|
10/22 to 11/18
(28 days - 396 total)
Letter Home From Rosalee -
10/23/12:
|
Early
in our flight the pilot had mentioned that it looked
like we might be about 15 minutes late coming into Kona
and his timing was right on. Our wonderful hostess,
Donna Brown, was waiting for us with a big Hawaii smile
and hug! On arrival at the house we got the same
treatment from Dennis and lots of barking and kisses
from Rajah and Rufus! Ken had described his new diet
regime in an e-mail to Donna a couple of weeks ago
questioning some of the appliances that might be
available at the house and in addition to that info she
had also gone grocery shopping so he would have a lot of
what he would need. She really overdid herself! We had a
wonderful salad bar for dinner last night with about as
many options as we find at Sweet Tomatoes!
Well,
the “No Sleeping on the Bed” people rule again!! I was
in bed by 10 p.m.; as usual Ken and the ‘boys’ stayed up
much later watching TV and such. I was barely aware when
Ken came to bed but the doggies just went directly to
their beds. I am quite sure when they saw us arrive
yesterday morning, without a single bark they looked at
each other, rolled their eyes and gave each other a look
that probably ‘sounded’ like this, “Oh no, it’s the ‘No
Sleeping on the Bed’ people!! Oh well, I guess it could
be worse and it is only for a month. Before the month is
over we will think of some way to get back at them!
Maybe rather than barking furiously when we spot one of
those ugly centipedes we will invite it into the house;
maybe even into their bedroom!!!!” Rosalee says, “Those
doggies are amazingly smart!!!”
I am
sitting here sipping my coffee drink and looking out on
the back lawn and frequently seeing little birdies come
to check out the beautiful green lawn just in case
someone may have left something of interest to them.
Miss
you all,
Rosalee |
Aloha No.
1 - 10/24/12:
|
Here we are, living the Life of
Riley in Hawai'i once again. We arrived on Monday, a few
minutes later than planned, after a reasonably decent
flight. This was our first trial of a direct flight from
San Jose, CA to Kailua-Kona, HI on Alaska Airlines. We
usually fly Hawaiian Airlines, but they fly PAST the Big
Island, landing in Honolulu, Oahu, Hawai'i. That is
where we will usually pick up something to eat for lunch
during a two-hour lay-over, and then fly from there to
Kailua-Kona, another 35 minute flight.
We flew with a seat-mate that was a
grandmother headed to Kona to be with her grandchildren
while their father starts work at a new job. She lives
in Sacramento, CA but plans on being in the Kona area
for the next six months to a year. She had a little
buddy with her. It was a small, timid, extremely
weak-looking toy poodle that was a licensed "Therapy
Dog". With that license they are allowed to ride in the
main cabin of the plane instead of down in the luggage
compartment. That is a scary thought, considering when
we picked up our luggage it still had condensation still
on it. That had to be extremely cold under there.
Donna was right there to pick us
up, and escort us to her home. We took a side-trip
through Waimea to pick up her medication she needed for
her trip. She showed us where the Health Food store was
located, as well as where two different Farmer's Markets
are located. One is Wednesday, near the stables for the
Parker Ranch, which at one time was the largest cattle
ranch (owned by a single family member) in the USA. The
King Ranch in Texas was larger but was owned by a
family. At it's largest, the Parker Ranch consisted of
more than a quarter-million acres of land. Sadly,
although it is still a 'working' ranch, it is run by a
group of individuals and it seems to be gradually
dissolving from selling off the land.
As Rosalee mentioned in the letter
above, I had earlier shared with Donna what my new diet
is like. She was asking what I eat because she generally
likes to have a meal prepared for us when we get here.
So I told her everything that I thought of since there
is so little that actually 'fits' into this diet, and I
wanted her to have as much of a variety to choose from,
so that her plans might be easier. Well, she stocked up
with about everything that I mentioned. Bell peppers of
three colors, six boxes of Almond Milk, a huge bag of
almonds and another of pecans, a bag of Flax seed, a
selection of lettuces, a three-pound bag of lovely
peeled garlic cloves. And beautiful avocadoes... it is
difficult to find nice avocadoes over here.
The 'boys' are in fine form. They
are as chipper as ever... and as cute. Rosalee mentioned
that they remembered that they were not welcome to join
us in the bed. We noticed also that they remember that
we are not happy with them in the Kitchen when we are
working there. They keep out of the way, watching us. We
just don't want to trip over them when carrying a hot
pan or hurting them when we move about, not aware of
what may be 'underfoot'.
Regarding their staying off the
bed... Tuesday night I woke up from a bad dream... I
dreamed that I was returning to my vehicle and I was
driving the '72 Ranchero that Kent & Linda now have and
have fully restored. When I got to it in the parking lot
the wheels and tires were gone, the body was messed up
pretty badly on both sides, the hood and engine and
transmission were gone, the front fenders were ripped
away... basically total destruction. That woke me and
when I went to look at the time on the clock it was
turned away from me. Moving it slightly caused a noise
and the 'boys' immediately barked and jumped up on the
bed to 'protect' us, I think. "It's OK... get down" was
all it took and they went back to bed. Rosalee suggested
they may have been seeking some 'protection' for
themselves. LOL. Nah... they was m' hewoes... :-)
Donna told us that her mom was
having a few medical tests done and when you are in your
nineties you don't want to ignore those. Her mom (Clyde)
has a lady that helps her out now and she was driving
her in to the tests. We talked to her the evening
following her tests and she said that the doctors said
"Everyone should have a heart as good as yours". We will
be talking with her each day to keep tabs on her. We are
trying to set up a day to have lunch with her one day
this first week.
Over the previous months Dennis and
I discussed several 'Ken Projects'. The big one was to
convert the posts that hold up the roof over the Living
Room Lanai and the Master Bedroom Lanai. They have two
diagonal 4 X 4 braces at the top, two feet from the
ceiling, and they provide a perfect location for birds
to build nests each Spring... and Summer... and Fall...
basically perpetual nests. The birds are small
sparrow-like birds. Sadly, they are very messy, and when
you turn on the lights in the evening, they fly into the
glass windows and knock themselves silly, which
immediately alerts the dogs and they are out there in a
flash. The birds pay the ultimate sacrifice. Dennis
wants to remove the braces to prevent the nests from
even being placed there in the beginning.
My first concern, of course, was
how 'expendable' those braces actually are. They are
holding a lot of roof overhead, and with the fifty-mile
per hour winds that climb up this mountain could be
somewhat disastrous. Dennis took some good images of the
posts and we determined that they are decorative only.
So... they are going to be removed. I will then cover
the post sides with 1/2" Exterior plywood and detail it
out so it can be painted.
I did the measurements to determine
my materials needs and we went to Waimea today to pick
them up. I tried to anticipate the tools that would be
needed to do the project months ago and D & D picked up
the new blades for two different saws, a claw-foot nail
puller, new sanding belts for the belt sander... things
that would be needed. Dennis asked that I pick up the
materials, so that the right material was chosen. That
is a good idea since some variation rears its ugly head
after final decisions are made after the tape measure
comes out.
We don't like to drive the Brown's
vehicles any more than necessary, so we try to block our
errands together to minimize road-time. Today
(Wednesday) was the day to get several tasks
accomplished. The Brown's had an automatic coffee
machine repaired at the company in Washington and when
it arrived here a major part was broken in shipping, so
it had to be returned again. That box went with us this
morning to find a UPS drop off. We took the pickup truck
as a trip to the lumber yard was the biggest reason for
the trip.
Included in today's trip was a
shopping trip to one of the Farmer's Markets that is on
Wednesdays, held at the old Parker Ranch stables. We got
there around 0930 hours and they had some nice things,
but there was nothing that we needed... yet. Donna
stocked us up so well that we need to deplete our
supplies a little more first. Next was a trip to the
Lumber yard. Three sheets of exterior plywood in the
truck... 32 eight foot long 1/2" quarter-rounds to trim
out the corners, a gallon of primer paint to coat all
sides of the new plywood to prevent absorbing moisture,
which will just reject the paint if we don't paint it. A
new nail set to fit the required nails... and four boxes
of said nails. Nice people at the store. I have been
there before on other 'projects'.
