Kohala 2007 Fall

10/13 to 11/19 (37 days - 168 total)

We are all set... a new Hawaiian adventure. House-sitting for Dennis and Donna Brown on the Northern end of the big island of Hawai'i. We are scheduled to fly into Honolulu, Oahu for a couple hours lay-over which is just right for a quick lunch in one of our favorite airports. A lot of it is open to the open air and when you come off that plane, you definitely know that you are in Hawai'i. Then, after lunch, we board another plane for a quick thirty-minute flight South to Kailua-Kona Airport on the western side of the big island.

Schedules are changed by the airlines and our timing is off, making things a little 'tighter' at the Hawaiian end of the venture. We had a 'comfort zone' set up between our arrival and the homeowners' departure on their five-week cruise to Asia. Now, we are arriving around 3 pm and they are scheduled to leave their home around 5 pm on the same day. With a 40 minute drive from the airport to their home, that is starting to cut things short. Rosalee has not met the Brown's yet, and I only had a quick 'Hello-Goodbye' several months before in the SF Airport, when the Brown's were passing through on their way home from down South somewhere.

The week before we fly we get a note from Donna that with the airlines changing schedules like they did, she only recently realized that our flight will arrive during the Iron Man Triathlon, and they totally close the main road from the airport to the Brown's home (unless you are wearing a funny hard hat and riding a bicycle). So, we will be navigating the 'long way around' through the town of Waimea, and then up Kohala Mountain Road to find their gated community... the back gate.

We made it! We got there about an hour before they had to leave to catch their plane. That does not leave too much time for a walk-through, and to learn all of the ins and outs of the place. Did I mention their 'baby'? We knew that we were cat-sitting, and that the cat was pretty old. Actually, he is a 17-year old Abyssinian cat named Monkey. What a sweetie! But he is in really desperate condition. You can see every bone on his body, he only had a few teeth left, cancers of the mouth... a hoard of problems. He had been to the vet the week before for his 'check-up' and was cleared for the duration. And Donna had left us excellent instructions for the house and all of the functions of the place, along with phone numbers for every emergency service and not so emergency services. She included the veterinarian's number and directions to her office. Monkey had come to Hawai'i with the Brown's some ten years before this, when they built this home and moved here from Marin County, California. Donna was specially making food for Monkey, but he was just not eating well at all. Now you may wonder about his name. Hey, what's in a name? We had a wonderful cat and his name was Moose. Monkey... Moose... sounds good to me. LOL

There was another member of the family, one that had only joined recently and we had not heard about. Hawai'i has a lot of wild turkeys running free and one of them had decided to make the Brown's home a regular stop on his daily search for food. Dennis had a bag of cracked corn he kept just for "Turkey-Lurkey" and he would always provide some entertainment when he visited. He and Monkey had absolutely no love for each other, and they both loved to antagonize each other. Monkey would stay inside the house but Turkey-Lurkey would come up to the glass windows and doors and Monkey would immediately think that he had to protect his turf. I'm not sure which would have come out ahead had they tangled, but I think the bird had the advantage over the ancient cat.

The Brown's had asked a friend nearby to take them to the airport. There were several reasons for that. The island of Hawai'i has a regulation on outside lighting to prevent any excess light causing problems with the performance of the dozen observatories sitting at 13,000+ feet altitude at the top of Mauna Kea, a dormant but predominant volcano. That means it is rather dark out in the country. Also the roads inside the gated community where the house is are new black asphalt. Add to that the fact that there is considerable land between each of the homes and it is leased out as 'open range' for cattle... um... BLACK cattle. ALL black. So, black skies over black roads with black cows walking in the dark... the Brown's did not want to subject us to that on our first night there.

Looking toward the North, this is the Brown's home. They have created a little bit of Heaven here in an extremely arid area that receives an average of ten inches of rain a year. To create such an oasis as this, the Brown's invested a lot of time and effort, as well as a sizeable water bill, for sure. These lots are a minimum of 2 1/2 acres, and this one is twice that big. At least three acres are heavily planted as this is, with the other two acres looking like that in the foreground. I am standing on a small crown of a hill in the center of the adjoining lot.

