10/10 to 11/15  (37 days - 368 total)

Two thousand and eleven was a very different year. There were very few communications sent out during our stay this year. It started out with an extra 'assignment' for when we were there. I enjoy doing things around the house when we are there and Dennis was working on a project that was going to require him to hire a crew to convert the Shade House into an exercise/photography room.

The conversion would require dismantling the watering system, removing the lighting fixtures, removing the old plywood from the exterior walls, removing all of the screening that kept out the bugs, and cleaning everything up. Dennis was in contact with me via e-mail, and it started out when he wrote me to ask how to remove the anchor bolts holding the frame structure to the concrete floor. When he told me that he was thinking about going to the planning department and drawing up plans, etc., etc., I discussed with him the possibility of utilizing what he already had there, and avoiding the permit stage and expense.

When he decided that would work, he was aware of a young man that had done some work for him before, so after a little bit of planning, he hired the fellow (his name was Matt) to do the work, and asked me if I was interested in looking in on Matt's work when I was over during their Fall cruise. I agreed, so I was committed to a job that others were depending upon so the plans for the work were all made.

Matt would first need to place a solid sheathing on the roof and place asphalt shingles up there, so the interior would be secured from any rain that might, hopefully, decide to come along. Next he was to place new T-111 plywood siding on the exterior walls, and install a four-foot wide window on each side. Then he was to paint the exterior, get an electrician in to install eight lights in the ceiling, install a new electrical distribution panel to handle three electrical circuits, wire the room for the lights and outlets every four feet for the exercise equipment, and install a TV cable for a TV out there. Then he was going to find a drywall man to install sheetrock on the interior walls and ceiling, and then Matt would paint the interior, and install a new door and the windows.

Then the whole plan started to unravel. Several days before we were scheduled to fly out of San Jose for Hawai'i, Rosalee took mom to the doctor for a check-up and he did not like what he heard when he listened to her heart. He wanted her to go into the hospital to check it out. That created a problem, big time. There is no way we could leave here is mom was in the hospital. So Rosalee decided that we had committed to do the house/pet sitting job as well as to look in on the construction which was already getting started, and we could not fold on that. You don't cancel 35-day cruises with a snap of a finger. So it was her decision that since she could not do the work that I was scheduled to do there, she could certainly handle the running and dealing with grandma in the hospital, so she would stay home and come later after mom was out of danger and back to her apartment. I just could not leave her to do that, but I could not cancel and throw the Brown's into a mess either. But Rosalee insisted, so we started the loneliest trip to Hawai'i we have ever taken.

We kept up with everything via telephone calls each evening... Six o'clock for me, before I ate and it was 9 o'clock for her, bedtime. She kept me up to date on what was happening with mom and I kept her up to date on what the two dogs were doing. Rosalee was missing her puppies. They have wormed their way into our hearts just a tiny bit.

This is what I found when I got to Hawai'i this year. The old 'shade house' had been stripped of its wall covering and most of the screening, ready to start building forward to end up with an exercise room. It should be nice, as it is 12' X 24', or 288 sq. ft. That is a lot of space. The floor is poured concrete and the frame is very heavy and dense wood (species unknown) and it is well assembled. Dennis did a good job when he and some friends built it ten years before.

Things were working well with Matt. He would show up either alone or would bring one or two fellows with him, depending upon what he had planned on doing that day. I was very impressed with each of them. I never saw any of them standing and talking, or talking on a cell phone. If they were here, they were working. I would hire Matt in a Hot New York Minute if here were here and I needed a hand. I was a 'gopher' for them. If they needed anything, I would 'go fer' it. I had Dennis's nice pick-up to do that with.

Before Dennis left on his trip, Matt had indicated that he had not had any success in finding anyone that was willing to come out and do the electrical work on the building. Two fellows thought they might consider it, but their labor was going to be three or four thousand dollars. The night before Dennis left, I told him that it was a "see spot run" job, and if he wanted to order the materials, I could tell him what he needed and I would wire it. It was just not that difficult. So we got on the computer and ordered everything to be picked up the next day at Lowe's in Kailua-Kona. When I dropped the Brown's off at the airport I just went on down another five miles and picked up most of the material.