Next is a stop by the Foodland
grocery store to pick up a few things. We planned on
going across the street to the 'other' grocery store to
get anything that we did not find at the first store,
but by the time we got through the first store we had to
make a decision. We had arranged to meet up with Susan,
the woman that moved here from Fresno a year and a half
ago and could not get her clock running. She contacted
me by e-mail to see if I would consider servicing the
clock. She got my name and e-address from Anna Ranch
employees where she meets with a quilting group on
Thursdays. We were to meet her at 1330 hours so we
figured we would have time to return home and fix lunch,
drop off groceries, etc. due to frozen food, and have
plenty of time. The shopping took so long we had to head
home without doing the second store, dropping the box at
UPS, and several other tasks. On the way home we hit
rain... we're talking about RAIN! We could hardly see
the road when we would get up around 2,500 feet
elevation. Of course... the plywood is in the back of
the pickup. No cover. It has not rained her all year!!!
Rain fell so hard we considered cancelling the second
half of the day, but with a quick bite and the pickup
under the portico out of the rain, we put the big box in
the sedan and grabbed a quick bite and were off again.
Sadly, the weather machine Dennis
has that tells us all we could ever want to know about
the rain is not working. It needs a new rechargeable
cell in the transmitter, and I brought one with us, but
have not been able to put it in yet. So we have no
figures on the rain, but when we came home around 1600
hours we saw that a lot of rock and gravel and dirt was
washed onto the pavement from the heavy rains, which we
have never seen before. We would love to see the numbers
on that rain. It was HEAVY!!!
We arrived at Susan's home on time
in spite of the fact that we were driving in more heavy
rains. Her clock is a two-weight, cable-wound Howard
Miller wall regulator from 1979 that she bought new in
Texas. It had been totally serviced by her local clock
man in Fresno and he boxed it up to ship over here when
they moved. When she got here she could not get it to
run, and she said that there was no clock repairman on
the island. Of course, I was hoping that it was a simple
adjustment such as the clock not being hung properly
causing it to be 'out of beat'. Well, it was out of
beat, but that was not the whole problem. It required
the movement being removed from the case several times
to convince it to run. It was an hour and a half to get
it going.
When that was finished we found the
UPS drop and sent the big box on its way to Washington
State. By then we were too pooped to do the rest of the
tasks so we headed back home. Rosalee is planning on
attending the quilting group with Susan on Thursday
morning so I will see if they need any help with the
clocks and music boxes in the museum while she is in the
group meeting. If I finish before she does I will do
some of the things that we did not do on Wednesday.
No un-wanted creepy, crawly
critters yet this visit. We are on constant vigilance
however. We are seeing ...and hearing... a lot more
birds this year. Last year we noted that they were more
sparse than usual. Maybe Friday I will get a chance to
take a look at the big lawn mower that won't start. I
did put the battery charger on it in preparation for the
task of trouble-shooting the machine.
D & D report that they have reached
their first European destination, flying from Kona to San
Francisco to Chicago to the East Coast to Brussels. They
report less than stellar service, even though they were
paying for First-class tickets all the way. Their last
leg of their flight was much better. They will be in
Paris tomorrow and the next day they will spend a week
in a home in Burgundy.
A thousand channels on the TV and
there is nothing worth looking at as I'm typing this
out, so I switched over to the music channels... Channel
808 - Traditional Country... Conway Twitty... Merle...
Johnny Cash... Wagoner... Dolly... Marty Robbins...
takes me back to the evenings we played Pinochle with
Gary and Joanne way back in the Seventies. The 'Boys'
are sleeping here next to me... Rosalee is asleep hours
ago... a nice ending to a nice day in Paradise.
|
Aloha No.
2 - 10/25/12:
|
A beautiful, sunny morning. We had
picked up some beautiful strawberries, boysenberries,
blackberries and blueberries at Foodland yesterday. We
bought four little plastic boxes of each type... six of the
strawberries. The clerk asked: "Smoothies?" LOL. Yep... we
bring them home and wash and stem them, and put them into
zip-lock bags and freeze them. They start to spoil seemingly
overnight. We also picked up a dozen of the bananas that are
bagged and priced for a quick sale because they are starting
to have dark spots on them. Well, peeling them and tossing
them into a bag for the freezer locks them right at the
'ripe' stage. Plus they were ultra cheap, and that is scarce
on these islands. LOL.
When we opened the plastic bag I
discovered that they were organically-grown bananas... SCORE
TWICE. Oh... baseball talk... DOUBLE PLAY! So this morning
I tossed a small handful of almonds and pecans into the
blender and chopped them up rather fine, then added a few of
each berry type, added a cup of almond milk, a dash of
vanilla and a packet of Stevia (natural plant sweetener that
is very good) and pressed the button. It worked very nicely.
It is an old Waring Blender and we were all wondering if it
could stand up to the work. At least the berries were not
frozen like I use at home. Then I added the frozen banana
and it was very smooth. That was my breakfast and it stayed
with me until we ate lunch... before either of us got
hungry.
First stop today was Anna Ranch where
Rosalee joined a group of very nice ladies that make up the
quilting group we were invited to check out. I went on over
to the main house/museum where I found Maka, the one that
runs the place. She said that when I was there last year and
taught the lady running the place how to play the music
machines and care for the clocks she was there, and it was
her first day. She remembered my being there last year.
The image here is
taken of the main house of the Anna Ranch Museum. It was a
working ranch in the Waimea area during the beginning of the
20th Century, up until Miss Anna passed away in 1995.
 She
took me inside and showed me that the older grandfather
clock had the pendulum off its hook. She tried to re-hang it
but could not get it to connect. With a tiny light I showed
her where to connect it and it went right into place. She
admitted that it was she who knocked it off its hanger when
she was lifting the weights to wind the clock.
That done, she said the Regina 15 1/2"
disk music box was working fine. She opened it and played it
(after winding it two turns of the crank) and mentioned that
she usually turns it a few more turns when she demonstrates
it. She remembered my instructions and handled it well. She
mentioned she wanted to
change the disk... they have about a dozen of them in a
little cabinet... what a rarity it is to find that many
intact with a machine. I told her I would stand by while she
changed it as she seemed a little hesitant about changing it
out so she did it and she did it correctly. Then she played
it and I noticed that it was just not as 'peppy' as it
should be. I started turning the crank and as I turned it,
she realized that she was doing what others had done in the
past... just not winding it enough. Everyone has heard so
many
horror stories of "over-winding" clocks and music boxes so
they just don't take it to anywhere near the full wind. That
little song really kicked up a step. She ran it a second
time to hear it correctly.
She said that they do not run the
Victrolas any more for tours. I think that they did not feel
people were that impressed with what has been replaced by a
tiny integrated circuit and a pair of ear 'buds'... at MUCH
better sound. She does play one of them when school children
come through. It has a cute little cowboy song on it from
the turn of the twentieth century. I like the song too.
Two other mantle clocks are in the main
room, and I have studied them before on previous visits. One
is an Ansonia clock with a statue on the top. It stands
about a yard tall and is made from cast metal. Sadly the
lady statue tumbled from her perch during an earthquake in
the past and she was damaged. Someone repaired her but she
is bronze and the repair is white. I offered to try to find
a paint that would not restore her but at least make her not
so bad. I would never want to remove the beautiful patina
that covers her. Now, where do you find "patina-colored"
paint? LOL. I offered to work on her so that she will be
level on the bottom and then see if we can make her again
stand on the marble plate on the top of the clock. This
would, however, require my taking her to the Brown's home to
spend the time required. She is going to check with the PTB...
Powers To Be.
Maka was interested to know if the
clock portion could be made to work. The key to wind it is
even attached to the clock. Sadly it has a broken main
spring. With no clock repair places on the Big Island (that
anyone has been able to find) there is little chance that it
will ever run again. There is no funding to ship it to
Honolulu where it likely could be repaired. I did offer to
remove the movement from the case, take it home to the
mainland, repair it, and return the following year and
install it. That... of course... will require the PTB to
really think twice. But... it is their option. Wait a year,
take a chance on some Stranger From P-Town in faraway lands,
and pay nothing... or it will sit silently. 
