Lanai (Deck) goes in, a little bit of roof, and a travelogue on Shipman's Beach

Work continues on our building project while I am back in New York with my husband for three weeks. Bob Kirk and his crew (Dave, Ty and Tim) were very busy with painting, completing the lanai that surrounds the main house on all four sides, and they even started with the first part of a roof. It's the little one over the entrance portico, but hey, it's a roof in the making!

Bob is the painter for the crew. As you can see in the short video below, he was busy spraying the prime and then the final color all over the trim and wood parts of the main house and the master suite.  Dave is the master carpenter who does what I call the "jigsaw puzzle" work. He completed the numerous vents that are required by code in Hawaii, then Bob painted them. He also built the frames for the pocket doors that are between the two downstairs guest bedrooms.

The pictures this week are of the decking and painting, but rainbows are featured! After Bob Kirk and his crew and I had hung out at the end of the day and had some beers to celebrate the progress on the construction, they left. I stuck around to take the last set of pictures before heading back to the mainland the next day. It rained for a few minutes, then a bright double rainbow appeared over the ocean with the two ends over the main house and the master suite. A friend of mine in Hawaii calls me "rainbow catcher" since I have been seeing, and posting pictures, of so many recently. These, however, were my favorite. They're a great sign appearing over our future home!

Check out the first roof going up above, covering the entrance portico!

This blog's travelogue is from a hike that I took last month to Shipman's Beach aka Kea'au Beach. It's close to my home, and a relatively easy 5 mile round trip from parking to the beach and back. Once we arrived at the beach, a stunning vista greeted us-the pictures capture the beautiful blue of the sky as reflected in the freshwater inlet that leads into the Pacific. The Shipmans still own 17,000 of the original 70,000 acres around their homes. Click on this link for Shipmans Beach photos that I took on my hike with our friend David G.

Here's a little history of Shipman's,
"According to the estate’s historical records, part of the ahupua‘a of Kea‘au was sold to Shipman by King Lunalilo’s Estate. In 1882 Shipman bought out the other stakeholders, ultimately  owning 70,000 acres. Today, the estate owns about 17,000. Two large homes, along with a pond to attract nene (which we saw in great number!) and a large expanse of rolling grassy hills, are located on the plot facing the beach."

Enjoy the blog, aloha!

Railings, painting, and another travelogue: Hiking Kilauea Iki crater at Volcanoes National Park

Last week the building project moved more quickly than I had expected. A daunting part of the building process is making hundreds and hundreds of decisions. My husband Robert Welsch and I make 90% of the choices and material selections that would normally be done over the yearlong course of building our house. But since he was in Hawaii for only 6 weeks earlier this year, we made many trips to Home Depot, HPM Building Supplies, Floor Decor, Zen Cabinets and Big Island Granite. We have also spent a good deal of time online finding and buying other materials needed like cabinet pulls. Last week I had to hurry to Hilo to pick and buy tile for the shower floors, and check out kitchen appliances while I was there.

Meanwhile, construction is going smoothly. Ty and Tim, carpenters extraordinaire, are in pics below hammering in the huge bolts that you will see Ty finishing off with the electric drill in this short video.

Part of my job being onsite is making some of the remaining 10% of decisions and approving changes. This week we had to decide on how the concrete stain would be done and would look. Bob Kirk, our contractor, did a test area. We both agreed it looked like rust, and not in a good way. Off we went to my neighbor's home to show Bob the beautiful job they did on their concrete stain. Bob then went to Hilo to buy three different colors of stain which he will personally apply. The photos below show what we want to achieve on our own floors.

Bob getting up close and personal with the concrete stain at our neighbors 

Tim

Ty

Tim and Ty pounding in a large fastener- 

Now for Kilauea Iki pics from two recent hikes with my friends Charlie and Greg, and another one with Sharon and Brian.

Charlie striking a pose out of a hiking gear catalogue (as best as I can tell)

Greg, Charlie and me

Kilauea plume in the distance

Dancing David

Brian and Sharon in a great pano shot from the bottom of Kilauea Iki

My Doctor Sharon and husband Brian on our Kilauea Iki hike

After hiking down 400 vertical feet, we then trekked across the (now dormant) crater