The roof on the house is steel that is enameled or powder-coated and is what they refer to as a 'standing seam' roof. The Homeowner's Association pretty much requires this type of roof.

The Pacific Ocean is to the left of the image, the Kohala mountain is to the right. Straight ahead is the water between Hawai'i and Maui. We are at about 2,200 feet elevation.

The closest part of the house is the Master Bedroom with a solar panel on the roof for the domestic hot water system. Behind that large bush is the Kitchen and that larger part of the house has the Kitchen, Dining Room, and Living Room. Out of sight in this image, on the other side of the Living Room are two more bedrooms and a bathroom that are accessed from outside and serve as an independent quarters if necessary. There is a large carport for two cars and an unattached two-car garage.

We always enjoy the birds in Hawai'i. The one on the left we refer to as a "Tuxedo" and their colors are so sharply delineated they look like they are painted. The one on the right is another type of finch. We see very few of these. We saw a red cardinal this time that we have not seen in the islands before. It is not the large cardinal we know about... it is the size of these finches.

There is a large, black, 'cauldron' outside the office that is filled with water and about a gazillion mosquito fish that are less than an inch long. The birds line up on the edge of the bowl to drink water. Yes, even Turkey-Lurkey enjoys a drink there too.

We are having quite a bit of wind here. That can be a good thing, as it keeps the air a little cooler. Our temperature runs in the eighties mostly. It is not a moist air, like one might think when they think of the islands, because the Western side of the mountain is quite arid and as you can see from the image above it is basically a desert. It is interesting to know that people that study such things classify every place on earth as being one of eleven separate climatic regions, and the big island can offer you nine of those. It is October and standing here in this yard we can see snow on the top of Mauna Kea (13,796 feet, highest point in State of Hawai'i ), but water will dehydrate from a dish in the yard in a very short time.

Twenty miles from this home, halfway around Kohala Mountain, their annual rainfall is over one hundred inches. In years past they tried constructing a canal to bring some of the wealth of the other side of Kohala to this side. It was done by the large sugar plantation owners who were raising sugar at the Northern end of the island, a mere fifteen miles from here. At great expense and the loss of a dozen men or so, it was built and worked to a good degree, but when the sugar growers left the islands for cheaper labor (Philippines) the canal was no longer maintained (very costly) so it fell to disrepair. Several years ago a pretty heavy earthquake rattled the area and we are told that it damaged that ditch somewhat. Water here in the gated community (over 500 of these large home sites) comes from several very deep wells, and is rather costly.

I have gone far too long without introducing our buddy, Monkey. This is his bed that he enjoys several times in the day and at night. He is very loving and intelligent. When he was younger and in much better health, it is easy to see that he was likely a formidable foe in the cat family.

Within the first couple of days Monkey was in trouble. We could not get him to eat. He would not touch raw shrimp or any of the things you would expect him to take. His 'regular' food that was tried and true was just not to his liking. He showed an interest and would attempt to eat but just would not continue. Either it made him feel sick or it hurt him to eat or something.

In talking with our daughter-in-law she mentioned that we might try infant baby food, a meat variety. So we made an excuse to drive into town. Our closest town is Waimea (Wah - ee - may - ah, which stands for "red water", but there is no running stream there unless it is raining. There is a Waimea on every Island I think, so they also call this town Kamuela or Kam - oo - el - ah).

We found the two large grocery stores... right across the street from each other. A market that we recognized from Oahu (which is the most expensive grocery store in the US we are told, but they gave us a discount card because we were there more than a few weeks and it brings the costs down to what we pay at home pretty much), so we went in there. We found the baby food and picked up other items and when we checked out, our discount card worked there too. They did not care that it was a year or two old and came from another island. LOL.

We found the veterinarian's office near the store and went in to talk with her. She knew Monkey very well and was very friendly and open to our visit. She even offered to keep him until the Brown's returned. She did not feel that Monkey's prognosis was very good, and she was concerned that if he passed we would be really upset. Well, we certainly would, but we do understand animals fairly well. We be country folk, after all. LOL. We raised cows and chickens and had a couple dozen cats every year... we had a dairy farm. She said that she would not want to put Monkey through anesthesia again... he had been through too much now. She felt it best to make him comfortable, love him a lot, and let nature take her course. And she felt sure that the Brown's would certainly understand that all was done that could be done. That did make us feel a lot better.