There is another clock. It is a very interesting clock. It
stands about 30 inches tall and consists of two columns from
the bottom to the top with a cross bar, and looks like a
football goal post. 'Hanging' from the cross bar is a cast
metal bell that is about twenty inches tall. There is a
clock face in the side of the 'bell'. It has the Tiffany &
Co. name on the dial, which means that the famous jeweler
had them made somewhere and had their name placed on it. She
asked if we could determine what condition it was in so
there is a door on the back of the 'bell' that allows you to
see into the movement. We tried to move it from the book
case it is standing on but it would not budge. It appears
that an early museum director GLUED IT DOWN so it would not
fall or grow legs or something... but it is held fast to a
book case that she told me is the oldest piece of furniture
in the house. They have ruined the beautiful Koa wood book
shelf and made it basically impossible to repair the clock.
Susan was at the quilting group. She is
the one that needed work done on her clock. I asked how it
was doing and she said that it was continually stopping.
That was what I was seeing when I was working on it. It
seems that something is binding the clock, but without being
able to tear it down, it is very difficult to find the
problem. She is taking my advice to let it run completely
down and then winding it again. It is cable-wound and the
cables can sometimes get bound up. If it does not improve
after a week we can go over and take another look at it.
We checked out the KTA Market for some
of the food items that we did not find at the Foodland store
yesterday. We had a little bit of success. Next to where we
dropped off the big box at the UPS dealer, there was a
Chinese restaurant that had the menu displayed and they had
some nice steamed veggies listed. We partook of their fare
and we were surprised. It was very good. We definitely will
give that place another try. Perhaps when Kent comes over
later we might check it out again.
Back home... we cut out a little time
for ourselves, to relax. Rosalee walked the 'boys' while I
started this page. It appears it is clouding up again. We
might get a little more rainfall tonight. We talked with
Clyde today and we are taking her into Waimea tomorrow
(Friday) for some shopping, to pick up some of her meds, and
to have lunch. She said she was getting along quite well
after her tests the other day. I may retire a little earlier
tonight. Looks like the mower will have to wait another day
before I can start work on it. Too much going on.
|
Aloha No.
3 - 10/26/12:
|
Today we
arranged to pick up Clyde at her home and take her to
Waimea to pick up some groceries and her medications,
and to have lunch. We usually have her choose the place
to eat because she knows quite a few nice places to
eat... places that are a bit off the pathway, but always
great food. Me on this new diet kind of takes some of
the joy... a LOT of the joy... out of the eating
experience. But that is the basic problem with the
"American Diet"... we eat for enjoyment or comfort or
social reasons and not for our health. Before I start
talking like a health nut, let's just say that I ordered
something that sounded good that I thought was a quiche,
but it was eggplant, onions, zucchini and...can't
remember the fourth veggie. I was surprised when she
asked the type of bread that I wanted. I chose the whole
grain bread and it was a delicious sandwich. I think
that by eating this diet I am on has caused my taste
buds to accentuate the flavors of veggies.
Clyde does not
get around physically as well as she would like, so with
her using her cane I provided an arm and went into the
grocery store to pick up her meds while Rosalee took
Clyde's food list and gathered her items for her. Things
went quickly.
It was warm
enough today that one would not want to sit in a closed
car for too long, but Clyde usually age bell peppers
that are only about the size of a Kiwi plant. I had
never seen them that small and not still on the plant,
growing up to be full-sized, but they were available
across the road at the KTA market... we were in
Foodland. I understood that KTA also had the olives that
Rosalee and I enjoy... Lindsay pitted medium green
olives are what we buy at home, but even in Pleasanton
they are hard to find on the shelves sometimes. We used
to get them at Foodland but we noticed they were not
always on the shelf. This time over here we noticed that
in the pantry there were several cans of OUR CHOICE...
where did Donna get them? Donna said that we had left a
can or two one time and they got interested in them so
she buys them now... at KTA.
So we drove
across the street and Rosalee and Clyde stayed in the
car and I just ran in to pick up the peppers and olives
and the little baby Romaine heads of lettuce that Donna
had at the house and Rosalee fell in love with. Donna
also has delicious smaller tomatoes that are the best
that I have tasted in a long time. She said they are
from Costco down in Kona. We have a trip headed that way
soon and will have to pick up more of them. She has had
them here before, and some years ago I have photos of
them... they have seeds that actually are sprouting
while still inside of the tomato. These were not
sprouting yet. I have never seen that before.
Clyde insisted
that we drive her car to go to lunch so we did. It is a
lovely Buick with only 25,000 miles that she has had for
several years at least. She drives very little but when
others drive her somewhere she insists they drive her
car so they don't have to use their own. That is a nice
gesture.
The afternoon
was ours so I got started on the Lawn Mower in the
afternoon. Dennis needs it pretty badly. It is the only
thing that is capable of getting down into the grass
that he has growing. He went through three mowers before
he had to resort to the heavy, 16 H.P. tractor he rides.
It would cut the hay in the field. I enjoy using it and
doing the lawns is a quick little exercise. It has a
huge double bagger on the back that picks up anything
that you cut.
It was having
trouble last year when I was here and I had to almost
tear it apart to find a wire that was broken. It went to
a safety switch that would not allow you to engage the
Power Take-Off... PTO, which drives the belts that run
the two large blades underneath the tractor... the mower
deck... that does the actual cutting of the grass. The
switch was designed to prevent you from cutting grass if
the tractor was in Reverse... for some reason. There is
a switch that kills the engine if you get off the seat
also. If you get off to open a gate you have to re-start
the engine. If you get off to push down a sticky
sprinkler head you have to re-start the engine. You get
off to adjust the bagger you have to... yep... re-start.
Or get off to CLOSE the gate... re-start. It just wears
down the battery charge and then Dennis has trouble
starting it. I recommended a couple of years ago that he
get a battery charger and charge the battery every few
days. He did and it helped. But last year I eliminated
the switch under the seat and that helped a lot. Dennis
(or I) just have to remember to not put our foot under
the mower deck if it is running and we are getting on or
off the mower. Duh! We are over-protected. I'm thankful
someone has not legislated that the mower won't run
unless we secure a seat belt. LOL.
So, I tore into
it again today. Dennis said that it has not run in
several months. I'm not sure what may be the problem.
Dennis mentioned that they might just replace it if...
but that puppy is only ten years old, hardly used at
all, and cost them at least $2,500. It has a
two-cylinder engine, electric starting, and an
hydro-static transmission that is a dream to drive. So
let's fix it. The engine turns fine with the starter so
the engine did not suffer a catastrophic failure. But it
is not even trying to fire. I checked the engine oil and
it could use a quart... have to look for one in the
garage or pick up one. Fuel tank is near full. I had
thrown the battery charger on it the day before so the
battery was up full. I got a positive attitude and 'took
control' with the throttle and choke and laid into it.
She popped a couple of times. Then it back-fired a time
or two. I had removed the air cleaner so the back-fire
made a good loud report that brought Rosalee out to
check on me.
A couple more
pops and it fired... and ran. It ran well... good and
strong. Hmmm... carburetor flooded? I let it run several
minutes, then I let it idle and it was fine. I kicked
the speed back up and engaged the PTO and it died. Same
as last year! So I tried to start it again and no such
luck. DOA. Crankity, crankity, crank. Don't want to burn
up the starter motor so I have to take care not to push
it too long.
Time to start
the real work... why is it not firing now when it fired
fine for a good three minutes? With the problem similar
to last year, I looked where the problem was last year,
but found the wires all good. The battery is under the
seat and it has to be removed to get to the problem...
where the problem WAS last year. There is a switch there
so I may have to tear into it to get out the switch and
check to see if it is working. Why it is way back on the
transmission behind the wheels and inside the frame I
don't know but it is probably the toughest part of the
whole machine to get to. Well, that will have to be
another day. This is going to take a full tear-down to
get into the problem, I fear.
