No More Trees

Surety cleared the trees along the south side of Jessie's south property line & by the water system chlorinator pump house. But I am not totally sad. They were invasive species. They were mainly Octopus Tree (Schefflera actinophylla) with some Cinnamon (Cinnamomum spp.). And they were a constant source of seeds coming over to our place via birds & wind. Hopefully, I won't have as many to deal with now.

08/27/2024

Yesterday, 09/13/2024.

 

Yes, cinnamon grows here. And it's invasive here. To be clear, there are several species of cinnamon that grow here; in fact there are 3 species commonly used as street trees in urban areas. But they are not native and love the climate here, so grow like a weed when they spread to areas where people are not around to keep them under control. Like native forests. I had quite a number removed from the anthurium garden before I moved in. They were taking over along with the octopus trees, African tulip trees , & Christmas berry (Schinus terebinthifolius). They have continued to make themselves a nuisance; it is a never-ending battle to keep them out of the anthurium garden. 

Cinnamon sapling in anthurium garden.

Mature cinnamon on common property line; birds poop seeds out in to anthurium garden.

Octopus tree seedlings in hapuʻu pot; birds pooped these out, too.

Back to the fence. During the 3 days that I was at the conference, Travis et al have completed clearing along the property line at our end & have also set the wooden corner posts for the turns they need to make in the fence around Jessie's place where there is a small piece that the chlorinator pump for the water to houses all along the road is located. A serendipitous benefit of the clearing is that there was no coquí frog chorus last night! Hūlo!

View across Jessie's back yard, 08/29/2024.

09/14/2024

View while lying in bed, 08/28/2024.

09/14/2024

Before I left, I repositioned the 5 banana keiki. I stood them up in the proper growing orientation & bundled them together. I also put coconut husks around the root balls to slow down water loss. I water them every morning (except when I was at the conference); they seem to be hanging on. I hope the fence goes up soon so I can get them back in to the ground.

I have not done anything with the la'i (ti leaf) except give some away to people who wanted starts. And also some tops to Libby for lei making. At the very least I should remove all the leaves & heel the stalks in while I wait for the fence to be finished. The yellow leaves can also be used to make lei; the dried leaves are used for making other things.

I seeded the bare area by the navel orange a couple weeks ago when it was very drizzly. Some of the grass has started to grow. But it is apparent the wind or rain moved the seed so there are still large bare spots. I will pick up a small bag of grass seed from Sunshine & wait until the rainy season starts in a couple of weeks before reseeding.

The dragonfruit is bearing again! Currently there are 4 young fruit. Hopefully there will be more later in the season.

Only 3 of the fruit are visible in this photo.

In other news, I got the quote on the windows from Pacific Source at the beginning of the week. In January 2020, I had originally talked with Tradewind Hawaiʻi in Kona about providing the windows. But life ... & COVID ... came along & things got delayed. When I went back this February, the window portion of the business had just been bought out by Pacific Source; their main office is in Woodinville, WA! The quote was around $58K! Based on windows I had installed at Mom & Dad's house in 2019, I was expecting the price to be more around $25K; this was 130% more than that! So I got online & sent out a bunch of emails & requests through online contacts to find another supplier. I got 3 responses; one said they did not sell retail, the other said they would have their Hawaiʻi rep get in touch with me (turns out it is also Pacific Source), & the 3rd was Diamond Head Windows.

Ryan from Diamond Head actually called he next day. He started out by telling me that Mark, the rep I was working with for Mom & Dad's house was semi-retired & away traveling so he would be working with me. He said they ship only Milgard windows to Hawaiʻi Island but I would need someone to provide measurements & do the installation; I let him know that was not a problem. I also told him I would send him the list of measurements that day but would be unavailable the rest of the week because of the conference. By the time I returned from the conference yesterday there was a quote waiting for me - $29K, only 16% higher than my estimate. And it includes everything Pacific Source would have done including delivering the windows to the house! It's a no-brainer who I am going with. The only reason I would switch back to Pacific Source would be if their Milgard quote comes in significantly lower than Diamond Head Windows.

 

FYI When I met with Mark back in August 2019, he did tell me they could ship windows to Hawaiʻi Island but Chris would have to take the measurements & do the installation. I forgot, so went to Tradewind Hawaiʻi/Pacific Source instead. The windows for Mom & Dad's house were installed in December 2019 & have been working well; the Roommates are also less stressed during hurricane season.

I got a Civil Defense alert about an earthquake on Kīlauea late this afternoon; I didn't feel it. When I checked the USGS Did You Feel It? website I found that there were actually 4 within about a 3 hour period ranging from M 2.5 to M 4.3; the largest was the one I got the alert about. I didn't feel any of them! I checked the DYFI map for the largest one & found that no one from North Kohala reported feeling it. The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory information email I received characterized the earthquake as, "related to the ongoing pressurized magma storage system beneath Kīlauea's summit area" but had "no apparent impact on either Mauna Loa or Kīlauea volcanoes."

The M 4.3 earthquake. (from USGS DYFI website)

(screenshot from Hawaiʻi News Now)

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Norm, Maria, Linda, & Catherine.