The grocery store that we went to, and the veterinarian's office also, were both in the Parker Ranch Shopping Center. It contains the offices for the Parker Ranch and the starting point for ranch tours. They also have a nice restaurant that is operated by the ranch, as well as a store that sells items that are labeled as Parker Ranch items. There are trinkets and clothing and boots... just about anything a visiting Paniolo (Pah - nee - oh - low) would like.

The original Mr. Parker was a lad of about 18 on a ship that his dad used in his shipping company. When they landed on the big island back in the 1700's. He decided he liked what he saw. He stayed around and when King Kamahamaha (Kah - may - hah - may - hah) started having problems with the cattle that were given to him by visiting kings he had no way of controlling them. They had taken to the hills and had become very wild. Young Mr. Parker happened to own a rifle and shells, so he offered to help, and the King was so impressed they became friends. The King gave parker a small acreage on which to farm. He fell in love with a member of the King's family and married her. Through the years he kept purchasing land and built the ranch into the second largest cattle ranch in the U.S., second only to the famous King Ranch of Texas. It reached over a quarter million acres in size.

When we got home we took a tiny blue plastic spoon that Donna used to feed some items to Monkey in the past. We placed a little of the turkey baby food on the spoon and he turned his nose away. I dabbed a drop on his lip and he had to lick it away... and oops... that sorta tasted good! He turned back to try some more. It ended up he ate up what we gave him. We held back some so it would not hit him all at once but within a few days, he was eating pretty well.

Before Dennis left we were able to take a look outside, and he showed me the garage and equipment out there. They have a gardener that comes to help out, but I said that I would be happy to mow the lawns. The grass needs a mowing every week due to it growing so fast, and it is so dense that it is almost impossible to mow it short enough if you let it grow too long. The gardener would only be able to be there every two weeks so I offered to keep it down. He had a regular rotary mower but it was not enough to get that strange grass. He has a second mower, much heavier, larger wheels, also rotary, John Deere on the side of it, but it could not handle it either. Then there is number three. It is a large, heavy, reel-type mower. A very professional machine. But... it did not do the job.

So... Number Four! Sixteen horsepower, twin rotary blades, a seat for the driver, steering wheel, electric lights, a horn, a huge bagging system on the back, even a PARKING BRAKE... that THAT's a MOWER! So, I could not wait for the first week to go by so I could drive that thing. Electric self-starting of course. Hydrostatic transmission where you tilt the foot pedal forward and it drives forward... tilt more it goes faster. Tilt it backward and it drives backward. Wheeee. If I get off the seat the engine shuts down. Don't want to do any harm, right? If you put it in reverse and you don't stop the cutting blades first, the engine will shut down. If the controls are all not in the right position it will not start. Talk about complex. But man, does it cut grass. I may drive this around the neighborhood cutting everyone's grass for gas money. LOL.

There are also a couple of gas hedge trimmers, and a composting grinder, and several other items that he has tried and may or may not use. There are also some tools and a nice large bench the full width of the two-car garage. Dennis does not claim to be a mechanic so his tools are rather sparse if I need to do anything heavier than normal, but the more I look, the more I find what is needed to do any small jobs that I want to try. They told me that anything that I WANTED to cut, or trim or mow or paint or fix or... feel free. LOL. And I do enjoy doing things like that. Working in Hawai'i is not the same as real working. LOL.

Our boy Monkey is acting a lot better. He has really come around. I saw him "attack" Turkey-Lurkey at the sliding glass door (closed of course LOL) standing on his hind feet, with both front paws waving in the air. Now THAT's not a sick cat. LOL.

He is definitely a Man's Cat. He has his own life, and you feel like he is ''granting" you the privilege of being with him, for only as long as he will allow it. LOL. He is in control. He Be 'da Boss Man.