Friday we went down to 'the
Village' where Clyde lives and picked her up to go
shopping and have lunch. She usually selects where we
eat and we went to a nice deli in the Parker Ranch
Shopping Center that she likes. We have been there
before and both then and now we had a very nice lunch.
Clyde is doing well, and is showing a natural aging that
she 'wears well'. She is a real sweetheart. |
Aloha No.
4 - 10/27/12:
| THE
JOBS:
Job One: Lanai Posts Re-model
The main job that Dennis talked
about my doing on this visit was to remove some angled
braces at the top of the eight main posts that hold up the
roof structure over the two West-facing lanais (Lah - nah -
ees). With good images provided by Dennis and my suggestions
of what to look for it was determined that they were not
needed for support and were actually just superficial
gingerbread. They impeded the line-of-sight of the beautiful
sunsets but more than that they provided support for lots of
bird nests which means there was a lot of bird nesting going
on. There are plenty of trees to provide that service so
with the nests all empty of eggs and squabs Dennis evicted
them all and temporarily filled the voids to prevent new
squatters from moving in before we can change out the posts.
Job Two: Lawn Mower Repair
This has already been discussed. It
is important to get this running so that the lawn can be
properly trimmed, and I don't want them to have to buy a new
one. Why not take it in to get it repaired? OK... where?
LOL. If you like to do repair work of anything, and you are
looking for a place for a young family to get started, Head
West To Calif... Hawai'i Young Man. They do not have people
here that do things like that.
Job Three: Install A/C Unit In
Exercise Room
This is the Shade House conversion
that we did last year. It is quite warm in there when
working out on the machines. Dennis wants to cut a hole in
the wall and slide in an air conditioner to cool down the
room. This job was postponed at the last minute because
neither Lowe's, Home Depot, or Costco carry them in Hawai'i.
"Who would need A/C in Hawai'i ?" they ask... I was
concerned about this when Dennis started this project. I
recommended larger window openings but he also uses the room
as a photographic studio for portraiture work, and that
means he needs to get control of the lighting in the room.
So, this job is a bust for this visit.
Job Four: Service Davis Weather
Instrument
This is the wonderful weather
machine that the Brown's have here. It so fascinated me, and
Rosalee enjoyed it so much when we first came over, we could
not resist and we bought one for the house in Pleasanton. We
love it. Lee and Judy next door even have a console that
reads the information transmitted by our roof-top unit and
they have the same information that we see in our home. The
Brown's machine has been sending strange signals for the
last couple of years. I wrote to the company and they sent a
little jumper wire to install and then call them to
trouble-shoot the machine. I brought it but the machine was
working that time. Last year I determined that the storage
cell (battery) that is charged by a solar panel in the
outside unit might be defective. Mine at home did the same.
So I bought two cells and brought one over. I installed it
today and although it only was installed for a few hours
before the sun went down, it is 0400 hours as I type this
and the console is still registering all of the numbers
coming in from the transmitter, so I guess it is working.
Success number two. :-) Don't we love success? LOL. We just
have to succeed with # 1 and #2 now.
Job Five: Troubleshoot Exercise Room
Fan
There is a new ceiling fan that we
put in the exercise room, but it is not working correctly.
It runs on speed one, does not run on speed two, and runs
faster on speed three. I'm told these fans use a small solid
state module in the lower housing and it simply needs to be
pulled out and replaced. I should be able to swap it out
with a module from other fans in the house to test the fan
itself, and if it proves bad the store in Kona where it came
from will replace it. The store, however, is selling out and
will close next month, so I need to take care of that matter
soon.
This morning I got started on Job
Number One... I did the 'tear down'. I removed the angled
braces on all eight posts and it looks better already. I was
also assured that they were totally un-necessary as braces
because they were only pushing up on a plywood sheeting. They looked
strong... but.
BEFORE
AFTER It looks better already,
and I have not 'finished' the post yet... just removing the
'braces' make things look better. Now we will close in the
two sides of the posts that are 'open' to make it look like
a solid 6 X 6 post.
Tonight we got word via e-mail from
Donna (in France no less) that Hawai'i was having a Tsunami
Watch. We switched on a TV news channel and we were
scheduled to have a Tsunami arrive around 2225 hours (10:25
pm). They did a lot of evacuation and they had traffic jams
throughout the state. It was triggered by a 7.7 Richter
earthquake in British Columbia. Well, after the fourth wave
that was expected showed up, they cut the
"Watch" back to an "Advisory". Not much came of it here,
except a brief 0.7 foot lift in the water level in Hilo. I
hear that in California they saw a couple of feet of water
but no damage occurred. That is the second time we have had
a Tsunami Watch while we were here. |
Aloha No.
5 - 10/30/12:
| Job Five: Troubleshoot Exercise Room
Fan The
Exercise Room fan was not running at top speed, and it
did not seem to have a second speed... only 1 and 3.
There is a solid-state module inside the little box on
the bottom of the fan, which also contains the off-1-2-3
switch and the reversing switch. I was told that the
module will just unplug to be swapped with another
similar fan in the house but the whole box with switches
and module must be taken together. OK... I pulled the
one in the Exercise Room and plugged it into the fan in
the Guest Room and the fan ran perfectly. The fan was
running a solid 190 RPM (yes, I timed it :-) ) and had
all three speeds. So I took the Guest module out and put
it on the Exercise fan and ...it ran fine! All three
speeds and about 190 RPM... oops... something is wrong.
Intermittent operation... inspection shows an unsoldered
wire that was improperly connected originally. I
soldered that back in position and the fan checks out
fine. So... unless other problems come up, Job Five is
complete.
Job One: Lanai Posts Re-model
Things are
moving along well on this job. Originally, the Lanai
tiles were laid AFTER the posts were in place, so the
tiling contractor cut the tile to entrap the wood post
into clay tile, causing water to have direct connection
with the wood post. A definite cause for future concern.
Last year the Browns asked me to trim off the 2 X 6
portions of the post to lift it above the tile out of
the water, but that left the hole in the tile under the
post. We laid a small ceramic tile over the hole mostly
for cosmetic effect. This time, the ceramic tile came
back off and the holes were filled with mortar.
BEFORE
AFTER
After the 'open' sides of the
posts are covered over (making a square post), a trim
will be placed around the base, just up off the floor
tile to prevent water from wicking up onto the wood.
That should visually cover over much of the mortar
color.
Next it is time to make the new
boards that will cover the 'open' sides of the posts. We
picked up some 1/2" exterior plywood for this. We also
picked up some 1/2" X 1/2" quarter-round strips to give
the softer corner to the posts and it will be better
cosmetically.
We talk about how things are not
always 'on the shelf' in Hawai'i... to cut sixteen
strips of plywood 6 1/2" wide (some narrower) even close
to straight, the Skil Saw needs a ripping fence
attachment and it was not available here. I picked up
one in Livermore near home and brought it over in our
luggage. That allowed me to rip the pieces we needed.
The I set up a work area on the Lanai where I could
paint the backs and edges of these pieces, to prevent
moisture from causing warping and paint chipping later.
I try to paint all six surfaces of each board to prevent
water/moisture encroachment.
I will need to rip some strips
2" wide and some 3" wide for the top and the bottom
trim. There are eight posts in all that are being
modified. Tomorrow I will start applying some of these
strips onto the posts, and cutting the trim boards. The
trim will have to be painted this white primer paint and
dried before they can be applied. The primer will also
go onto the outer faces of the wide boards. A coat of
the color paint will finish it all off.
Our annual "music box" program
got attention today. I have been re-working the music
box that resides in the Hulihe'e Palace (Hoo - lee - hay
- ay) in Kailua Kona. We had to pick up some materials
down there so we stopped in at the Palace. I have been
trying to make contact with them through e-mail for over
a month to no avail. The young man that is now running
it is still there and he and several others in the
office recognized me from the year before. I would like
to straighten the pins on the huge cylinder of the music
box, but it will almost have to be brought to the house
where I can spend the necessary hours and have the
strong light needed to do the job.
