IASA #2-34

At Kukuipahu Heiau celebrating Fall Equinox with Aunty Hope's halau & lineal descendent Lehua (far R).

 

First Maiʻa Planted

I planted one of the maiʻa (banana) this morning; that's as much as I want to push my back after 2 previous days doing a bunch of bending & squatting. One maiʻa a day means that they will all be planted out by Monday morning. It will also give me time in between to remove the weeds between the planting holes, cover the ground around the plant with cardboard, & then cover the cardboard with mulch without overdoing it.

Partially covered with cardboard; waiting for mulch.

The original photo I took of the mai'a planting had a problem so I went out in the early evening to take another photo. While I was outside I noticed a different truck on the Surety property. It was Stacyson & friends; some logs had dropped off of their trailer & they were reloading them. I gave him the pot of Bun Long kalo; he was very happy to get another variety for their lo'i.

Most of the fence has been installed along the back. The remaining parts are the 2 short sections to reconnect the side fence to the back fence & block the gap by the rock wall & chain link fence so that Moʻo can't squeeze through there.

Stretching the fencing material at about 10 this morning.

An hour later they were attaching the wire mesh to the fence posts.

They notched fallen panax log so bottom of fence would lay closer to the ground.

At end of the day, looking southerly at Jessie's back fence.

Looking northerly.

I have bundled up all the laʻi leaves; all 1050 of them! They are now hanging in the garage drying. And looking somewhat like bundles of tobacco leaves in a drying shed. There are 925 leaves from the large green Kamehameha variety laʻi & 125 from the narrow-leaved red laʻi.  This should last me for a couple years of school tours at Lapakahi!

The 1050 laʻi leaves.

These few will go in to compost pile when it is re-established.

This morning Owen had to trim back one of the laʻi in order to get the fencing material over the fence posts to stretch it. I just had him cut it in to 3 to 4 foot long lengths & stuck them in a bucket. I did not want to bundle more leaves to dry! After a couple of weeks they should have started to send out roots; I can just stick them in the ground since the fence should be completely done by then. Hopefully the wet season will also have started by then so I won't have to water them daily to keep them from dying.

Owen cutting the large Kamehameha la'i stalks up for me.

Dane called this morning. He needed someone to lock the gate at Lapakahi this evening; he was off & the private security company is no longer doing it while they renegotiate the contract. So I went and locked it about 6 pm.

I went that late because I went to sit in on Uncle Jeff's Kukakuka with Kalani program on KNKR 96.1 lpfm. Tonight his guest were Toni & Cheryl, talking about Mālama Māhukona.

(L to R) Jeff, Toni, & Cheryl.

That disorganized low that was moving southerly of us has totally disbanded & no longer shows up on the Central Pacific Hurricane Center map. But Hurricane Helene in the Atlantic is headed for Florida with sustained winds up to 130 mph which would make it a Category 4. And if it turns to the west & avoids Florida, it could still easily get Alabama, Georgia, & Louisiana. The nice things about hurricanes headed towards Hawaiʻi is that if it misses, it usually has nothing else to hit in its path. 

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Mimi, Bill, & Yvonne!

Posts Are In Place

The metal fence posts along the back of the property are in place; it looks like all the wooden posts along this section of fencing are also in place. I did see, however, that it looks like there will be a gap between the end of the side fences & the back fence; I will have to talk to Travis or Owen tomorrow. If you're wondering why the fencing progress is going so slowly, it's because this last section has about 1100 feet  remaining. I only account for about 80 feet of it so its not like they are going to drop everything & just do my part; I would prefer if they do it properly & close my part off when it is the right time in the process.

Looking northerly along the fence line.

The Mo'o-sized gap at the northeasterly corner.

A Google map with measurements overlaid to show about how much more remains.

I started tying up the laʻi in bundles of 25 & hanging them in the garage to begin the drying process. The greenest ones are being hung closes to the easterly wall which gets really warm on sunny days; it should enhance the drying. For today I bundled up 300 green & yellow leaves; there's still a bunch more to do.

