Living with Lava - Update on our new home and garden near Pahoa Hawaii: October 2014

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Construction and destruction (from lava flow, but NOT OUR HOUSE) on track

There's nothing like a molten river of 2000+ degrees hot lava to get your attention and focus your thoughts. Bob Kirk and his crew have moved quickly to get deliveries before the road is taken out by lava. The forecast now is for sometime next week. We will still have access to Hilo (our "big" city where we stock up supplies and groceries), but it will take longer. And I am sure traffic will be Hell with all of us driving through neighborhoods with streets not designed for commuter volume.

The good news is that the house project is on track for us to move in by Christmas. In the main house, the wood floors upstairs are installed. The kitchen cabinets are being custom-built right now, and will be in by Thanksgiving. The electrician and the solar guys are scheduled to complete the set up of the electrical system and solar power in November. Downstairs, drywall is up and painted with two coats, one to go, of a cheery bright yellow. Ceiling fans are in, and all the large windows went into the eaves.

In the master hale, all the tongue and groove wood walls and ceilings are complete. The master bathroom drywall is taped, and was probably painted today. Next week the floors are going down.

It's starting to feel like our home and less like a construction site! I even drove over to the Kona side of the Big Island on a furniture shopping trip this week and filled a 14' box truck with a beautiful, unique elephant bamboo sectional; 8 woven bamboo chairs; and a special, hand-carved, painted five foot tall Thai lady statue.

In downtown Pahoa, our little village, the lava will cut it in half next week. It's already crossed a couple roads and is poised to take out the main highway in a few days. Yes, it's a tragedy, but we are all drawn to the molten lava like moths to a flame. Viewing the 2100 degree lava is awe-inspiring and depressing at the same time. I was feeling sorry for myself until I saw a video of an elderly lady in her home. She read the evacuation notice she had just gotten since her home is in the lava flow and will burn soon. She calmly read it, then called her daughter to come help her pack. Our home is not threatened by the lava which is 7 or more miles away and moving downhill toward the ocean, not towards us. So it could be much worse for us, and I gain good perspective on dealing with disaster and the wonder of lava flow every day.

Aloha for now! Send your comments and love our way!

Oh, one last thing. Here's a 1 minute video I shot yesterday in downtown Pahoa where the lava is about to engulf the road, it's quite surreal!

http://tinyurl.com/Pahoascene

These are apple bananas. If you've never tasted an Hawaiian, fresh off the tree banana, you're missing out! The ones you buy in stores back East are McIntosh, bred to ship, not to taste good.

Who needs Fall when we have Australian Flame Trees blazing red for us here?

Custom-made doors for bathrooms' pocket sliders

The loft, or where you'll stay if you arrive uninvited ;-)

Kitchen before wood floor went in

Guest bedroom before painting

Bob Kirk painting guest bathroom

Master Hale-I love the play of the sun shining in!

Ginger flower

Stunningly blue ginger flower

Orchid straying into the vireya trail

Bromeliads below...

First coat of yellow in guest bedrooms

Kitchen and living room floors almost done. Look at the beautiful triangles of light from the windows above.

Me at Kehena Beach today. Even if there's a volcano flowing, it's still 80, sunny and a paradise!

First building on fire in Pahoa Oct. 27. Note that smoke is black. It only turns white if firefighters douse it with water. There's no saving structures in the direct path of the flow.

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Lava flow slows, but house construction speeds up

When I left Hawaii on September 10th for a three and a half week long visit back home in NY, I drove through our local village of Pahoa for what I thought would be one last time. The lava flow was forecast to burn through the middle of town on September 24 or 25. I returned yesterday, October 6th, and was very relieved to be able to drive through the so far untouched village. The lava is still flowing, but at a reduced rate. Yes, it will cut through town and our sole main road to "civilization", but probably not until later this month.

While I was away, the local mood shifted from full-tilt panic and constant anxiety to one of nervous acceptance. I sure picked a good time to be out of town!

Now that I am back, I am amazed at all the progress on our building project. It's starting to look more like a home and less like a construction site. The activity today was constant, as it has been while I was gone. We passed the plumbing, electrical and framing inspections. The huge custom-made windows in the 34 foot high peaks of the two buildings are installed in the main house, and ready to go in tomorrow in the master suite. Drywall has gone up in the downstairs guest bed and bathrooms, as well as upstairs in the kitchen and powder room, and in the master suite bathroom and closet.

Lots and lots of plywood went up as backing for the tongue and groove whitewashed interior walls upstairs in the main house. Actually, I was surprised by all the interior wall plywood. Our contractor Bob Kirk explained that the architect called for it to meet sheer strength requirements in the local building code. Yes, in addition to hurricanes and volcanoes, we also have earthquakes here, and plenty of them. The good news is that they are all micro-quakes less than 4.0 on the Richter scale, and mostly imperceptible by the residents.

The exterior painting is >95% complete. From the photos, you can see how the dark green house color and the dark brown trim colors do their intended job. My husband Robert selected them so that the houses would blend in seamlessly with the colors in the garden and jungle surroundings.

If you would like the latest on the lava flow, this article covers it very well from a scientific standpoint. http://pacificislandparks.com/2014/10/07/lava-flow-front-continues-advancing-triggers-brush-fire/ If you want to know the human interest viewpoint, ask me, I am living it!

As always, there's lots blooming on our 11 acres. I included pictures of some of the garden standouts as of today, October 7.

Aloha until later this month, probably after the lava hits Pahoa.

By the end of the day, the last window triangle was in place on the main house. You can see the where it went above.

This looks like a couple of scifi creatures climbing down a tree!

Guest BR1 from outside looking through to front of house

Who knew that drywall comes in four colors? All are specified to do different jobs-waterproofing, fire-resisting, mildew resisting . Contractor Bob Kirk pictured knows what they all do!

Living room replete with lots and lots of plywood for shear strength to resist earthquakes

Appliances delivered early in case the road is eaten by lava

Me reflected in the window about to go up inside

View through from upstairs powder room to kitchen and far side window

Upstairs powder room and closet/TV area

Back of kitchen console, and back of carpenter ;-)

Kitchen

Kitchen redux

This is my favorite picture of this group. It shows Bob and two of his crew working together to finish the window installation in the front peak of the main house. They really do a great job!