The "Daughters of Hawai'i"
control the Palace and they are understandably very
reluctant to have the music box leave the museum and out
of their control, and I totally have to respect that.
The director (he goes by KC) suggested that we request
the removal of the cylinder and take it to the Brown's
home to work on it. That could help, but I would have to
completely realign it with the 'comb' that the pins
strike, plus I need the comb with the cylinder to make
them right. I suggested we request that I remove the
complete movement and work on it and that is what he
will try. If they go for that, it will have to happen
the next time we are here. We need as much time as
possible to straight those pins. There are thousands of
pins and they all have to be checked for straightness
and aligned.
Donna had a cello-pack of
Kamuela Tomatoes that are the best I have tasted in
years. She said that Costco had them in Kailua-Kona, so
we were able to find how to get into Costco (you can see
it from the highway but getting up to it took a little
adventure. LOL). We felt like we were in our own
Costco... everything was in the same place. I grabbed a
bag of paint/grease rags and they were in the same
location as they are in Livermore. We found the tomatoes
(Hooray!). We picked up a few other things while we were
there, and passed by the Polish Dogs (sigh!) and made
our way out to the car for the trip home.
Tomorrow, back to Job One.
|
Aloha No.
6 - 11/04/12:
|
I got time
to put some of the quarter-round molding on the
posts before we had to leave to head for the
airport.
Company
Comin':
Kent arrived
Saturday morning. He flew in directly to Kona from
SF. We went on down into Kailua-Kona to pick up some
groceries and some supplies for the projects. The
dogs accept him as if he as always been here. They
never forget anyone I believe.
Job Six:
Repair Entry Gate System
I did
not mention this one before... Dennis has been
having trouble with the electric gate coming onto
his property. It appears that the push button on the
post that you drive up to and push to open the gate
is not functioning all the time. He has some
materials ordered for it. It quit working for us
when we come back from a walk, and you have to reach
through the gate to push the little button on the
big control box, then step back so the opening gate
will not hit you. If you are coming back with the
dogs, they have to be watched so that they do not
get trapped by the gate either.
The box for
the parts to the gate came in the mail. That was
good, because if they came by UPS, the UPS man would
not be able to open the gate to deliver it. Kent and
I were getting started on the day's jobs for Sunday
when Rosalee returned with the dogs from their
morning walk saying that she was 'giving up' on the
gate. We offered several suggestions as to how she
could lock the gate open (no cows in the area yet)
but she was also complaining that one of the
automatic reels that is used as a leash for the
dogs. She was showing signs of frustration. :-(
Kent and I
walked down to check the gate control. It has a
little remote inside the box which uses a battery
(size 23) to transmit a signal fifteen feet away to
the main control box to open the gate. Dennis said
that they no longer make transmitters to talk to
that controller but the Brown's have two in their
vehicles, so they did not want to put in a whole new
system. A fellow sent them a new controller and a
new transmitter to place in the main box to work in
parallel with the old system... I asked him if it
came with a wiring diagram. LOL. He said to call him
(in Arizona) and he would talk me through the
installation.
We took the
small box apart to see what was causing the problem
and after a little checking we found that the
battery in the little box was a 12Volt battery but
it only was putting out 6.55Volts. So rather than
trying to locate a new Size 23 battery, we tackled
the installation of the new unit. We gutted the old
small box, tore apart the new little box, put the
stuff into the old little box, installed the new
receiver into the big control box, and Wah Lah... It
works like a champ. Wiring was see-spot-run stuff.
One more job done... one that we did not anticipate.
We were
going to return to Job One but the sun had come out
and it was pretty warm on the West Lanai, so we
revisited...
Job Four: Service Davis Weather
Instrument
The new
power cell worked fine, but we noticed that it could
not last through the full night. It appeared that
the solar cell that re-charges the cell is badly
restricted by a scale on the face of the solar
cells, and the whole panel faces the West, getting
no direct sun until well after noon. Something that
has always been a problem with the anemometer (wind
speed sensor) was that it was placed in the shadow
of the garage roof, and could not correctly gauge
the wind speed.
So to
resolve each of the problems, we put the rain
gauge/transmitter/solar panel together with the
anemometer and wind direction sensor and moved them
to a new mount that we placed on the south side of
the house, where the full force of the wind and rain
will be quickly monitored... and accurately. We will
see if that resolves the problems.
I just
checked the monitor and all measurements are clearly
displayed... and it is after midnight. I just
noticed that the machine is telling me that it 0133
hours on September 21st... seems it is a bit out of
adjustment. I could not remember how to set it
correctly but I have located the files in Donna's
office that have all of the instruction manuals for
the items on the property. What a blessing that file
is. I have had to go to it many times over the
years.
I found the
correct book and went through the "set-up" process,
setting the correct time and date... all the other
information was correct (altitude, time zone,
longitude, latitude, remote transmitters, anemometer
cup-size... etc.). Now, let's see if it is working
in the morning. If not, it would be because the sun
had gone down before we got it placed in the new
location, so it may be two days before we know if we
resolved the problems.
We all
settled in to watch some TV and just as we were
involved in a good program we got a big block on the
screen:
|
The Satellite Aliens have taken over
your television so it can record the
following two Programs so forget about
watching what YOU want, bucko! Now you
CAN cancel the record if you don't mind
getting yelled at... go ahead... try it. |
So we switch
over to the Cable TV system and nothing is on worth
our interest so we decide to look at a DVD that Kent
brought with him. The master Remote Control says to
push a button to "Watch A DVD". So we tried, but the
DVD player did not 'wake up'. Upon investigation the
unit was not plugged in, AND it was not connected to
the TV. So, an hour and a half later we had rustled
up an extension cord to plug it in and thread it
through the cabinet, then we found a set of wires to
connect the audio and the video out in the garage,
so we threaded those through the cabinet. We got it
all hooked up but the Master Remote has to be
programmed to run it, so we had to control it
manually to watch the DVD. That part worked out
well. LOL. |
Aloha No.
7 - 11/04/12:
|
Job Four: Service Davis Weather
Instrument
When we
awoke this morning, the weather instrument was
fully functional. The sun was just coming up
over the mountain and the power cell had made it
through the night on only a few hours charge,
and now the sun panel (which we cleaned off of
the plastic scales that were built up) was not
only powering the instrument but it was charging
the power cell. I think that we can call this
job finished! Cool.
Job One: Lanai Posts Re-model
Before
the sun came around to heat up the Western
Lanais, I finished the small trim blocks in the
bases, finished applying the quarter-round trim,
and sanded the corners down. These posts are
ready for paint!
Above: Post base, with quarter round molding
applied, ready for primer paint.
Left:
These little guys just don't give up. We
noticed that with the braces gone that they used
to build nests, they just took the opportunity
to scout out the opening at the top of the post.
This opening was covered over soon after this
photo was taken. It has a trim around it that
closely matches that trim shown in the Post Base
image shown above.
Job
Two: Lawn Mower Repair
After
lunch with the sun coming in onto the Lanai we
tackled the Lawn Mower. We have tried in vain
with an hour or two online to find a wiring
diagram for this beast. We have the manual and a
beautiful parts breakdown diagrams, but they
show nothing for the @##$ "safety devices" that
have been legislated onto a good machine making
it a nightmare of confusion. The safety switches
are the following:'
-
Depress foot brake before engine will crank
over.
-
Disengage PTO lever (mower deck blades)
before engine will crank over.
-
Sit
on seat before engine ignition will work.
-
Disengage PTO lever before moving in reverse
or engine ignition will not work.
-
Release Parking Brake before engine will
crank over.
-
Leave PTO engages AND depress the reverse
lever at the same time and the engine
ignition will not work.
That is
entirely too many "safety devices" for any good
machine to have. One of these devices is what
put the machine out of commission last year. Now
it appears that one of them is the culprit now.
We were able to get it running but when you
engage the PTO it kills the engine. These are
the same symptoms as before, but the broken
"safety device" wire is easily visually checked
and this time it is fine, so what can be the
problem now?
