Construction progress, and a carload full of orchids

Building a house is like being in the Army. "Hurry up and wait" is what goes on a lot. But the good news is that our forms are almost complete; the electric and plumbing lines are in trenches and roughed in inside what will be the house; and the solar electric lines are done, and all have been inspected, as well. Next week we treat for termites, seal up the ground, get yet another inspection, and then we can move forward to the Holy Grail for me- Pouring the slabs. After they're in, the "hurry up" part comes into play when they start framing in the main house and the master suite. I can hardly wait for that!

Immediately below is a video of my carload full of orchids that are now placed around our property. Next are pictures of the construction progress. Then there is a series of still shots of many of the orchids that have been blooming on our land since Robert and I arrived in Hawaii on January 9th. Enjoy, aloha!

In the center is Jeremiah, the solar electrician, and behind him in the cap and dark blue t-shirt is his son. The son was on Spring Break and Dad made him come out to work. I bet he would have been happier at the beach but we're glad they were helping finish their job. 

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This is my favorite on our land! We bought it in a tray of unmarked orchids with no flowers, and surprise, a year later, it's a beautiful one!

Lena who sold me the carload full of orchids from this going out of business orchid farm. 

The arrival experience part 1: Jungle driveway

Today's focus will be on the arrival experience designed by Robert Welsch, landscape designer and something else…oh, my husband! I am featuring the garden for the next couple of blogs because permitting is taking as long as everyone out here in Hawaii says it will take-longer than you expect! (But there is progress, trenches for electric and plumbing are dug, and work will start on them Monday).

To get to our land, you drive down a long gravel road through a forest of uluhe ferns and ohi'a trees. Once you arrive at our gate, Robert planted monkey pod trees five years ago (3 feet tall, look at them now!) to create a natural tunnel. Filled with dappled light, the drive down the driveway draws you into the embrace of the naturalistic elegance that Robert has created. Your eyes are drawn left and right as you pass palms, bamboo, elephant ears, twenty foot tall gingers, calatheas, orchids and many other plants.

Once you reach the end of the drive, the driveway opens up on a vista of the 400 palm trees in the distance. More on the rest of the garden later, for now, one bunch of pictures is worth a thousand words! The first picture is from 2007 for perspective. No monkey pods and no magic from Robert yet. When we started, there wasn't even a driveway, there was only jungle.

Driveway entrance Robert built in 2007

Driveway entrance 2014. The tallest trees are the monkeypods. 

Moving down the drive

Dappled sunlight bathes the driveway

Backlit plant

One of the many orchids we placed 

This ginger in the middle is over 20 feet tall!

The end of the driveway, LH side

end of driveway, RH side

Palm tree inflorescence 

David

Robert

Moving the house, again, but making progress

After a lull, there's been a burst of activity on our house. Carl and his crew of two came to put the lines in where the house and master suite will go. When Robert and I arrived, there were two different color sets of string designating where the house might go, and where it might also go if the first line was wrong. After much consultation and a little reading of plans (yes, ladies, it's true, men do NOT like to read directions), as of today, the house forms are in place. They will get a concrete pour of the foundation in about two weeks. Why the delay, you may ask? Permits. Inspections. Rain. Surfing. Hey, it's Hawaii, don't think everyone just works all the time here!

We also did a lot of work on the grounds and gardens while waiting for construction to gear up. When you have 11+ acres, gardening is a full time job! Robert designed and we installed most of two new beds. You can see our crew spreading cinder soil in the funny video that's below. BTW, we had our contractor; three guys from the forming/foundation laying sub; our excavator; two sawyers; one bobcat operator; four garden crew helpers; our friend Tom Piergrossi who delivered two pickup truckloads of plants; and Robert and me, on site on Wednesday. Oh yeah, plus the guy who delivered the cinder soil, that makes 15 guys total!

Our intrepid gardening crew with me second from left 

Next blog will be a video of the "entrance experience" so you can see some of the plantings Robert has done since he started landscaping the property in 2007.

One of dozens of flowering plants in our garden

Beach near our rental property-part of why we love Hawaii! 

Tom delivering plants for Robert

Forming up the house foundation

Look at the orange and the yellow lines on the left, which one is where the house should go???

Lawrence our excavator and Robert looking at the future pad for a 12'x12' hale

Finally, a house foundation is going in!

Mauna Kea with snow, nice to look at when it's 75 and sunny out!

More Mauna Kea

Matthew, our garden and house sherpa!