The Slab is Poured

Well today was the day.  They started at 8:00am and were basically done at 9:30.  These guys are real pros and it helps if you have the right tools.  It was supposed to be sunny but it was a mix of rain and sun all day.  Somehow they managed.  Monty manned the boom where the cement was poured from and Richard and Keith handled the cement finishing with a crew from Kona.  They decided not to finish the garage yet because of the uncertainty of the weather.

Just before the finishing touches, Richard invited us down to have food with the crew.  He has a ranch on the back side of Mauna Kea and he killed a wild pig and we had pork, rice, slaw and some sort of "Chili Water" to put on the rice which was very good.  Crissie mentioned that our son-in-law, Miguel, was the son of a butcher and would have loved all this.  Richard told Crissie to invite him to the Island and he'd let Mika shoot a cow and cut it up.  So Mika, if you read this, better get that cleaver ready and go to the shooting range for practice.

A slab that size is prone to cracking, so tomorrow or the day after, they'll cut a slit about an inch deep across the slab every 12 feet or so for expansion and contraction.

I'll let the pictures do the talking.

44 some odd yards of cement with a cement boom.
The cement comes out of the truck up the boom and then down on the slab.
You can move it all around to fill in the forms.

Monty, the smallest guy, runs the cement tube.

Smoothing the side out to Hawaiian country music.

More smoothing.  Notice the tent in the back.  Richard set up the food tent.

Richard is washing off his boots after sloshing around in cement. Notice the drain, toilet and electrical plugs sticking out of the slab.

Monty and I discuss the weather, curing, etc while I eat the pork dish.

Keith in red and helps are cementing in the garage foundation wall.  Later they'll drop 4 inches of concrete to finish the garage.

They take off their cowboy boots for gumboots That's Richard in the green calling everyone to eat.

Ready to Pour

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and are enjoying the holidays, family, and cold weather.  It appears we left Spokane just in time.  We saw from face timing our hardy children that there was no dreaming of a white Christmas.  It happened!  We had a white Christmas too as you will see from the picture below.  Mauna Kea got a ton of snow.  Enough to go skiing.  But we're two miles straight down from Mauna Kea, so that's a big temperature change.

So we've had some decent weather lately. (That's according to Marilyn & Tony, but really 68 degrees and cloudy still looks great to us.  We're still walking in shorts.)  And that means the boys have been working hard on getting our slab ready for pouring.  We're hoping for this Wednesday.  As you can see by the pictures, the forms are in place, the drain pipes are dug and the electrical outlets that will be placed in the living room and kitchen floors are set.  Crissie, Tony, and my self-appointed main inspector general, Milton (Marilyn's dad) are inspecting the site and they approve.  Most of the electricity and plumbing will actually go through the attic and down the walls, so any leaks will be from the ceiling down not the floor up.  Once the slab cures, the framing will begin and it will go fairly quickly from there.

Snow on Mauna Kea

This will be our view from the Lanai

Everything set for the pour

Crissie, Tony, and Milton give the AOK

Monty, our builder, moved a group of his pregnant cows into the pasture across the street and one of them gave birth to a calf.  Looks like the calving season is beginning.  Those new calves will grow right along with the house.

Obviously one of the cows did not want to be photographed

Moving Along

So before we start talking about the house project, we better explain a couple things.  You may see us writing about where we live in the town of Waimea, but then if you post us any mail, you have to put the town of Kamuela on the envelope, not Waimea.  One explanation I thought was because the Hawaiian language has only 13 letters (5 vowels and 8 consonants), that might explain why, for example, there is a Waimea on nearly every island.  With only 13 letters, the combination of letters to make words would be less, therefore, some names were just repeated.  But our Hawaii historian, Marilyn, set me straight.  Yes, it's true there are lots of Waimeas, but that is because Waimea means "red dirt"  and there's a lot of it in Hawaii.  Now the first postmaster of Waimea, during the Hawaii pony express days, was a guy by the name of Kamuela (which means Samuel in Hawaiian), so to avoid confusion over which Waimea to send a letter to, people would designate Kamuela's name on the envelope to make sure it got to the right "Waimea" post office.  And the rest is history, the town is still called Waimea, but the USPS kept Kamuela's name as the designate town address.  So call it Waimea but send it to Kamuela.

So lets take a look at some red dirt.

They are just about done grading the slab.  The forms are up.

The boss is checking out the plumbing situation.  The plumber came yesterday
to put in all the pipes and drainage to the septic.  Now we have to
wait for the inspector to approve the work before the final preparations
for the cement work.