The 300 Kamehameha la'i leaves drying in garage.

Tomorrow's task.

The pot by the maiʻa is galangal.

I put out flags to mark where I think I will plant the maiʻa along the back fence. I am leaving about 2&1/2 feet to the fence for them to expand in to.

They're about 3 feet apart in the row.

Sort of shows where they are in relation to the fence.

I took a break from gardening & looked over the details of the window purchase with Ryan. I later signed the purchase agreement; then sent a check from my HELOC account to Diamond Head Windows via certified mail. Once he receives the check, Ryan will send the purchase agreement to the manufacturer; then he will give me a tentative date that the windows will be delivered to the house.

Around here, hapuʻu grows like a weed! These are volunteer hapuʻu seedlings (sporelings?) along the path in the anthurium garden. I need to dig them up an pot them so I can easily move them & give them to people.

While in the garden area, I also checked on the Bun Long kalo. I had seen Loa about 3 weeks ago at the Night Market; he & Stacyson were selling the Go Kalo! cards that the Naʻau ʻŌiwi students had developed as part of their studies. When he found out I had Bun Long, he asked if I could spare some huli for their loʻi; they do not have that variety. Turns out I have 3 pots & one is very much in need of being repotted. That's the one I am donating to Naʻau ʻŌiwi.

I think there are 7 corms in there.

According to the CPHC, that low pressure disturbance is now about 550 miles southeast of Hilo. It is still moving westerly at about 10 mph. And still expected not to become more developed as a storm system.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Naomi & Roxanne!

Work on the Back Fence Started Today

Owen & his crew strung the bottom line of barbed wire about noon today to mark the location of the fence. It is about a foot further to the east than I thought it was. Which means when Moses put in the rock wall & chain link fence back in 1965 or so, it was not exactly on the property line. Fortunately for Dena he built it inside the property line so it can remain untouched. 

Looking northerly along the new fence line location.

I spent the day cleaning up the laʻi that had been cut down along the property line. I had roughly sorted them by length (tall, medium, short) so that I could have various heights as I replant them along the fences. Today I removed all the leaves except for the central growing tip. I sorted the leaves into dry, half-dry, and green; I bundle leaves of similar moisture levels so the bundles dry evenly. I have so many I will probably make bundles of 25 rather than the usual 10 leaves per bundle that I have been doing. 

Bananas (foreground), laʻi (background).

Sorted laʻi leaves.

Moʻo was happy that there were people in the back yard with her. I also gave her a little training on what I expect of her in terms of letting me know someone is out back. I reward her for letting me know people have arrived but discourage her from continually barking if they are not in the yard and minding their own business (like building the fence). I also discovered that she likes to chase the shadows of the butterflies as they fly overhead!

This morning, when I went to turn on the water so I could water the bananas, I discovered that Frank had done a little weed whacking by the entrance to the path through the anthurium garden! I had not asked him to do that. Mahalo nui Frank!

I also checked on the dragonfruit. They are ripening nicely!

All 4 are visible in this photo.

The low pressure disturbance is now about 600 miles southeast of Hilo; it is moving westerly at about 10 mph. It is still expected to have a 10% chance of becoming a more organized tropical depression over the next 7 days.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Alan, Kathy, & Stacey!

Nāpau Crater Eruption Pau

According to the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory update this morning about 8:30 am, the eruption at Nāpau Crater is over. So about 7 days long, similar to the eruption earlier in June. The HVO activity summary stated that, "[g]eophysical signatures of eruptive activity have all returned to background levels." It had officially been listed as "paused" since Friday morning.

I did not see any vog over Kona as I was on my way there or while I was right in Kona. These are the views that I usually see of Hūalalai, not the ones from last Thursday.

Looking down the coast towards Kona.

Looking at Hūalalai.

Yes, it was my 3rd trip in 5 days! Auē! The brand new USB-C wall charger for my new phone was faulty so I went in to get one that worked. Jeremiah, who helped me on Friday, helped me again today. We tested the new wall charger out with the charging cable that came with my phone & my phone to make sure everything worked properly together before I walked out of the Verizon store. Usually I am in Kona only about once a month.