No
wiring diagram so there is only one way to
attack this one. First we have to learn HOW
these devices prevent the engine from running,
what ELSE is involved in that system so we don't
affect them, and THEN determine WHY it is not
allowing the engine to run when the PTO is put
into engagement. And the only way you can trace
dirty, oily wires wrapped up in a complex wiring
loom is to start removing anything that is in
the way.
-
Off
comes the bagging system.
-
Then
the mowing deck comes off and slid out from
under the machine.
-
Next
the front engine surround so we can see
around and behind the engine.
-
Next
the fuel tank comes out so we can see behind
the dash panel where all the wires
originate...
-
...
but that requires unbolting the dash support
from the frame.
-
The
battery has to come out and the battery tray
is pulled out to access the safety switch on
the transmission.
-
Stack up some 4 X 4s so we can push the
mower up onto the blocks to give us access
to the bottom of the machine... that mower
weighs somewhere near 500 pounds.
Well, we
actually found a switch that is connected to the
PTO lever that is hidden among a double frame
section under the fuel tank. But it has SIX
wires going to it... why does it need six? Two
would be plenty.
We spent
several hours with an ohmmeter and a voltmeter
tracing wires and trying to determine if each
safety switch was a NO (normally open (off)
until pressed or an NC (normally closed (on)
until pressed), so we could determine if it was
actually functioning correctly, and how this
"safety" system actually works. There could be
several different ways to provide the safety
function that they are trying to achieve. But
how?
We
finally had to make a determination to get the
machine running. We determined that this machine
was going be become a "non-safe machine". We
decided to eliminate the parts that have caused
all of the problems that Dennis has had with
this machine up to this point. So we identified
a yellow wire that seemed to be the "kill" wire
that all of the safety devices use to stop the
mower engine or to prevent its being started.
So... we disconnected the wire. We started the
engine. We engaged the PTO and.... it kept
running. WOW! We may have solved the current
issues. I turned off the key to begin to putting
the machine all back together and... oops... the
engine will not shut off... it keeps on running.
LOL. That is not good.
So...
back to the drawing board. We determined that
the ignition switch actually grounds out this
yellow wire to kill the engine, so the yellow
wire has to be connected... but when it is
connected it shorts out in a wire somewhere in
the wiring loom. Finding that requires total
dismantling of the machine, ripping open the
entire wiring loom, and then it will be found
only by observation. That is not going to be an
acceptable choice.
What we
ended up doing is going into the wiring loom and
breaking out the wire that goes from the
ignition switch to the engine, cutting it to
separate it from the rest of the safety circuit,
adding a new section of wire to the two ends,
and then trying it. It Worked! It started. It
stopped. It started and ran while the PTO was
engaged. Hooray!
We put
all of the items back onto the machine and even
though it was getting too dark to work outside,
I run down one side of the drive, cutting the
grass. It worked great!
We head
in for dinner and we are feeling good. For the
first time this season we are actually feeling
like we might be on vacation. LOL.
Dinner
was great. Rosalee did a fine job quipping up
some taco salads. We settle in, pooped after a
long day, but ready for a little TV. Tonight is
Monday and we had been hearing about the people
on American Pickers and pawn Stars and Kount's
Kustoms and American Restoration all getting
together and riding to Sturgis, Wyoming for the
annual biker's gathering. Just as the guys from
American Pickers are settling on a deal to sell
their totally restored 1930's Indian Bike we get
a message on the TV screen:
|
The Satellite Aliens have taken over
your television so it can record ...
Blah Blah Blah...
|
Crap! It
ain't fair. I think that we have to negotiate
something the next trip over so that BOTH
channels are not being recorded at the same time
on the same TV so we are not knocked off the
air.
We are
getting some heavy winds tonight. Our new
location of the wind anemometer seems to be
working nicely. The winds we are getting are as
strong as what we used to have with a reading of
about 12 mph. Tonight it is reading as high as
22 mph. I think that we are going to be seeing
the REAL wind speed now.
At least
we always have the beautiful ending to the
day...
 |
Aloha No.
8 - 11/06/12:
|
A new day... Voting
Day. A chance to make some choices about our
National Leaders. The new location of the
weather transmitter is working very well. We
are seeing 30+ MPH winds through the night
and this morning. Hopefully it will be more
calm as we drive South along the Kona Coast.
Kent wants to try his nice new camera on
some good views, and I'm always ready to
take a few myself. His camera is certainly a
purty one, fer sure. It is a Cannon "1DX"
model and it does more stuff than this
computer does, I swear.
Kent elected to
forego a drive to the volcano because just
checking the web cams they have down there
shows that nothing is new from the last
visit he did last year, so no reason to take
that drive. We did go down along the Kona
Coastline visiting some of the beaches that
give us some nice views. Our first beach on
Wailea (Wah - ee - lay - ah) Bay was one
that we visited last year:
Heading a little
further South we were at the Southern edge
of this bay, but it allowed us a nice view
back at Kohala Mountain:
This is looking
North-East, across the bay, with Kohala
Mountain in the background. This is the
first volcano to form the Big Island, and it
last erupted some 600,000 years ago, so most
consider it to be pretty much finished.
Looking in the upper left corner you can see
a darkened tip of the mountain... just below
that you see a dark green line running near
the top of the mountain. That is a row of
Ironwood trees planted many years ago to cut
some of the wind off the Kohala Mountain
Road. That road is the upper limits of the
Kohala Ranch gated community where the
Brown's home is located. The lower gate is
at the water level at the base of the
mountain. Now notice the greener area about
1/3 of the way down below the Mountain
Road... that is where the terrain greened up
from a rain we had two weeks ago. The
Brown's home is located at the lower edge of
that greener area.
Here is a photo that
I took of Kent as we were bracing against
the 30+ MPH winds. You can see how the ocean
water was being whipped in that area:
From
here we drove on down into Kailua-Kona where
we decided it was lunch time. We stopped at
Hugo's On The Rocks where we ate with Kent &
Linda last year. You sit outside at tables
that are on sand, but behind a breakwater to
prevent uninvited waves from joining you for
lunch. The menu is certainly not Vegan
friendly, but everything looked good. I
settled on a Portuguese Bean Soup that had
small pieces of beef and likely a beef
stock, with a Caesar Salad Combo. It was
quite good, but half way through the salad I
crunched down on what felt like sand... but
I could feel it was too large for that...
which immediately makes me start thinking
about a dental visit.
I
was able to get the object out of my mouth
and it was a 1/8th" piece of glass. So the
rest of the mouthful came out... good part
about sitting on the sand. I suppose it came
with the dressing. The waitress was good
enough about it, and I did not pay for the
salad... and she brought me another Caesar
Salad... LOLOL... which I declined. I think
that they could have gone to a bit more
concern, but then they probably get a lot of
fake claims like this too. If I start
spitting up red stuff I'll have to follow
through I suppose. :-(
OK... this day is going well. LOL.
 Clyde
(no, this is NOT an image of Clyde) had told
us multiple times about visiting what is
called the Paleaku Peace Garden (Pah - lay -
ah - koo), and it is just one mile from the
Painted Church we visited twice before, once
with the Jamison's and once with Kent &
Linda. The garden was very peaceful and
quiet and lovely.
The
gentleman that greeted us actually lives
there on-site and had many bits of
information to share with us. He had
knowledge of many of the plant species
and such. Plus he introduced us to Harry.
Meet
Harry. He is a Red Faced Green Amazon (aka
Yellow Cheek Amazon or Red-lored Amazon for
obvious reasons). Harry has resided for a
decade or more in his own large enclosure.
He was found when he was injured somehow and
cannot fly. Harry amazed everyone with 'he'
laid an egg, so Harry gained newfound
respect.
There is a
special section of the garden that is set
aside as a representation of the solar
system. It was based upon a well-known image
painted by the people that study such
things, and has been visited and praised by
Carl Sagan himself. Actually, that photo is
behind Mr. Sagan shown here:
Various plant species
are used to designate the heavenly bodies
that are depicted in the image. A lot of
Hibiscus were involved, and they were just
gorgeous examples of the Hawaiian State
Flower. Some examples are shown below:
Why yes, it WAS
raining... why do you ask? :-)
This tree is a Wei Tree
(Vee), which has a fruit about the size of a
large lemon but tastes like a cross between
a Pear and a Pineapple. We found a ripe
fruit on the ground and a quick taste
confirmed it. It is so rare that it is not
offered in any stores.
