My Bad!

My girlfriends can see it a mile away, they remind me through comments on the blog or thoughtful emails. This is what we asked for! This is what we've planned for. We wanted to be uncomfortable, we wanted to stretch ourselves. Deb says we still need to chill out, get familiar with the island and island life. Look at other options, editing may be my way of creating some normalcy, something familiar. She is right and I think we are in sync. Just this morning Dan and I were talking about how we need more down time. It's a process, not only do we have no where to go and nothing to do but we are living in a smaller space. We are releasing the busy, busy, busy lifestyle of work, family, friends and private time to nothing. No plans, it's whatever we want it to be. It still kind of feels like vacation since we don't have any of our stuff yet. No pictures on the walls, not much to cook with, Dan doesn't have his extra pillow. Not much familiar, just what we brought with us. Plus, the ability to have privacy is gone. No more going downstairs to read, do yoga or watch my shows while Dan does his thing. It's a readjustment on so many levels, we are rebalancing our lives. We are making progress, for example, I slept until 7 today! It's like taking off a tight fitting shirt on a hot, muggy day, it doesn't want to come off!

The rain cleared up today so we took the dogs for a walk. I was wrong about Kapa'a being like Aurora. Our neighborhood is filled with beautiful green manicured lawns, giant trees, blooming flowers, and million dollar homes on rolling, verdant hills. It is simply breathtaking. I have to get some pointers from my photographer friend John because every picture I take is not what I'm looking at. There is a lot of contrast between the shadows in the jungle and the bright sun, so my pictures are blown out, look like silhouettes, or the scene is so vast, my camera can not capture it. It's like taking a picture of the Grand Canyon. Sometimes I get lucky, sometimes the shots are just ok. I got some ok ones today. I'll post them because I keep getting requests for more pictures.

The entrance to our house. That isn't our house in the background, it's further inside. There is another house to the left.

It was great to get out and about today, I think we all had a touch of cabin fever. Continuing our search for a place to let the dogs run off leash, we found a park using our iPhones close to the house. Once we got there, it was total jungle with no entrance, at least none that we could see. The map indicated a reservoir ahead so we drove on. Distracted by the enormity of it all, a tree canopy, maybe 50 feet tall, shadowing the road for about a 1/4 mile. Colossal ivy plants crawling up the enormous trees with leaves the size of a frying pan. Again, the reservoir is a jungle, maybe you can get in but we don't see how. Dan, determined to find a place, keeps looking. Finally we come upon the Lihue Koloa Forest Preserve. We see other people, tourists, so we keep the dogs on leash until we get to a secluded area.

                                      

They are pretty!

Lihue-Koloa Forest Preserve

Lucy was so happy to finally get out and run, she doesn't run very far though. Usually she is right by our side.

Baxter is ecstatic to finally get to run!

Because of the heavy rains the river overflowed onto the road and Baxter and Lucy make the most of it. Baxter actually went for a swim, loving the cool, salt free water, he jumped right in, he wasn't prepared for the 3 foot drop! Can you find the 3 chickens?

Part of a gnarly root at base of a huge Rainbow Eucalyptus tree.

As I dry Baxter and Lucy off and put them into the car, Dan talks to a man who was walking his dog while we were. He's got the dog in the back of his pick up and is drying her off. Tom, about 55 with shaggy grey hair, a thin build and about 5'6" tall, is a 15 year resident having moved here from the mid west. He gave us a bunch of tips. One, don't let your dogs off leash when people are around and can see you, it can be up to a $500.00 fine. Oops, we thought we were out of sight. As we talked more he opened up and told us about nearby trails. There are locals who are wild boar hunters, they have packs of hunting dogs and usually go out in the early morning. He points to a nearby trail and says he's taken his dog Dixie, who is maybe 7 pounds bigger than Lucy, on that trail and ran into them. They have pretty good control over their dogs and will tell you to pick your dog up if they feel it is at risk. I guess he's had more problems with peoples pets than the hunting dogs, one having attacked his. As long as you stay on the trail, you'll be ok. They also grow pot up in the hills and he says they don't take kindly to people getting close to their crops. He's been hiking the trails for years and has not had any serious problems, just some scares. So, we are warned, we will be careful. 