There is a low pressure system about 1000 miles southeast of Hilo; it is moving westerly at about 5 to 10 mph. The Central Pacific Hurricane Center gives it a 10% chance of becoming a tropical cyclone in 7 days, however, they also say the environmental conditions are becoming more unfavorable for the development of a tropical depression.

 

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Bruce, Mike, Christopher, & Kito!

S10 Phone Dying

My Samsung Galaxy S10 phone is dying; the screen turned green yesterday afternoon. I got it in June 2022 as a replacement for my S7. I got the S7 in August 2019 as a replacement for my 2nd S5 that I got in July 2018 which had replaced my original S5 that I got in August 2015. That was when I had paid $100 for insurance to replace my phone in case of an accident or anything else. I would say that insurance was a bargain! Yes, I realize I was not getting the most current phone but that doesn't matter to me. I just need something that will allow me to do calls & texts.

This is what the lock screen looked like.

You could just barely see what it was saying.

It would have been more convenient if my phone had gone green a couple hours earlier. I would have been in Kona when it did that & could have gone to the Verizon store to order a new one. But since it waited until I got back home, I had to go back to Kona today. Auē! It took me about 5 hours at the Verizon store plus 2 hours & 20 minutes round trip travel to get the new phone. I now have a new S24. At no cost. Except for the Otterbox case & screen protector that I would have bought anyway to keep the phone relatively safe; I also bought a USB-C wall charger. 

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Dale, Steve, & Rebecca!

IASA #2-33

 

Field trip & work day at Kiholo Loko I'a during HCPO 2024 conference.

Polalauahi o Kona

Kona is voggy! On my way to Kona for the Leeward Planning Commission meeting today I had a good view of the vog. It looks like it is coming around the northerly side of Hūalalai, then heading out to sea. In Kona, the upper portion of Hūalalai was barely visible.

Vog over Kailua-Kona.

Vog obscures the view of Hūalalai.

At today's Leeward Planning Commission, one of the items was amendments to the zoning code being proposed by the planning department to bring County code into compliance with State law. I couldn't understand why people said that the planning director was too sympathetic to the telecommunications industry when the County is only trying to comply with State law. They also supported a bill proposed by a councilmember, which had the same language exempting telecommunication antennae & towers from use permits in all zones in order to be able to comply with State law! It was like they did not read the bill at all & just believed whatever someone told them about it. Many emails submitted had the exact same phrases. Auē!

For the past 3 days I have been feeding my friend Ginger's feral cats while she is away at a conference. Today was the final day. There are 4 nearly grown kittens and Mom & Dad. All except one is a gray tabby. they are much more friendly than 2 of the feral cats I feed, but less friendly than the other 2 feral cats I feed.

Early morning feeding before I leave for LPC meeting.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Hannah & Moʻo! Today is Moʻo's 2nd birthday! 

On 12/29/2022, the day I brought her home as a 3&1/2 month old puppy.

As a mischievous pre-teen, 09/25/23.

The teenaged Mo'o today; proudly keeping Humanity safe from feral pigs!

 

Kīlauea Erupting ... Stopped ... Erupting Again!

Initially the 9:22 am Hawaiian Volcano Observatory Activity Notice today said Kīlauea was not erupting. Then the 11:33 am activity notice said Kīlauea had erupted last night just west of Nāpau crater on the middle East Rift Zone in a remote area likely between 9 and 10 pm, then stopped. Apparently 2 fissures opened up & lava extended about 100 yards covering about 4 acres.

The little yellow line is where it erupted last night. Purple is past eruptions.

Then at 7:53 pm another activity notice said Kīlauea started erupting again about 6 pm! During the 10 pm news the eruption was apparently still ongoing. I'll check in tomorrow morning to see what the activity notice says.

(Screen shot from Hawaii News Now)

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Linda & Winky!