Odds & Ends

 So, on our daily walks in the countryside, you never know what you might run in to.  There's a lot of "wild" on the Big Island or "feral" as they say.  Feral donkeys, feral boars, feral chickens and roosters, feral cats, feral sheep, and even feral mongooses (yes, that's the proper plural).  Some of these animals obviously were introduced by settlers and as they multiplied, they escaped into the wild to become feral.  It's not unusual to see these animals in the countryside as you travel down the roads and more than a few of them have met their demise with a four wheeled vehicle.  So far, the most we've met were some feral chickens.  One we saw had chicks.  We thought of catching it  and taking the chicks, so Marilyn could increase her hen supply, but then we're still city slickers and didn't know if they'd put up a fight.  Marilyn said it might be hard to domesticate them in to regular egg layers.

Speaking of wild, we pass by the rooster field everyday and were wondering why they were chained up in their pens.  Marilyn, our Hawaii history teacher, told us that these roosters are being raised for fighting.  While it is totally illegal to have cockfights in Hawaii, the law is often overlooked because of the fact that it has been a cultural activity for years.  They certainly sound like they're ready to rumble as they crow like crazy all day long.

One animal that Hawaii doesn't have is snakes.  Indiana Jones would love this place.

Mother hen and her chicks.

Feral rooster.

Rooster Pens for fighting cocks

This turkey is actually someone's pet.  Go figure. The lady that owns him
said she'd like to spend a white Christmas one time somewhere.  We told her
we were happy to spend a non-white Christmas here and that maybe she
should count her blessings.

Dec. 12 Preparing the slab

So, yesterday (Sunday) was a beautiful day and Tony says you never schedule a day to cut the grass.  If it's a good day do it, because December is the wettest month here.  It averages about 4 inches of rain, and we've seen a little bit of that and now know why we won't need a sprinkler system.  In spite of the rain, the temperature is warm and any time you wish to get away from it, just drive down the hill 15 minutes to the beach and you'll get all the sun you want.

Yesterday, Milton and Agnes Crivello (Marilyn's parents) stopped by from Hilo to check out the work.  Milton worked for the water department for years and has appointed himself as my unofficial inspector to make sure everything is done properly - especially water drainage which is his field of expertise.  It's important not to have puddles of water on your grass like a couple of our neighbors.  It attracts ducks believe it or not, and becomes a breeding ground for mosquitoes.  So our acreage, while landscaped with grass, has high and low spots.  They had to bring in more gravel than expected to raise up where we want the house so water will drain away from the slab and into the dry wells that we dig.  Milton checked it out and said the builders were doing good.  Well - Milton is related to half the island and has a network of people.  Even our builder, Monty Miranda, is somehow related to him.  They know each other and Milton told me (in half pigeon) to tell Monty that Milton is my inspector and he "gonna check on the building to make sure it done right."  Nice to have friends in high places.

Our curved driveway leading to the house and garage. Notice
by the excavator there's a little turn out.

They brought in a lot of gravel to raise up where the slab will go.

You can see from this angle, they brought it up over 12 inches.
After the slab is finished, they will slope it gradually with the extra dirt.
They still have to dig our septic field. Slow but sure.

Kama'aina

Dec 7
Kama'aina

In Hawaiian Kama'aina means local or people of the land.  Many of the local businesses give, what they cal kama'aina rates, a discount for purchases.  We were told about this from Michelle, owner of a shop in nearby Honakaa.  We were shopping in her store and just chatting with her about building and moving here, so she said, "Oh, then you are a local and I'll give you the kama'aina rate."  I think it's a 5-10% discount, but it's kind of nice to be considered a local now.

So living in the peaceful countryside, we are learning the ways of the land.  Marilyn and Tony are in Australia for two weeks visiting their daughter and bringing her home from he semester abroad through the University of Portland.  Now Marilyn raises chickens.  She has about 25 and she put us in charge of feeding, gathering the eggs, and selling them to her customers who call.

Crissie has become the "chicken lady."  She feeds them in the morning and at night and she chats them up because she thinks they lay eggs better that way.  In the afternoon she checks for eggs and usually gets 10 or so.  So we have free eggs for life - and fresh.  But she is having some trouble with this one hen (pictured hovering over some eggs).  She doesn't lay any eggs anymore but she loves sitting on them.  So Crissie has to coax her off the eggs so she can retrieve them.  They both get into shouting matches with the hen refusing to budge and Crissie coaxing her away.

Another thing about this place is how things grow.  Everything seems to be on steroids.  We were walking the other day and saw a guy digging holes by his fence an just planting branches from a Hibiscus that he lopped off.  He said they would just send out their own roots and start growing, so we've been walking by and checking them out on our daily strolls and sure enough they are beginning to bud.

This is one of the branches starting to bud.

This is the fence where he was planting branches.

This is how rich the soil is.

Another thing is because everything grows so quickly here and since they have an all year round growing season, there's a farmer's market almost every

day of the week.  It costs a little more but you're getting it freshly picked.  Well worth the taste.

Crissie chatting up the boys at the farmer's market.

Fresh veggies

Dry goods too.

