It's been a delight visiting the job site the past two weeks. Each time I go, there's a lot of new progress. Today I was delighted to see, and open and close, windows. Next week we get doors!
You will notice a lot of blue skies in my pictures this time around. The "drought"season has commenced, and sunny skies abound. This is good for construction, painting and pickling wood...but bad for resisting the temptation to take advantage of the weather to go to the beach.
Today's pictures start with shots of a recent day in Waipio Valley, one of the many stellar beaches my friends, houseguests and I have visited here in Hawaii.
From Wikipedia:
Waipiʻo Valley is a valley located in the Hamakua District of the Big Island of Hawaiʻi. "Waipiʻo" means "curved water" in theHawaiian language.[1]
It was the capital and permanent residence of many early Hawaiian
aliʻi (kings) up until the time of
King ʻUmi. A place celebrated for its nioi tree (
Eugenia reinwardtiana) known as the "Nioi wela o Pa
ʻakalana" (The burning Nioi of Pa
ʻakalana). It was the location of the ancient grass palace of the ancient kings of Hawaii with the nioi stands.
Kahekili II raided Waipi
ʻo in the 18th century and burned the four sacred trees to the ground.
Located at coordinates
20°7′11″N 155°35′36″W, the valley floor at sea level is almost 2,000 ft (610 m) below the surrounding terrain. A steep road leads down into the valley from a lookout point located on the top of the southern wall of the valley.
The road gains 800 vertical feet (243.84 m) in 0.6 miles (0.9 km) at a 25% average grade, with steeper grades in sections. (Note to future guests: Don't let me make you hike down and up, I thought I was going to lose one of my guests from over-exertion!) This is a paved public road but it is open only to 4 wheel drive vehicles. It is the steepest road of its length in the United States
[2]and possibly the world. The shore line in the valley is a
black sand beach, popular with
surfers. A few
taro farms are located in the valley. Several large waterfalls fall into the valley to feed the river which flows from the foot of the largest falls at the back of the valley out to the ocean.
[3]
After the beach pics is an update with photos of construction progress, windows (yay!) and, of course, more beauty shots of what was blooming today on the property. Enjoy the blog, and thanks for checking in!
 |
| My friend Greg and I hiked all the way down to the beach. |
 |
| Colored moss on red lava rock on the way down |
 |
| It always amazes me how few people are on the beaches here. We were alone at Waipio on the beach for a while. |
 |
| The ficus got hungry and ate the other tree in this pic. |
 |
| My friend Greg |
 |
Panorama shot, Waipio Valley Beach
Now on to the house and property shots... |
 |
| We are pickling every piece of exposed wood, it's like building and finishing a LOT of furniture! |
 |
| Greg at the job site before the walls upstairs went up |
 |
| We have windows! Master suite view onto (future) courtyard |
 |
| View of master suite with window in |
 |
| Pickled wood in front, and another couple of piles to go in the back. |
 |
| Sanding prior to pickling |
