Getting out of the rain

One of the facts of life in Volcano is the almost daily rain. Many days, it's just a light, misty sprinkle. But other times, it's a steady downpour. So we really looked forward to getting a roof over the house so that the inside could actually dry out. 

Raise high the roof beam

After I left at the end of spring break, George and Dave managed to put up the huge roof beams. This was a herculean feat! You can also see by the shine on the floor that there was a good bit of rain at the time.

The beams are one of the distinctive features that we really liked about this home design. Our original plan was to have a contractor do the house framing. Unfortunately, our budget was not quite big enough to accommodate his idea of a work schedule, which apparently included a lot of down time. He tried to convince us to just sit back at home in Idaho while he eventually got around to business, but that sounded like a great way to make him rich at our expense. So we told him thanks but we would muddle through without him.

And sure enough, George and Dave wrestled those beams into place and the roof started to take shape.

The walls go up

I spent a week in Volcano over spring break and helped with putting up the exterior walls. All the boards were pre-cut and numbered so we would know where they went. The exterior is made up of three layers of cedar in a single wall. There is no insulation in this design.

While we were working on the walls, our friends Dave and Beth came to visit from Honaunau, along with their dog, Snickerdoodle. When our place is finally finished, we have big plans to swap houses occasionally. That will give us a chance to enjoy the ocean and Dave and Beth can spend some time in the rainforest!

By the end of my spring break week, most of the walls were up. We had hoped to be able to get the big ceiling beams up together, but Dave ended up volunteering for the heavy lifting!

Sitework

October 16 - November 12, 2014

It took about a month to prepare the site for the house and driveway. We had to make a little bit of a dent in the jungle and remove a pile of lava rock. Our sitework contractor, Moore's Excavation, did a fantastic job saving as many trees as possible!

First, George needed a dry spot to get out of the rain.

  








 Then the small equipment arrived for the initial tree clearing.



 






























The driveway was opened up to allow the bigger equipment in.

Once the trees were cleared, it was time to take out some rock.
















 We used the rock that was removed on the driveway.

 




























Next, the septic tank was installed.



















 And the driveway and house site were compacted.

A little lot plotting

Fast forward one year, and we are back in Volcano to do a little clearing and ponder how a house might fit on the lot.

George slashes away at the dead uluhe

A new hapu'u frond getting ready to unfurl

Among the ohi'a trees and hapu'u tree ferns, there was also a tangle of uluhe fern and invasive Kahili ginger. We did a lot of hacking! It will be impossible to get rid of the ginger with its huge, spreading rhizomes. All we can do is keep chopping away as the shoots appear. And some will actually be useful as a screen around the perimeter. All the brown stuff in the photo is dead uluhe fern, which is tough and scratchy. But we were able to make a nice little clearing and figure out a good location for about a 1,000-square foot house.

A mass of ginger rhizomes

During the week we spent swinging our machetes and lopping, we stayed in our favorite Volcano vacation rental - the Crater Rim Cabin. We feel so lucky to have found this place! The owners, Barry Stokes and Jim Griggs have made this the coziest vacation rental you could imagine. Jim is a long time photographer for the USGS and has taken some of the most stunning pictures of Hawai'i volcanoes. Many of these are on the walls and in books in the cabin. One of Jim's photos was even selected for the back of the Hawai'i quarter.

A piece of the rainforest

Our Volcano rainforest lot

We bought our half acre in Volcano Village in the spring of 2013. This is what it looked like from the street, Kekoanui Blvd. (also know as Road B).

We loved this lot for so many reasons - some that were immediately apparent, and others that we came to appreciate over time. First was the beauty of the fern-ohi'a forest lot that was more or less in a natural state without too much intrusion by invasive plants like ginger and guava.

We also loved the surrounding area, across the highway from Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. I don't think we could ever run out of places to explore in the park. And if we get tired of the rain (100 inches a year in Volcano!), it's a two-hour drive to warm and sunny Kailua-Kona.

Riley becomes an honorary hard core hog dog

One of the disappointing things I've learned about Maui is that there is not much in the way of hiking trails. Most of the hiking on the island is in and around Haleakala crater, which is fun to explore, but you don't want to go there every week...or even every month. It takes a while to make the 36-mile winding drive up there, and the main trails are long and can get really misty or even rainy.

Halemau'u trail - Haleakala National Park

Outside of Haleakala there are few options. There's the Waihee Ridge trail, which starts out on a steep paved road next to a cow pasture. But there's a nice view at the top and you can get your dog to pose in a picturesque manner in the foreground.

View of Maui's north coast from the top of the Waihee Ridge trail

I only hiked this trail once. Because even though the view was nice, you never really feel like you're away from civilization, which is what I crave when I go hiking. If you lose sight of the city below, there is sure to be a helicopter flying overhead within a few minutes.

Overall, Maui's few hiking trails are not really dog friendly. And what's a hike without your dog? So mostly, George and I take Riley for walks in the Makawao Forest Reserve, which is only about two miles from our house. At least Riley has a chance to be off his leash for a while so he can stretch his legs and get up a little speed.

There's a pretty substantial trail network in the forest reserve. For the most part, it's kind of dark in there amongst the eucalyptus and cook pines, and the trees sway in the wind and make eerie squeaks and groans.

Are you guys coming or what?

Trail through the trees

On the trail that we hike most of the time, there's a spot where we always like to stop for a few minutes and eat an orange. And give Riley a drink.

Nice logs for sitting and taking a break...

...and getting a drink.

Hikers, runners, dog-walkers, and bikers all like to use these trails. But the forest reserve is also a popular destination for local pig-hunters. You can recognize their pickup trucks in the parking area by the combination dog cage/pig rack in the back. And in case you miss that clue, there's always the full rear window sticker.

On one of our recent hikes in the forest reserve, Riley got a whiff of pig and took off like a bat out of hell. Down the hill he went and instantly disappeared into the shrub-choked gulch. Since he does this running off behavior fairly often, we figured we'd just hang around until he showed back up again, which is when he's good and ready and has nothing to do with how loud or strenuously we call his name. We heard some crashing through the brush and then nothing for a few minutes.

The next sound we heard was this god-awful pig squealing and then the worst kind of multi-dog barking and growling and a whole lot more pig sqealing. A couple of guys came running by in their orange pig hunter getup and I yelled out to them that our dog was down there. They took off down the hill and George went after them. I waited on the trail with visions of my dog lying in shreds, laid low by a wild hog and a pack of hard core hog dogs. But then the snarling and squealing stopped and I heard snatches of talking and laughing. When George reappeared he had Riley with him, worn out and panting like crazy, but not a scratch on him. George gave me a vivid description of the scene he came upon: Riley had joined up with the hunting dogs for a full-on pig attack. They had it on its back and were tearing away at it when the hunters showed up and killed it with a knife. I was so glad I did not see that.

And that was how Riley became an honorary hard core hog dog of the Makawao Forest Reserve. From now on, he stays on his leash.