apparently I am the only one who has to make that long a drive to get to the meetings. Last month, when we had back-to-back meeting days, they also gave me the option to stay overnight. I took it; less wear & tear on both me & the car! (It's usually a 106 mile round trip for me. Fortunately they give us a mileage allowance. I did not know about these perks when I applied.)

Have never used the pool towel card.

2024 Holiday Greetings!

Dear Family & Friends,

A lot has happened since last year. The biggest change is the start of the renovation of the last room needing work. By the end of the year, Chris should be done with all carpentry work in the sewing room. Iʻm having him change from the old single wall construction to double walls & having all windows upgraded to impact-resistant windows; it will be my hurricane-resistant room. By the end of February, I should be done rearranging the furniture & we'll be ready for guests! (Photo of new window delivery)

Throughout the year, Nardo has been helping me keep the weeds in the anthurium garden somewhat under control. Now, along with the renovation, Fred will be installing a fence along the east & west ends of the anthurium garden. This will be the outdoor area for the cats. Yes, they are spoiled! Not only will they have their own hurricane-resistant room with a cat door but they will have a large outdoor area to play in. Hopefully they will let me share it with them.

The 94 acre pasture behind me was being prepared for sale this year; Bill, who manages the property, had the line surveyed & a new pig-proof fence installed. This meant I no longer had access to the bananas & coconuts; but they saved me some banana keiki so I have a small patch replanted on my side of the fence now. A replacement coconut will take much more time to begin producing again but I've got a couple nuts sprouting. While the fence was down, Moʻo stayed tied out in the back yard 24/7 to keep the pigs out. She did a great job!

Another big change is that my volunteerism has risen to a new level. Earlier this year one of the community groups was looking for someone to represent North Kohala on the Leeward Planning Commission; they did not know much about my professional background. They were very happy to hear I had 30+ years working for either the planning or public works departments. I easily sailed through confirmation with the Mayor's office & the County Council & have been serving since June. We usually meet once a month, but with review of the final draft recommended General Plan, we will be meeting twice a month for about 4 months.

Both the Planning Department & the Medical Reserve Corps sent me to conferences this year. The 1^st was the 2024 HCPO conference on Balancing Change in a Dynamic Landscape. Later Na Lima Kakoʻo (HI MRC) sent me to the Hawaiʻi State Department of Health 2024 Climate Change & Health conference. It was interesting to see how different agencies are dealing with climate change. Here is the “Wheel of Doom” that is providing the incentive for the work being done.

With the additional volunteering, preparation for construction, yard work, & fence work, I did not have much time for picking fruit so the harvest was much less than previous years. In 2024, I got 144 # tangerines, 6# Meyer lemon (season still going), 90# mountain apple, 24# lychee, 7# dragonfruit, & 61# calamansi; as usual, I gave about 85% of it away. And some plants, like the jaboticaba, did not have much of a fruit set this year. Needless to say, I did not make any jam this year because of all the other activities happening.

My 1^st visitor this year was Jane in February; she is also a birder so we spent much of her visit looking for species she had never seen before. I think she added 10 new ones to her Life List including an Iʻo (Hawaiian Hawk) that flew over her while she was lying in the backyard! Amelia dropped in towards the end of May for a week or so. While we were having lunch in Honoka'a a very wet bicyclist stopped under the awning outside the restaurant we were at & I told her about how I hosted bikers through WarmShowers.org. That biker turned out to be Connor who was desperate for a dry place to stay for the night; we took him in. In the fall, Irene & Gary were at Hapuna celebrating her recent retirement; we got together for dinner at Seafood Bar & Grill. 

Kai arrived a little earlier in July than he usually does for Obon. But his timing worked well to allow him to provide the tech knowledge to get the Cricut working to speed up the production of the lantern banners that honor those who have passed. He returned in November to help me with moving furniture; but the sewing room was not ready yet due to some production delays. So we did some sightseeing instead. One of the places we visited was the Paleaku Gardens Peace Sanctuary. One of the gardens is a scale model of the Milky Way Galaxy! Here's Kai on his way to the Black Hole in the center of the Galaxy.

The Jones ʻOhana also visited during Obon. Aunty Florence, Karen, her husband David, & younger daughter Rei arrived 1^st at the Lalamilo Beach Bungalow in South Kohala. A day later Tomiko & her husband David arrived; yes, both sisters married Davids. We joined them for dinner & a selfie one evening. Later, they moved to the Kohala Country Haven for the Obon weekend;  its right next door to the Kohala Jodo Mission.

Hope all is well with you & your family!

A hui hou! Mālama pono!