There is no garbage service in this area. Even the mail and the newspapers are delivered at the manned front entry gate and you can pick it up as you come in or out of the community. Kohala Ranch is the name of the gated community. There is a bar-code sticker in the window of their cars so the electric gate will pass them through automatically. They got an extra bar-code for us to use on our rental car. We were told that there is a free dumping station in each town where you could deposit any waste you have. He suggested we may want to use his pickup for that task. It is a lovely late model Ford F-150 with low mileage. We took it on our first garbage run after a few weeks of being here. I assumed the stickers and ID on the truck were needed to make the delivery free, but it is open to anyone. Nice system. You toss the bags into a chute that drops it down into a large truck that hauls it away. They also do a lot of recycling at that location.

The Brown's have a lovely building on the North side of the property that is what is referred to here as a "Shade House". It is basically a framed structure that they have just not gotten around to placing a roof and the wall covering onto yet. The rafters are there but they are holding up a screening that is like a shade cloth, which restricts some of the sunlight but it is like an open-air greenhouse. There is very little light restriction, but the screening also keeps out many of the larger insects and birds in the area.

Dennis built the building to house orchids. I am told that he had it full of orchids at one time. Clyde says that she used to help him in the shade house when he had an infestation of tiny critters that required his wiping down every single plant with a chemical to kill and remove the bug that was killing the orchids. It became a chore that required hours of work a week, over and above the normal work ensued just raising a bunch of flowers like that. How I would have loved to see them at that time. Basically now the orchids that are in the shade house are "throw-aways" that are not at all cared for. The automatic watering system in the building is turned off so the only water they get seems to be from the air. That is how orchids in the wild basically get their water, but it is pretty dry in this location. I do go out and water them when I am watering other items that are not watered as well as he would like them to be from the main irrigation system.

The flowers that have been left on their own do continue to bloom beautifully, however. It is amazing how well they do. I go out of my way to try to raise orchids at home and they might make a couple of years before I kill them. LOL. I usually do get blooms now, at least. Of course, they are growing in our walk-in shower, so they SHOULD get the water they need. They have a skylight above them for light.

I love the 'benches' that the pots are sitting on. They are made from 2 X 6 wood with a small groove (rabbit) cut into them on the back side, and the heavy wire mesh is slid into the groove. It is extremely strong. There is a lot of weight that is piled onto those benches when this room is loaded up.

This is one of the plants in the shade house. It is hanging on one wall, and there is no soil anywhere near the plant. It gets everything it needs from the air. Remember, this is with no care. Of course, we ARE in Hawai'i after all. LOL.

Turkey-Lurkey wanted to check in with you. She is such a pretty lady, don't you think? LOL Yes, she IS smiling.

For a place as arid as this, we were rather surprised to come 'home' to this the other day. Since my students all called me a Leprechaun, I think that I should find a pot of gold in that house, don't you think? Well, we have not found it yet. We can spot these trees standing on the horizon as we are driving up from the front gate. It is about a four mile drive, and you are looking uphill, but they do stand out about halfway up the hill. Those large trees to the right... they are Ficus. This image is taken from the access road (paved) that runs in front of the Brown's home. The Brown's driveway is a little to the left and they have an electric gate through which we pass to keep the cows out of the yard. That green grass and trees are very tempting. Their driveway curves up to the left side of the house and the parking is directly behind the house.

You can see a good view of the sliding glass door that goes to the Master Bedroom. To the left of that door is a smaller access door into the Master Bath. The corner window next to it is actually a window in the shower. A beautiful view from that shower. The next window is also in the Master Bath. From the trees you can see that there is a pretty good wind blowing. We have been having some very heavy Trade Winds. But still... the rainbow shines. A sign of God's Promise. That color is as it was, without any color added by computer.

He is definitely doing better. He is pleased with Rosalee's lap as a perch. He is still 'getting to know us', we feel, but he has been pretty tolerant of the whole situation. The Browns are gone twice a year on stays that are at least a month long. They have had several 'house-sitters' over the years, but usually are able to have a relative from the mainland come to stay.