Dennis was also having trouble with his huge mower. It was not running for him. He had scheduled a fellow to mow  the lawn (by bringing his own mower with him) but I said that I would cancel him after I got the mower working. I diagnosed the problem to be a safety switch that does not allow you to start the engine if the machine is in gear, but then I had to find that little switch. I finally located it near the back of the machine, under the frame and between the trans-axle and the rear wheel, about the toughest location to get access to on this machine. I could see the broken wire, but I could not reach it. I had that poor mower torn all apart. You can see the hood to one side, the mower deck to the other side, the bagging system to the rear, the engine half out, the dash panel hanging loose... but I found it! :-) I found the problem.

After removing the mower deck I got the chance to look underneath and there are two large blades under there. I felt they probably needed sharpening, but they were beyond that. The ends... well, you can see. Look how the ends of those blades are literally curling over. No wonder the grass was looking like it was being whacked off with a shovel. The shovel is sharper though. WHERE would I be able to find blades for a ten-year old mower? The local dealer had closed their doors years before.

When I was at Lowe's I looked and found... a whole WALL full of blades and they had the ones that fit this machine. Hooray!

I mentioned in 2010 Fall that I had stopped in to visit a small ranch just at the edge of Waimea, called Anna's  Ranch. Last year I had worked on music boxes and clocks that were not working and I wanted to see if everything was still working ok.

There was a new director there, a young lady that was so glad to see me. She said "I went home last night and prayed, Lord what will I do to get those things running?" Well, I guess He sent me. LOL. The large disk music box I had instructed them on last year was not working. They were not using it correctly. The large wind-up phonograph was not working for the same reason. One of the tall clocks I had worked on was not running. A docent had been a little careless when winding the clock and dropped one weight onto the long pendulum, breaking off the suspension spring that holds up the pendulum. There is no place here in Hawai'i to find that part, but I did have an assortment of them at home. I called Rosalee and gave her directions as to the three or four places where she might find them, and if she brought them with her, I could fix the clock... again. She found them and brought them over, and the clock was running. Again. I will check in with them again next year I'm sure.

I had ordered a couple of repair parts for the music box down at the Hulihe'e Palace in Kailua-Kona (the one that was personally given to the Crown Princess Kaiulani by Robert Louis Stevenson, back near the turn of the twentieth century), and I installed one of them , but it immediately broke. I was able to locate and order several others that might be better for the job and they were delivered to the Brown's home and I went back down to the Palace to fit one in. It did work. Now it winds up and plays, but it sounds terrible. I have a special tool that can straighten the bent pins on the drum, but there are thousands of them, and it will take a long time to fix those. The director there said that he would try to get the managing directors to approve my taking it to the Brown's home the next time we are here, so I can work on it in the comfort of the Brown's home. There is no place at the palace where I can work.

Things are going better with mom,  and Rosalee is going to be able to come over, although her trip is 2 1/2 weeks late. But Rosalee has told me that it gave her the chance to work with mom rather closely and it helped them to form a better bond than she felt they ever had. Mom so wanted Rosalee to be able to come to Hawai'i and did not want to be keeping her in Pleasanton. It turns out mom was fine all the time Rosalee was in Hawai'i. We had two professionals looking in on her constantly, and where she lived they have nurses on staff, so she was well cared for.

It was nice to have her with me again. That was the longest that we had ever been separated in fifty one... fifty two years. And the 'boys' were extra glad to see her. She had more licking than most get in a whole year. They knew exactly who she was.  

Matt is coming along fine with the new Exercise Room. I am able to get in to do the electrical when he is not here. He could not find a drywall man, but one talked like he might be able to do it, but he wanted two or three grand, and Dennis was supplying the drywall. By the way, a full sheet of drywall over here is over twelve bucks. It is more like five in California. It costs a lot to drive those ships I guess. No, they do not make it here. There is little or no gypsum here anyway. I did not have my tools here so I was not able to install it, but I talked Matt into doing it and picking up some more hours on his paycheck. He did fine with it. We finished up the electrical fixtures the week-end before the Brown's came home.

