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.

IASA #2-32

 

Culture & History hui visited hala grove stewarded by The Kohala Center.

IASA #2-31

Craft group is trying shibori dying using true indigo that grows here as a weed along the roadside.

 

IASA #2-30

Hurricane Hone did not make landfall but dropped lots of rain on us; up to 22" in some areas.

 

What's Happening with Gilma?

Overnight Gilma became a Tropical Depression; by 5 pm it had dissipated & became a remnant low. It was about 185 miles east-northeast of Hilo. The radar images showed Gilma breaking up & becoming a remnant low.

Gilma is a Tropical Depression in the morning.

It becomes a remnant low in the early evening.

We ended up just getting a lot of rain in the evening.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Diana!

Bye Bye Hector

The latest information on Tropical Storm Hector is that it is falling apart & will no longer be strong enough to cause wind damage once it reaches the state. In fact, Hector, which is currently about 1380 miles easterly of Hilo & moving westerly at about 12 mph, is expected to dissipate about the time that it enters the central Pacific basin.

Tropical Storm Gilma is also becoming weaker. It is about 440 miles east of Hilo & moving westerly at about 14 mph. It is expected to pass close to Hawaiʻi Island on Friday when it is anticipated to have weakened to a remnant low.

Tropical Storm Hone is well to the west of the state & is no longer causing any weather disturbances. Since Gilma & Hector were still too far east to affect our weather, I woke up to this beautiful morning!

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Arden!

Hurricane Hone Has Arrived!

I checked the forecast last night just before I went to bed; it said Hurricane Hone would make its closest approach around midnight. When I got up this morning things did not look that bad. The wind was not much stronger than a normal windy morning; no new trees had gone down on the Surety property that I could see from my bedroom. It was drizzling but there was no downpour. 

A normal breeze at 11 minutes after sunrise.

Light drizzle as I head to Motek Bakery.

So I got ready & headed to Motek Bakery for breakfast. They were closed! And so was L & L Barbecue, Pomaikaʻi Café, and King's View Café. Which meant the power went out last night & I wasn't aware of it. Oh well, one of the downsides of having solar panels with a battery back-up. When David sent out the Bread Lovers email on Friday night he did say, "Assuming that it is not too crazy outside and that we have electricity, Motek will open as planned." 

The Uncle Yosef Breakfast Special that I missed. (Photo from David)

The Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC) showed this at about 2 pm this afternoon. The graphic showing the 3 tropical cyclones gives a general idea of what's happening. Looking at the radar, however, shows the reality of the spread of the cloud cover that is coming our way. The last photo by NOAA is a colorized view of rain that Hone contains.

White line on right is eastern boundary of CPHC.

Red area has higher rain potential.

As seen above, Hurricane Hone has passed Hawaiʻi Island & is about 175 miles westerly of Kailua-Kona & about 160 miles south-southwesterly of Honolulu. It moving westerly at about 13 mph. Its winds are currently at about 75 mph but it is forecast to weaken over the next few days, becoming a tropical storm by early tomorrow morning.

 

The weather report on the late night news reported that there was much more rainfall in some areas than the 6 to 10 inches that was forecast; none of these areas are close to or upslope of me. Recorded wind speeds were also much higher than originally forecast. The 3 shown for Kohala are at the south edge of the North Kohala district that I live in or in the South Kohala district. The closest one is about 12 miles south of me; winds here were no where near those recorded.

In other news, Hurricane Gilma is still headed our way. It is a little over 1300 miles easterly of Hilo & moving westerly at about 9 mph. It is expected to enter the central Pacific basin on Tuesday morning. Although Gilma's winds have diminished to about 105 mph, it is still expected to maintain hurricane strength winds as it enters the central Pacific basin.

That disorganized low pressure system that is about 950 miles west-southwest of Baja California became Tropical Storm Hector last night.It is moving westerly at about 12 mph & will likely enter the central Pacific basin on Thursday. Meteorologists will be watching closely to see what it does as it makes its way towards Hawaiʻi.

 

In the evening, when I went to take a shower, I noticed that the neighbor's lights were on! I checked the Tesla app & found that the power had come back on about a half hour earlier. The battery had been powering the house from 3:07 am until 7:27 pm; it had been drawn down to about 65%. It's comforting to know that just prior to this it had been noting that it had enough capacity to provide power for at least another 24 hours. If you look closely at the graph below at the battery charge level you can see where the grid went down & the battery started providing power for the house. Then you can see when the grid came back on & started recharging the battery; it is doing that since the Storm Alert is still in effect.

Hauʻoli lā Hānau e Penny & Corinna! A me ka hele hope Curtis! Because of preparing for Hurricane Hone, cleaning up along the back fenceline, & attaching notes on what to replace each window with before the contractor came to take measurements, I forgot to mail his birthday card. So he's getting this later this week.