Time off

We decided to take a weekend off and head to Honaunau for three days of sun, hot showers, laundry and great company with our friends Dave and Beth, who run Beth's Hawaiian Hideaway. We'd been planning this getaway for three weeks - as soon as there was an opening in our favorite Paniolo Suite. We were dying to dry out for a few days. Since we arrived in Volcano on October 16th up until November 20th when we headed to Honaunau, we had been blessed with over 24 inches of rain, according to hikermikes Volcano weather station. Everything was starting to smell moldy to me, including me!

This break was just what the doctor ordered. On the way back to Volcano we made the required stop at Costco in Kona and took the long way home through Waimea and along the Hamakua coast.

Geckos on the kitchen wall

Poolside at Dave and Beth's

Riley and George at Pu'uhonua O Honaunau

Another gorgeous sunset

Hiking and wiring

Last week we had visits from our plumber, the electrician, and the guy who will be building our water tank. It was hard to relax with contractors coming and going every day. But it was satisfying to see what was accomplished in just a few days.

First, our electricity meter was installed.

Then the electricians did most of the wiring to all the outlets, switches, lights, and smoke detectors. For some reason, our little 1,000 square foot house is required to have five smoke detectors. There is plenty of overkill in the Hawaii residential building code. The electrician crew finished all the rough-in in two days, including covering the exposed wiring with redwood channel.
 

Besides the numerous smoke detectors, another overkill item is the requirement for two 8-foot long copper grounding rods that have to be drilled into the lava rock. The poor guy who ended up with this job came out on Saturday morning. One of his drill bits got stuck fast in the rock and he spent most of the afternoon trying to unstick it. He finally gave up and went home to take his kids trick-or-treating, leaving the rod sticking out of the ground. He came back Sunday morning after church, with his cousin in tow. But even cousin did not have the magic to get the Excalibur drill bit out of the ground and they ended up cutting it off. After that, things went more smoothly and both rods were installed by early afternoon. Now we're more than prepared if the house is ever struck by lightning!

While the electricians were working in the house, we decided to go on a hike so we would be out of their way. Our neighbor Robert had an idea for a 4-mile round trip hike to the Pu'u Maka'ala Natural Area Reserve, which is just a couple of miles down the road from our neighborhood. If you ever decide to try this hike, pay attention to this note in the hike description: The trail is often very muddy, so boots are a good idea. There was plenty of boot-sucking mud! But our dog Riley, and Robert's dogs - Mystic and Boggs - had the time of their lives.

Boggs even has his own favorite bog to swim in!