The weather machine is not registering any rain so it must have another Gecko gizzard stuck in it. The reason they had to put a new sprinkler control in was because Geckoes got in through tiny holes in the box and peed on the controls. When I brushed my teeth this morning, I noticed a little tell-'tail' sticking out from under the soap dish. So I lifted it up and a four-inch long gecko skittered across the counter, up the wall, and behind the picture frame. I guess that is like a good luck charm, right? Like a stork on the chimney? LOL.

Clyde had asked Rosalee and me before we came over this time if we would be interested in taking a trip with her seniors group to Kilauea, where they were planning a picnic lunch and a tour of the Hawai'i Volcano Observatory. It is located on the edge of the Kilauea caldera, and contains a 24-hour live camera focused on the Halemaumau caldera. You can locate it at this URL:

http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/cams/panorama.php?cam=KIcam   

The State of Hawai'i has a Governor. Each island is a County, and each county has a "Mayor". Each county has a number of Supervisors. A supervisor that is local to the Waimea (Kamuela) area was the gentleman that drove the mini-bus that took the seniors to the volcano. Rosalee had not joined me yet so I went, mostly to make sure Clyde was taken care of, but the supervisor and I were the only men on the trip, and I just helped all of the seniors. They are always so appreciative of anyone that shows them just a little respect and attention, and besides, they LOVE to try to rattle our cage a little. They were a fun bunch of ladies.

The lady that gave us the tour allowed us to ask questions and she delivered the answers very well. We had an earthquake the day before we were with her, and she could tell us that there had been 55 after-shocks, and the Richter level was 4.6. It was certainly not enough to do any damage on the island. It certainly reminded many that were on the island back in 2005 (I think) when there was an earthquake that did major damage to many buildings. We had not been here yet, but I am told that it made a real mess of anything that was not bolted down in the Brown's home.

Another nice part about the trip to the volcano was that I was able to spend quite a bit of time talking with the supervisor, and I was able to learn a lot about the workings of the island, the history, the future, etc.

Our friends Walt and Janet Jamison from Seattle were on an Hawaiian cruise through Princess Cruises, with Janet's brother and wife, the Tucker's, and they were scheduled to dock at Hilo while I was here this year. Rosalee and I were planning on meeting them to spend the day with them, but Rosalee was still not able to leave Mom yet. So I took the day and drove down to Hilo (about one hour, plus). I had been to Hilo several time and our first visit almost two decades ago we stayed three days in Hilo, but I only had a general idea of where the Cruise Dock would be.

I headed out early in the morning and planned to take the 'short-cut' through the pass between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, over Saddle Road. I included images from the pass in the Aloha 2009 reports. As you come out  on the Eastern side of the pass, you can see the City of Hilo, and standing high, wide and handsome was the huge, white, Princess ship tied off. It would be no problem to locate the ship. I had Walt's cell phone number so if I can find a place to park, I can make phone contact and we will be on our way. As it turned out, there was no such thing as a place to park but as I pulled to the side of the road, I looked in the rear view mirror and I saw four familiar figures. We got in the Ford and we left.

I asked where they wanted to go and they indicated that they "had" to see the volcano, so that was the direction I headed. I knew that the following week I would be taking the trip with the supervisor and the ladies... to the volcano, but that was fine. It was the chance to visit with our friends that made it a good day. On the way back into Hilo in the late afternoon we caught lunch in Hilo and looked around the area a little. They had to get back to the ship rather early, around 4:30 I believe.

I picked up Rosalee at the Kona/Kailua Airport. I was running a tad late and she was already sitting and waiting for me. We went on down toward Kona to have dinner. It was nice to finally have her here with me. The first night she went to bed before I did. She was tuckered out from all that she was putting up with over the last three weeks. As usual, the dogs went to their bed at the same time. When I came to bed a few hours later, as usual the 'boys' started barking at me. Rosalee got up and came into the hallway. She told me the next morning that the dogs woke her up, and she thought that she was still at home, and she got up from bed because she said that she wanted to know what dogs were doing in our house. When she saw me in the hallway she realized that she was in Hawai'i.

Kent... Left purse...

It is getting pretty close to being finished now. Before we left, the exterior was painted, the front door was reversed from an 'outie' to an 'innie', to swing in when opened. Drywall was finished and ready for paint, and the electrical work was finished.