Roomba Challenges

The Roomba is doing its best to keep up with the changing landscape. This morning it was only really able to clean the living room. I effectively blocked its access to the front bedroom with the tabletop & the other large box from the sewing room. But I did make sure it was able to clean my bedroom today.

This is the living room only.

It wasn't able to get past these to clean the front bedroom.

But it did clean my bedroom today (lower left).

I finally got enough cleared away so I could get a good look into the sewing room closet today. I looked over the things I had put in there back in early 2016; I remembered I had made some very helpful little notes to myself, such as about the mirror I packed between 2 boxes on the shelf. But I had forgotten the very specific built-ins that someone made to hold some of the fishing rods! Very cool!  

There's more shelving to the right out of the photo.

Note to self ...

Someone took some extra care to build in these rod holders.

I also got all of the artwork out of the sewing room. Most of it is now under the desk except for about 5 that were too tall in any direction to fit under the desk. Once the artwork was removed from the sewing room you could clearly see the temporary patch that was made for that really bad section of the wall.

Now mainly under the desk in back bedroom.

A temporary fix to be replaced soon.

Here's what the sewing room looked like at the end of the day. That very irregularly shaped package to the left is Kai's 1st bicycle with the training wheels and all!

And here's what the back bedroom looked like at the end of the day. There are still more things that will be moved into this room. So stay tuned for the evolving look of this now storage room.

I will be putting the rest of the sewing room work on hold tomorrow. I did not get as much read last night as I would have liked so I am going to spend all day tomorrow reading. The Leeward Planning Commission meeting is on Thursday.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e BJ!

Flat File Moved!

Yay! The flat file has been successfully moved to the back bedroom! Thank goodness for Physics! And the 15 Puzzle! For much of the moving of objects around the house that I do, I spend a lot more time thinking rather than actually moving. I play a version of the 15 Puzzle in my mind using the stuff I need to move & the rooms of the house. I try to figure out how to move stuff with the least amount of moves. But unlike an unsolvable 15 Puzzle, I can always temporarily put things out on the porch or in the garage for a few hours. (But I haven't had to do that yet.) Knowing the proper way to deadlift also helped.

Everything cleaned off the top.

Also had to move everything in front of it; last drawer to be moved sits on top.

It's all moved!

Panorama at the end of the day.

In case you're wondering, I checked out the bracing on the desk to see if it could handle the weight of the flat file & all the paperwork I have in it. I think it will do fine, especially since this is not a permanent situation.

There's a lot more crosspieces than most desks you find now days.

Here's what the back bedroom looked like at the end of the day. The open boxes get temporarily moved to my bedroom while I am moving things in to the back bedroom. Once the upcoming Leeward Planning Commission meeting for the month is over, I will be sorting & purging things from the open boxes which are things that were in the house when I moved my stuff in. Mom would not let me throw anything out when I was packing things in to the sewing room so Chris could repair the rest of the house.

Panorama at the end of the day.

While cleaning out the sewing room I found a box of Christmas decorations! There was a box of lights on the top. It also had tinsel & ornament hangers but I didn't find any ornaments.

 

I also found the box containing the jo & bokken. But a little troubling is I did not find my jo bag.

Top to bottom: tanto, 2 bokken, 2 jo.

Once the flat file was moved out, I could get closer to the window. There should be a nice view of Maui from the renovated room; the new double hung windows will provide a better view . There will also be a nice view of the anthurium garden with the new windows. I also opened the windows. With them open, the difference in temperature between the south side of the house (back bedroom where I am moving a lot of things to) & the north side (sewing room) was very pronounced. I think Kai might end up sleeping in the cat room instead of either of the guest bedrooms!

In the morning before I could get near the window.

Using telephoto function on phone to get a better shot of Maui.

In the afternoon after I opened the window.

Telephoto function; too bad the clouds are blocking the view.

I called the Whirlpool Customer eXperience Center (yes, that's how they spell it) this morning before I started on the sewing room; their hours are 8 am to 6 pm Eastern time, which is 3 am to 1 pm Hawaiʻi time. The phone tree did give me the option for a call back but I did not want them calling me at 3 am. Fortunately I was only holding for about 10 minutes; I spoke with Laurie, she set up an appointment for the 24th between noon & 4 pm. When I asked where the repair person was coming from, she spelled out "k-i-h-e-i". Which is on Maui! I told her that. She said perhaps that is their main office & they have another office on Hawaiʻi Island; she said to call & check with them. I think their system gives you the closest repair place according to zip code. Since I live at the very north end of the island, when I have done that for other things, I have to filter out the ones for places on Maui that are closer to me than Kona (55 miles) or Hilo (75 miles). The closest point to Maui is about 35 miles, to Kihei is about 50 miles as the ʻAlalā flies. Auē! So I called the repair place in Kihei. And they do have a technician on Hawai'i Island! Hūlō!