Dan had it in his head to get me a pantry today, so on the way back we stop at Home Depot. He's been mulling around what type of cabinet would be best since last Sunday. Countertops? Closet cabinets? Particle board cabinets? The cheapest are the particle board cabinets. On the way home we stop at Bubba's Burgers. You can sit outside and look at the ocean and the beef is from Kauai grown cows. I saw them cows roaming around today in fields of green and they are tasty!

Before

After

View from Dan's side of the bed. That roof is attached to our house, where our neighbor Dan and his wife live.

Crappy bathroom window and screen with a great view.

Kitchen window

Kitchen and dining room

Living room. Dan is using a suitcase with a blanket (that our friend Gail made us) as an ottoman for now. He gave me the side with the built in ottoman, he's so sweet!

Looking from the "wall" in the living room to the dining room, the kitchen is on the right.

The kitchen.

Aloha! Almost time for the Grammy's!

Woot-Woot! Internet in da house!!

Another grey, cloudy day where you can't see the mountains.

Hope has been brought into the house, along with the Internet. It’s been a long week of waiting. Last Monday, Dan scheduled Hawaiian Telecom to come and install our Internet, the only thing available was Friday. Now, they can’t tell you what time they'll be there, so yesterday we laid around all day waiting. There have been heavy rains the last 2 days. The down time ended up being a good thing because we didn’t realize how much we needed the rest and our minds wouldn’t let us see it. Our minds kept telling us; get to work! Get your home totally set up! Find a job! We were being forced to slow down island style, whether we liked it or not. All we did was watch movies, eat, and take naps. We slept hard all night and this morning I woke up with the idea! I’m still on my old schedule of waking up at 6am; Dan has no problem sleeping in, usually till 7:30. I don’t want to get up and go to the other room and read because the light will wake him and so would any noise, for example, if I did yoga. The ceiling is vaulted with wood beams and the “wall” that divides the bedroom from the kitchen/living room/dining room, doesn’t go all the way to the ceiling. So, I stay in bed and try to go back to sleep, but I usually end up thinking.

The junk on top (suitcases, yoga stuff) will eventually go in a shed, once we get one!

Last week when we got together with Starz West friends, Diana asked if we would be available to edit.  She owns a company that is like a co-op. Clients like Discovery and TLC book her to get a project done and she farms out the work. She said she could send us a drive and we could edit from home. Sounds great except what if she calls? We are not set up for that. All week while I lay in bed, I have been thinking about work and the tree house. Initially, I loved the tree house. I loved being so high, seeing trees for miles, the mountain view, the privacy, and it seemed so cozy. As the days wear on I can see this isn't going to work for more than 2 years. The roosters are also starting to get on my nerves, we noticed on the North and South shores (where it's more exclusive) you don't see a lot of roosters running around. If I want a bigger house and less roosters, I'm going to have to be making more than $10.00 an hour working on a boat. So, this morning it finally hit me. Now, it may seem obvious to you but we were BURNT out at Starz, I mean fried. We didn't care if we ever edited again. Plus, we've been trying to get ourselves out here since June, a lot of energy and stress. We really couldn't see past getting here. All right, I'll get to it, you've probably figured it out anyway, maybe even before we left! The name:

Lane

Post Production Services and Consultation

We have to fill in the blank Lane Video? Lane Cuts? Lane Frame? The Lanes?

We are kicking around the idea of buying some gear and editing from the house. Also, Dan can consult for folks who want to set up systems. We have 38 years of experience combined, it's what we're good at, it's what we do. I'll do the rough cut and marketing and Dan will do the finishing and technical stuff. My friend Dyanne can do our web site which will include a breakdown of our services, a bio on each of us, our gear and capabilities, and, an FTP site so we can download and upload files. I'm in love with the idea, it's perfect. Our low overhead combined with the income would put us on the North shore in no time. Dan's only reservation is getting clients. I'll be calling Diane Monday to see if she was serious and approximately how much work she could be throwing our way. Our pricing is great, 2 editors for one low price. We can afford to undercut standard rates and still make more than enough so 1 job a month (lasting about 10 days) will be more than enough.