Clyde has a niece that comes from Florida I believe, to do house-sitting and when she does Clyde may stay here with her. Clyde enjoys staying here but she says that it can feel quite lonely when there alone for a lengthy time.

There is a beautiful weather instrument that is on the bookcase, and it is from Davis Instruments. It has a nice six-inch wide screen and tells you everything that you never realized there was to know about the weather. Wind direction and speed, temperature inside and out, humidity inside and out, barometric pressure, time, time of sunrise and sunset, moon phase, date, amount of rain today... this month... this year... the last 24 years... the amount per hour... how much for this storm... dew point, a ticker tape message with the forecast of weather....... and on and on. It is fantastic.

Of course... the first week we were here a message scrolls across the bottom of the screen telling us that the batteries need to be replaced. Well, that did not concern me too much because the day before one of the five TVs in the house told us that the batteries in it's remote controller were weak ??? (How'd it know that?) and we found a drawer in the Kitchen which had nothing but brand new batteries in it. How nice! So I figured that I could switch out the batteries and it would be done.

The weather instrument has memory inside that retains all of those measurements and calculations... for 24 years it says... so I figured if I let the batteries just run out the memory would be lost. So I figured I had better change them. Thinking that there had to be some sort of a backup system inside that would maintain the readings when I changed out the batteries, I opened the back of the box to see what batteries were needed. As I just touched the panel that has the batteries in it I heard a 'beep', and turning it around I found to my horror, a totally blank screen. No reading at all. Well, now I'm into it. It is do or die now. So I opened it and it had FOUR C-cells. That's a lot of power. I did find four new batteries and placed them inside the box and waited. The screen showed the instrument going through a bunch of things, and then it got to a point and stopped. What I was seeing had nothing to do with what it usually displayed. None of the sixteen buttons on the front of the gadget would respond to me so I figured I should just wait for it to 'reset' itself.

It was three days later that I decided that it was not going to reset itself so I look on it for somewhere to find information and found the address. It comes from a company in Hayward California, not twenty miles from my home. LOL. So I sent off a "HELP" e-mail telling them everything that I did and asking what to do next. I declined to dig through Dennis's drawers to find an instruction book for it. I got my reply. It said: "LOL... you did every thing right. Except now you push the "DONE" button" LOL. I did. It all came back. All the momory was there. All the displays were there. YEAH! What a nice group of people at the Davis Instruments Company.

This is one of Dennis's 'throw-away' orchids. It bloomed out just the other day and I could not resist a photo. Is it not the prettiest thing you have seen? Imagine these things growing wild in the trees.

I suspect this is not in the wild, however, as it is most likely an hybrid. The tag in the pot said: "Mahma Yahira, 'Mishima'".

Is it not amazing how such beauty can come from rather scraggly looking plants. And without any of our care, either. I always will think of a coursage when I see an Orchid of this type. I guess that is because in our youth that is what a young man did when he escorted his lady to the Prom or other important occasion. It is hard to accept destroying a beautiful flower like this just to hang it on a bodice or wrist for a night on the town.

I don't think that this report would be complete without sharing some of our fellow critters. We do have a few of them. Lots of geckoes, and various bugs and stuff. The ones that certainly do grab out attention however are the ones that have more legs than I have shoes. Thirty-eight shoes actually... not one hundred. This guy is in the bath tub because I wanted to take him picture and he would be gone in a minute if he could get traction to get out of there. That is a full bar of soap next to him to show what size he is. When he or his kin show up they are usually truckin' across the floor somewhere, and it could be night or day when they move about. And they are indeed quick. Our usual process is to grab them with a kitchen tong and take him to the bathroom. I take a pair of scissors with me, and rather than flushing them down the toilet (because they can survive the flush and then climb back out later) I usually send them packing in three separate pieces. That usually prevents their return.

We have been told that these are not the ones that we need to be aware of. There is a much smaller one that supposedly can really hurt you when they take a bite. These only make you kinda sick I hear. I'm not sure I'm interested in testing either of those theories.

We realize that there have to be a lot of these outside, and we have found some waltzing across the tops of the blades of grass on the lawn. We generally invite them into the house and escort them directly to the bathroom.