Shortly after my call to Whirlpool, the wok decided it did not like where I had hung it on the kitchen wall a couple years ago. I had used a Command hook. Now I'm wondering whether I should use a Command hook that holds more weight. Or just find a flat surface to store it on. 

The aftermath.

They were on a hook above the oven mitts.

The Roomba had a little trouble getting in to my bedroom today; I had a bunch of boxes blocking the doorway.

It couldn't get in to my bedroom which would be the room on the lower left.

As I mentioned before, I had bought another ʻohiʻa from Elemental Plants earlier in the year. Here are side-by-side photos of the 2 plants I bought from Michael. The one on the left is Makaiʻi Ahu that was bought in April; the one on the right is the Cherry Nani that I got a couple days ago. The Makaiʻi Ahu has grown about 18" in 8 months since I bought it; the flower is a mix of red & yellow stamens so it looks orangey-red in color. It was about the same size as the  Cherry Nani when I bought it. The Cherry Naniʻs stamens are bright red. I am hoping for both of them to grow in to trees & will be working to encourage that growth form. I am planting Makaiʻi Ahu so I can see it from my bedroom window. Cherry Nani will be planted along the fence in front of the garage. 

Makaiʻi Ahu (L) & Cherry Nani.

Makaiʻi Ahu; I really like that they include a color photo of the flower.

Cherry Nani.

Kai helped me set up the large monitor in the living room for reading documents for the Leeward Planning Commission meetings. He also made me move things off the table it is on that were blocking the screen. The larger monitor makes it easier to see some of the details on some plans. Last month I missed an important detail so asked a question that really didn't need to be asked. My bad! Kai also suggested I might want to look in to a wireless projector; it would be larger & clearer & I won't have to worry about cats chewing on wires.

That's my laptop screen at the lower left.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Adnan!

Cleaning Out the Sewing Room

Today's big effort was cleaning out the sewing room so Chris can start the renovation. But before I cleaned out the sewing room I had to reorganize the back bedroom & consolidate the things piled in there back in March 2023 when I was getting ready for Anne & Catie's long term visit. I did not do a good job of packing things efficiently in that portion of the room at that time. I started that today. I forgot to take a true "before" photo so the series below starts with the end result of the March 2023 work; which is close to what it has been since then.

03/2023.

This evening.

 

A few days ago I posted photos of what the southerly portion of the room looked like when we moved the desk in for Kai. Here is what it looks like now with some things from the sewing room moved in. 

Still a work in progress.

Getting things out of the sewing room was more of a challenge. I had moved things in there back in 2016 when my household goods were 1st moved to Hawaiʻi. Over the years I have taken a couple of random things out & put them in to use. I also did a little rearranging in January 2023 when the house needed to be repainted and a portion of the exterior wall needed to be repaired to satisfy the continental office of my home insurance company (the local office was understanding of my situation). I had to move things away from the portion of wall that was repaired. Though it isn't packed tightly, there is still a lot of stuff in there; half of it was my grandmother's things from other portions of the house that were moved in there for the initial renovation in early 2016. The challenge was not so much getting things out, but having to clean things up before I moved them out since that room had not really been cleaned since things were moved in! I found a bunch of old gecko eggs that were laid in the old curtain rods; it looks like they are the optimum size for the eggs. As part of the clean up I also got rid of some things.

Morning.

Midday.

Late afternoon; bag on right is for trash.

Morning.

Late afternoon; same trash bag.

Old house gecko eggs.

But there are some specific things that were in the sewing room, that even though I did not use them since they were put in there, they are not things to be thrown out. They include a couple of my father's fishing poles; we would come to Kohala every summer for him to spend his vacation fishing with my grandparents & other relatives here. Also stored is the "cherrywood" dining table that will be part of the furnishings for the cat room. My 5-drawer flat file is also in there; I have unfinished artwork stored in it as well as prints of some of my other artwork, posters, & maps. There are also numerous pieces of framed artwork waiting for an empty wall. Two things in there from my grandparents' era that I want to keep are my grandmother's old Singer treadle sewing machine & the old rocking chair.

"Cherrywood" table, legs are in the green bundle.

Dad's fishing poles.

Flat file.

Artwork.

In the late afternoon I checked in with Chris, he is having to delay the start of the renovation until he finishes the job he has already started. It has been delayed because of the rainy days that we have been having. So tomorrow will not be the start of the renovation. Which bought me a little more time for thoroughly cleaning out the sewing room. I spent the evening focused on the upcoming Leeward Planning Commission meeting on Thursday.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Linda, Stephanie, & Louis! A me ka Hauʻoli lā Hoʻomanaʻo makahiki ʻekahi e Gavin & Jennifer!