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 several rooms today. The table was blocking the front bedroom & I had a bunch of boxes blocking my doorway.

It did the living room only this morning.

Can't see the table blocking the doorway here.

It couldn't get in to my bedroom either.

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!

Washer Acting Up

When I went to do a load of laundry this morning, I found that the control panel was not responding. The light inside the washer tub lit up so I know it was getting power. But the control panel was totally dark. I got out the operations manual & started troubleshooting. Even though I knew it had power I did the troubleshooting steps for the circuit breaker & checking if the plug was in. When I tried to unlock the Control Panel I also got nothing. Having gone through everything, I was now at, "If problems continue, contact an electrician." I was hoping Whirpool could remotely reset it so I called their "Customer eXperience Center" & found out they are closed on the weekend. Auē!

It should light up & give me wash options.

The Control Panel unlock button doesn't work either.

The light is on in the tub so I know it has power.

So I loaded everything up to go to the laundromat in Waimea. I also decided to do some shopping while I was there. I stopped at the Kamuela Farmers Market at Pukalani Stables 1st since it was closest. I picked up an ʻohiʻa from Elemental Plants. I got another ʻohiʻa from him in April. They also have aʻaliʻi; I need to check what color he has since I want the dark red one. 

These are 2 of the 5 ʻohiʻa varieties they had today.

I bought the Cherry Nani since it had the strongest single leader.

Here are some of the other native plants they have.

At the laundromat I realized I should have brought my laundry detergent; I found out their soap dispenser was out of detergent. I got some from Adam who was using the washer next to me. Turns out he is from Hāwī & lives at a place that is totally solar. With the last 2 days of very cloudy weather they did not have enough electricity to run the washer today. I invited him to come to my house (after the washer is fixed) if they should run in to another period of low electricity. It took about 1&1/2 hours to do all my laundry; while that is faster than doing 3 loads at home, I was a captive audience at the laundromat & not able to do much else. 

I went to the Waimea Butcher Shop for lunch. I was also going to pick up some pipikaula for holiday gifts. But they have changed their formulation & it is no longer a non-refrigerated item. So I only had lunch; I tried their Sloppy Joe sandwich.

My Sloppy Joe sandwich made from pulled brisket.

They dry age the meat right in the shop.

I stopped in at KTA to pick up other holiday gifts. It appears that they do not get frequent deliveries of Kaʻū Coffee Mill brand Kaʻū coffee, the shelf was bare from when Kai & I cleaned them out just before Thanksgiving! They did have Aliʻi Hawaiian Hula Hands Coffee brand Kaʻū coffee though. I have taken to gifting only Kaʻū coffee since Kai says its the best of the Hawaiʻi-grown coffees & very difficult to get on the continent. 

Only the Dark roast Kaʻū Coffee Mill coffee is left.

On the way out of Waimea there was an accident before the junction to go up the Kohala Mountain Road. A truck had overturned but I was unable to figure out how that happened. It's a straight stretch of road with a speed limit of 35 mph approaching a 25 mph section. And it was upside down, resting on the top of the cab of the truck. It hadn't just slid or tipped over. It did not look like anyone was injured; there was no ambulance or firetruck on scene.

Wheels of overturned truck are visible near the rear of the white police car.

Needless to say, the excursion to the Waimea delayed moving boxes &  other things out of the sewing room for today.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Richard!

Bike Ready to Ride!

One of the most important things I did today was set up my bike on its trainer so that I can actually ride it for exercise again! I put it in the space by the window in the front bedroom that was created when we moved the desk out & into the back bedroom. When I moved in back in 2022, I had both the bike & a treadmill accessible for exercise. I wore the treadmill out about a year later; it was so old it really wasn't worth trying to get it fixed. So I rode my bike until it got moved to make way for guests & I no longer had space to ride it.

I will have a similar space set up for it once all renovation is done.

While Kai was here the week before Thanksgiving, he helped me move some boxes around in the front bedroom so we could get the desk out of there. The desk's forever home is in the back bedroom where Kai was staying. I took the time to set it up so Kai would have a comfortable place to set up his computer for the 2 days I was in Kona for the Leeward Planning Commission meetings. 

Space cleared & waiting for desk.

Kai setting up the desk for his compter.

Here are several photos showing the progress of moving the desk out & how it looks today. There will be more boxes added as I move things out of the sewing room. 

Boxes on & under desk have been removed & desk unwrapped.

Desk has been moved to back bedroom.

Desk wrapping cleaned up (now in black bag) & bike moved in.

As I move things around to get the desk to its home & prepare for the renovation work, the Roomba cleaning maps are changing. At the end of every cleaning it produces a map showing where it cleaned & where there were areas more dirty than usual. Here are a few maps over time. Once the renovation is complete & all the furniture is moved to their forever homes, the Roomba maps will look very different. Right now the Roomba only has access to the living room & the front bedroom; when renovations are done, it will have access to the living room, all 3 bedrooms, the kitchen, hallway, & bathroom. I will manually set it up to clean the cat room (which is what the sewing room will turn in to once the renovation is pau). North is at the top of all maps.

11/06, before desk moved & aisle cleared to sewing room.

12/12, desk moved.

Today, bike moved out of aisle to sewing room.

Hau'oli Ho'omana'o makahiki 'umi e Clarissa & John!