So, you may be asking how the house is coming along.  Well, we're starting to move.  They dug out the area and put in and steamrolled some grave and they should be done with that tomorrow.  Lots of dirt and already people are asking for some.  We need to keep some because we need backfill and proper drainage away from the house to avoid flooding.  It rains about 23 inches a year here.  About 7 inches more than Spokane.

Our curved driveway leading to the garage. Need dirt anyone?

Steamrolling the gravel to get ready for the slab.

Dumping gravel and spreading it out.  See the hose and spigot?  We got water today.

Small town celebrations

Dec. 4

This weekend kicked off the Christmas season in Waimea (Post office name Kamuela.  Yes this town has two names because there's a Waimea on nearly every island.  So as not to confuse this Waimea with the Waimea on Maui, they give it a post office name of Kamuela.  Why they don't just call the town Kamuela in the first place, I'll never know, but I'll certainly inquire around and give you an update).

The kickoff starts in nearby Honakaa (pronounced hone ah kah ah) with a tree lighting, santa, and some carols by local kids.  (See video)  All the shops open and we've got to know some of the shop owners who give us kama'aina rates (a discount given to locals.  it means people of the land).  Honakaa is a cute little tourist town where you can walk up one side and down the other and you're all done in less than an hour, or you can stretch it out by chatting up the shop owners.  So we've met Babs, Michelle, Mary Ann, and Desiree.  One thing we are finding out is everyone has come from somewhere else, and many we've met are from Washington.

Saturday, was the big parade in Waimea.  They close down the main street and there are floats (mostly big trucks with lights on them) and people walking down the street representing all the businesses and community organizations in the area and nearby.  It lasts about an hour or so and we got a front row place at the beginning of the parade, so we saw everything and left early.  (Well, we had to get the lasagna on for dinner).

So far the people have been very friendly and welcoming.  Our daily walks take us into some of the most beautiful green countryside with views of hillsides and Mauna Kea.  It got a dose of snow this week.  Building is moving along, albeit a little slowly.  Currently, our builder, Monty Miranda, is digging out the driveway and house and septic area before the gravel and forms come and the slab is laid.  Once we get the slab in, the construction should go faster.  You'll see it all as it progresses.

Now I'm told some of you have found the blog and others not.  I thought the address was:
bigislandhouseproject@blogspot.com but it also may be bigislandhouseproject.blogspot.com  One of them should work.  If you want to make a comment, be sure to sign in on google, then publish your comment or it won't show up.

Some of the views on our walks everyday.  Notice the snow on Mauna Kea between the clouds.  Let's go skiing!

 breaking ground where the house will be.  notice the rich earth.  it's going on crags list if you need some.

Some of the Parade pics

Waiting for the parade to start

 Santa coming out of the outhouse.  Reminds me of the lake.

Our New Adventure

So, we are here in Hawaii.  We've met our builder, Monty Miranda, a cousin of Marilyn's with whom we are staying.  Monty went to Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton on a rodeo scholarship.  He's won the Pendleton Rodeo.  He stayed for a while in La Grande building houses before moving back to Hawaii.  When he first started digging with the excavator he let our great nephew, Luca, ride in the machine with him.  That's when we knew we got the right guy.  Nico and Cruz, you guys would have liked to work the controls.  So our project has started and if we can hold off the rain this month, we'll get the cement slab down and we'll be off to the races.

On another note, we haven't regretted our decision to take on this adventure - the last big one, I'd say. We're getting too old to keep doing this.  One thing we're finding out is that most of the people we met, came from somewhere else.  The guy at the building supply where we bought our siding today has been here a year from New Hampshire.  Crissie's hairstylist is from Rome, Italy.  Our kitchen lady who is bidding our cabinets is from New Mexico and her assistant just got a job and is from Klamath Falls.

Hawaii is an interesting state.  No majority ethnic group. You will find a “mixed plate” of ethnic groups in Hawaii; 38.6% of Hawaii's population is Asian, 24.7% is White, 10% is Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islanders, 8.9% is Hispanic, 1.6% is Black or African American, 0.3% is American Indian and Alaska Native, and 23.6% of all Hawaii residents are of multi-ethnic.  Also, Hawaii is the widest state in the union, wider than Montana, Texas, or Alaska.  We have 5 dormant volcanoes on the island.  Mauna Kea (the world's highest mountain from the ocean floor and that's where all the observatories are), Mauna Loa, Kilauea which is active, Kohala (which is the closest to us), and Hualalai.  Kilauea is roughly 2 hrs from us. 

Thanksgiving sunset at the Kawaihae harbor.

Crissie cutting the grass on the riding mower. 

 This will be a view we will have of Mauna Kea. Notice the observatories at the top.

Just a pleasant walk down a country road.  Our usual walking route.

Church Bazaar and steak fry in Hilo.

Monty and I measuring where we want the house.

Finally the digging begins.  That's Luca (Marcus Prietto's son) helping run the excavator.
He's in heaven.

It all starts with a driveway.