I took probably 100
photos at this lovely place, but I won't
force them all upon you at this time. You
can thank me next time you see me. LOL.
We
headed back home through Kailua-Kona,
stopping to buy some things. Kent blew out
the seams in a pair of his shorts when we
were doing the lawn mower rebuild so he
stopped at Macy's and got a terrific buy on
three pair. The next day he noticed that
there was still one of those alarm thingies
on one pair. I have removed them myself when
they left one on Rosalee's purchases, but
this one is the one with the two vials of
ink that ruins the fabric when it breaks
after you try to take it off
''illegally". He would not let me tackle it.
LOL
We grabbed some
groceries since we were going right by
Safeway (our nearest Safeway is
Kailua-Kona). There are some amazing
tomatoes here that I mentioned earlier that
are grown right here in Kamuela/Waimea, but
they are not available just anywhere. Costco
carries them (in Kailua-Kona) so we stopped
and I bought a flat of them (about 2 1/2
dozen)... hey, they are small. I read up on
them and they are raised in coconut husk for
soil and watered hydroponically. The plants
grow over your head and bear fifty fruits at
one time. But most important... they taste
very good.
We arrived 'home' just
before dark to find the dogs still outside
in the yard. The house cleaners were here
this morning before we left and we shut the
dogs out of the house so the cleaners could
do their work. They did the same thing last
week. We made sure they knew that the dogs
were to be allowed back in before they left.
Well, they forgot that little detail.
Rosalee had made sure there was water
available to them out there so they were
fine... but it was terribly windy all day.
The weather machine tells us the wind was
between 10 MPH and 34 MPH all day long.
We
quickly noticed that no water was turned on.
Nothing. There were five messages on the
phone so we checked them and the first four
were all closely timed, with just a hang-up.
The fifth one was Clyde asking us to call
her when we get home. That is always a bit
scary... what is up with our Clyde? For some
reason (emergency phone number on file I
suppose) the person that works the local
water department (all private of course)
called Clyde and said something to the
effect that the house water meter was
checked yesterday and it showed a spike in
water usage. Water is not cheap here. How
does that saying go? "Water, Water
Everywhere and Not A Drop To Drink?" Running
out of water seems strange on an island in
the middle of the largest ocean on Earth.
Yes, I know the plants and the people cannot
live off untreated sea water. :-)
Anyway, that piqued the fellow's interest so
he returned the next day (today) to find
that thousands of gallons seemed to be
unaccounted for or at least unexpected. Ouch!
So he made the calls and he and Clyde agreed
to shut the water off until we returned
home. What would have happened had the meter
been read a week earlier and the leak went
on for a month?
So,
we made calls to several numbers and left a
message for a call-back. It was nearly dark
so Kent and I went out and started trying to
find out what was up. The water meter was
far from the house on this five acre parcel.
We found it at the front corner of the
property that was not the logical one. Then
we turned off the house and the yard water
(separate main valves next to the house),
turned on the meter valve, and no water was
going through the meter. Looks good, but the
man on the phone said that although
consumption was very high, the meter was not
spinning when he turned off the water.
With
the water turned on we opened the valve to
the house and the water ran pretty fast...
then slowed... then slowed some more... then
stopped. OK... we all had hit three
different toilets when we first arrived home
and what we had just witnessed was the toilets each
filling and shutting off. Well, that is
indeed fabulous news because if there is a
leak, it is not in the house or under the
floor slab somewhere. Plus... we have water
in the house for showers, etc.
Next
we turned on the yard valve and we did hear
some strange noises like water/air leaking
out of the ground on the other side of the
drive way, but we could find no water coming
out of the ground. The sprinkler controls
said all valves were off. We did find what
looks like excessive water had been in a
place across the drive way from the guest
room, and it was wetter than other areas, so
that will be where we will start.
Then
we turned on the TV to hear the election
results. Well, let's say that this has not
been one of our better days. :-( But hey! As
long as we are Vertical, and Above Room
Temperature, what do we have to fear? Only
Fear Itself, is what FDR said, right?
Guess what we get to do tomorrow? LOL. |
Aloha No.
9 - 11/11/12:
|
It has been
incredibly windy for nearly a week. The
day we came home to find the water shut
off was the last reasonably calm day.
Since then the weather machine here in
the house has been really going wild.
For the last 30 hours the average wind
speed has been 25 mph. That is night and
day. The wind speeds are listed as
between 10 mph and 35 mph. Going outside
is out of the question. Driving just
down the hill a little bit can bring
quite calm days. I think the winds like
this location.
Our first job
was to trouble-shoot the irrigation
system. That is a must because to
prevent extremely excessive loss of
water (translated to: $$) we have the
water turned off to the irrigation
system, and if the system does not work
all of the plants around the house will
not survive. They are not native plants.
They are not weeds and cacti. But this
wind is just about more than you can
stand in with the gusts, and there is
always something else to do around here.
The next day
Kent was down with some type of a bug.
It knocked his stomach a loop and he was
running a temp. There is no way he
should be outside in that wind. We were
supposed to take Clyde to lunch but we
postponed it for a few days.
I did go out and
was successful in getting the lawn mower
started and I finally got the chance to
mow the lawns here. Dennis usually does
it every week, so I was behind a couple
of weeks. The grass looked good, but it
is so dense it has to be cut way down
almost to the 'quick' so to speak. With
the 'safety devices' ineffective it was
a dream to use the machine. I could cut
while I reversed the machine,
eliminating turning the machine around
in tight quarters and backing it in,
then engaging the PTO so it would cut
the grass. I could get off the machine
to open gates and dump the clippings
from the bagger without it killing the
engine. If it starts ok for me the next
time I use it I will consider it a
completed job. If not... more work.
The painting of
the posts has been put aside until the
winds die down. With that wind any tiny
drip will fly to destinations unknown,
most likely the lovely tile floor or the
glass windows or hot tub... or me.
Tomorrow will be my target date.
I brought home
Susan's clock mechanism, weights and
pendulum so I could see if I could take
care of the issue and did not bring the
cabinet. I cut out a piece of plywood
with cutouts to fit the base of the
movement, clamped it to the Kitchen
countertop at the bar and that worked
well. I corrected the weight cable that
was off the winding drum and it
immediately kept good time as well as
struck the correct chimes. I put a
section of dog cage screening around the
pendulum area so they would not use it
for a tether ball.
Kent was flying
out of Kona Saturday morning, so we
planned to take Susan in Waimea's clock
back to her on the way home. It has run
here at the house for 30 hours and
worked without a hitch. Saturday morning
we start the day learning that Kent's
plane will be FIVE HOURS late to leave,
so that changed the whole day. Susan is
flying to South American Sunday around
noon so I called to see if she would be
there Saturday morning to deliver the
clock. She said she would be and as I
broke down the movement to box it up I
found a problem that was never obvious
before. In retrospect it was causing all
of the other problems that have come up.
So... an hour or two on that to correct
it ...somewhat... and then I headed into
town alone to deliver it and set it up
for her.
We headed to
Kona about 2:00 pm to return to Macy's
so they could remove one of those
anti-theft devices they left on a pair
of shorts he bought last week. It was
the kind that shoots dye and ruins the
garment so we did not just break it off.
He grabbed a Subway sandwich to take on
the plane since he would be flying out
at five o'clock and they will not be
serving a meal. The flight is about 4
1/2 hours with good weather. We dropped
him at the airport a little after 3:00
pm..
This is Sunday
and we had promised Clyde lunch so with
the winds blowing gusts over 30 mph we
were more than willing to come down off
the mountain where it was not so windy.
She was doing fine, and when we returned
to the hill the winds had actually
calmed down. So Rosalee went out to the
water meter with her cell phone and I
went to the side of the garage with my
cell phone and with her reading the
gallons running through the meter and me
changing through all 18 of the sprinkler
circuits we determined that no one valve
was consuming extra water. With all
systems turned off at the controller the
meter indicated no water was being used.
That means that there was no leakage in
the system.
Doing some math
work and some detective work, and with
the aid of the latest water bill with
its meter readings we determined that
this house uses about 8,000 gallons of
water a month and the yard takes in
excess of 60,000 gallons of water to
keep it green and alive. So we do not
think that there was a water leak in the
first place. The meter reader just got
spooked when he noticed that one day's
meter reading was nearly 5,000 gallons
but during that night the 12 1/2 hour
watering program ran, and that is what
it takes... 4,850 gallons.
I turned on the
sprinkler system manually to force a
full-system watering tonight to make up
for the five days of not working, and
then it will return to normal automatic
usage.
Tomorrow...
hopefully... I will put the primer paint
on the Lanai posts. Tuesday we need to
be in Kona and then if the winds are not
trying to re-locate us on the island
Wednesday I will get on a color coat of
paint.
It is dinner
time and there are still no heavy winds.
These Trade Winds are something else. I
know that I would love to Trade these
Winds for Something Else, for sure.
Pray for calm
tomorrow. :-) |
Aloha
No. 10 - 11/16/12:
|
It is Friday
afternoon, and I finished cleaning
up the Lanai, picking up things that
were used to construct the Lanai
Posts. I finished the painting
yesterday in spite of the winds that
were registered on the weather
instrument as "Last 24 hours winds
vary between 20 and 39 mph". The
winds are not cold but they can be a
bit strong at times. I ended up
wearing some of the drips from the
brush. Some days we have the
distinct feeling that the wind is
enough to turn the dogs into kites.
We try to avoid that.
Job One: Lanai Posts Re-model
This is what we
started with:
And this is
how it looks today:
No more birds
nesting in the top braces on the
posts.
The White Mower
(that is the brand name... its the
big mower) worked well today. It
started fine and ran well. The lawns
are ready for golf putting practice.
Last year I
worked on one of Dennis' other
mowers that was not being used. It
is a Tru-Cut front-thrower reel-type
mower with the basket in the front
of the machine. It is a nice machine
normally used for the finishing
touches by the pros. You walk behind
this one. Dennis had to resort to
using it to mow the lawns when the
White quit on him this year, but the
clutch that runs the reel
blade was slipping. There is a
clutch for that and a clutch for the
drive wheels. Running speed of the
wheels is controlled by a slipping
clutch, depending upon whether you
press harder or softer with your
thumb... very sensitive. He said
that when the blades bit into the
thick grass it would just stop the
blades and slip the clutch.
I had to do
some reading up on this machine. It
is made in the good ol' US of A
believe it or not. In Los Angeles.
The clutch mechanism is unique and
they are each adjusted individually
but since they share a main shaft,
adjusting one will affect the
adjustment of the other. Of course
it requires two 1" open-ended
wrenches to adjust the clutches, and
they have to be very narrow (like a
tappet wrench) so they will both go
onto the two nuts that lock into
each other. Standard thickness
wrenches are too wide. Dennis had
one boxed-end wrench which could be
used for the outer nut but I had to
locate a narrow open-ended wrench to
do the inside nut. Ace Hardware had
a Craftsman wrench for $16 but I
would have to grind it narrower. I
did not want to ruin a sixteen
dollar wrench, so I tried the lumber
yard and Hoo Ray! They had one for
Six bucks. I snagged it.
With a little
experimenting I was able to get the
adjustments done. When I tried it,
if I bit hard enough into the heavy
grass it cut it, it killed the
engine, but the clutch did not slip!
Cool! That is what we need to
happen. Job done!
Dennis and
Donna are scheduled to get off the
ship in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in
the morning (Sat), then transfer to
Miami, catch a plane to Los Angeles,
and then catch another plane for the
five hour flight over the Pacific,
arriving in Kailua-Kona late
Saturday evening. They will be
chasing the sun so they have an
extra long day in front of them...
crossing five time zones. Late
disembarkation from the ship due to
Customs Clearance, poor connections
with the transfer to Miami, a late
flight to LA, a missed connection in
LA... lots of possible glitches and
screw-ups, so here's hoping they
have a smooth day tomorrow.
This visit has
been an eventful visit. I was able
to do some good for Anna Ranch
museum when we arrived but I never
heard from them regarding my doing
other things for them that required
someone taking the responsibility of
giving permission to remove items
from the museum for me to work on
them. Perhaps they might get it
worked out so the next time I come
we can do more for them. Same thing
with the Hulihe'e Palace. I have a
good e-mail address now so I can
contact them a month before I am
coming back. I tried that this year
and their e-mail was not
functioning. I was certainly plenty
busy without those jobs. :-)
I feel like we
were able to satisfy Susan, the lady
that contacted me months ago about
looking at her clock when we were
here. She is the one that found a
sewing machine for Rosalee to use
here doing her quilts. We got the
Lanai posts rebuilt, the weather
machine moved and serviced, the
White mower running, the Tru-Cut
mower adjusted, the fan in the
exercise room running properly, the
Kitchen cook top burner working
again, and the new entry gate
electronics installed.
We also had the
chance to spend some time with Kent
while he was here. I am grateful for
his help on some of these projects.
We hope that he got some good photo
images when he was here. He brought
his new camera with him. His photos
have gained some acclaim in various
circles. We were able to go out to
lunch with Clyde several times. She
is always a kick.
Shopping was
more involved this time, with
several trips down to Kailua-Kona
for materials and to find food that
was more conducive of my new dietary
regime. We have worked at it pretty
much all the time but it was not
what I have to do to get my numbers
to where they should be. What we can
be proud of is that my glucose level
is pretty much the same as it was
when we came over a month ago. And
my weight is pretty much the same
also. So, when we get home...
well... a week after we get home...
Thanksgiving is next week... I will
have to attack this matter with a
new vigor. Of course, Christmas is
only a month after that. LOL.
We hope that
you enjoyed coming along with us to
the Big Island... Hawai'i Island...
the Orchid Isle... the State of
Hawai'i... the island of Hawai'i.
That always confused mother. I can't
say a lot of people are not quite
sure where we are headed when we say
we are going to ...Hawai'i.
The youngest
island of the chain of islands that
make up the State of Hawai'i, it
consists of the bulk of five
volcanic mountains, three of which
are considered to be "active",
one as recently as a few centuries,
one within the century past, and one
currently flowing (since 1983). The
island's greatest dimension is 93
miles and the land area is 4,028
square miles ...and growing (between
January 1983 and September 2002 it
has added 543 acres to the island -
640 acres is one square mile).
Hawai'i Island makes up 62% of the
area of the entire state, is the
largest island in the United States,
is the southernmost point in
the United States, and when measured
from it's base on the ocean floor
contains the world's tallest
mountain, Mauna Kea. In 2010 the
entire island had a resident
population of 185,079. Honolulu
alone, on the island of Oahu,
contains over 338,000 residents, and
those numbers are not counting the
visitors, which comprise the largest
income source for the State of
Hawai'i.
And so we say
to you once again...
ALOHA
 |
Winging
Our Way Home
A look back over
our starboard wing allows a view of our
last Hawaiian sunset this year. We are
flying an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737,
eastbound for San Jose, California. We
are running away from the sun so it
takes only a few minutes in the air to
go from full visibility of the clouds
below to total darkness. This is our
first time flying non-stop directly from
the Kona-Kailua Airport to the San Jose
International Airport. We usually flew
Aloha Airlines or Hawaiian Air Lines,
and we always flew a Boeing 717 (a
re-assigned MD-90 I was told by our
friend Walt) from Kona to Honolulu
International Airport, and then waited
for one to two hours for a flight to San
Jose or Oakland or San Francisco
International Airport. This worked out
well, and the whole flight was reduced
from over seven hours to under five
hours.
Up high on the image I'm not sure if I
caught a heavenly body reflecting the
setting sun or a drop of moisture on the
double-glazed window. It was not on the
lens or on the sensor of the camera
because it is not on the images taken
just before or after.
Maybe
it was a UFO? Egads. |
|