Two other bonuses. Smoke free day 2 is complete and we have lost weight! Hope is in the house!!


P.S. Now that we have the Internet, I can blog for real! I just noticed the comments my girlfriends left. Thank you! Thank you for reading and for your encouragement and support! I miss you guys!

Rain

The mountains that are usually visible are completely covered in clouds and the rain is pouring down. Dan and I are holed up in the tree house all day waiting for the guy to come and hook up the Internet. He never comes, 2 guys called in sick so they were really behind. Maybe tomorrow.
The only interesting news is that today was our first smoke free day.

-- posted from my IPhone

Location:Kaapuni Rd,Kapaa,United States

Chickens

If you’ve ever been to Kauai then you know there are thousands of chickens running around. You find them in the most remote places like deep in the jungle. And you find them in parking lots. They are everywhere. We have about 10 hens, 2 roosters and a family that come into our yard regularly. There are a lot more around the neighborhood, keeping Dan awake at night and in the early mornings. Baxter has a new job, to chase the chickens out of the yard. Our neighbors initiated this (and being good neighbors) we have been training him. Given their bad luck of having the crazy chicken lady as a neighbor and being so kind to us our first night, it’s the least we can do! He takes his job very seriously; always on the lookout, he sits on the landing intently looking through the railing. Watching, sniffing. Lucy enjoys chasing them too, but usually, she takes to long to notice they are there and by the time she notices, Baxter has chased them away.




Today we are being lazy. It’s a grey day, lightly raining. The misty clouds cover the mountaintops and we have to put on long sleeves. At the kitchen window, I see some chickens. I take Baxter outside and say “go get em”! There is a bend in the yard so he can’t see them. He runs down the stairs anyway and does a cursory pass for me, and comes right back up. I take him down and try to point them out but he is fixed on a different area. I walk over to where they were but they have gone into the next yard. Peeking through the tree hedge, I find the chickens. There are actually 2 rows of hedges, one on our side, a 4-foot space then the other hedge, making a sort of tree tunnel. Baxter comes over to look at what I’m looking at and sees the chickens. He’s gone, scaring the chickens every which way, he doesn’t bark at them but they are squawking like crazy. A hen runs into our yard where Lucy is, and she chases the hen until it flies into a tree making up the hedge. Her weight is bending the branch so she is easy to spot. This strikes me as hilarious and I start laughing out loud. That chicken thought it got away from Baxter only to run into Lucy! It’s up in the tree driving Baxter crazy, he wants it but he can’t get it. I finally bring him inside to calm down.




The only other excitement we had today is we ate our delicious, locally grown, organic produce, and loved it!



Vanilla yogurt, pineapple, macadamia nuts and toasted coconut. Yum!



A delicious salad of avacado, tomato, cucumber, lettuce, macadamia nuts, and basil tossed in a lemon and Temecula olive oil vinagrette. Tangelos for desert and a plumera flower just cuz.

-- posted from my IPhone

Location:Kaapuni Rd,Kapaa,United States

Day 5

The days are softly weaving into the fresh, new tapestry of our lives. The colors are richer and the weave is tighter, stronger. Waking this morning we are both anxious. The reality of the precarious palm frond we are perched on is hitting both of us hard. Everyone was right, we were bold! We left good jobs, everyone we love, and everything we knew, were we crazy?!! We don't know anyone and don't have jobs. Plus, Dan is recovering from the stress of the past 6 months, trying to get us here. We talk about it and decide that we have 2 choices. We can stay holed up in our tree house and find a job, any job, and muddle through this, or, we can get out into the community, meet people, and look for work that we will like. After all, we moved here to start a new chapter in our lives; we were burnt out and bored. We needed to get out of the rat race and really live life. Of course it’s going to be uncomfortable, we don’t know anything, knowing what’s coming is comforting. In an effort to create fun, Dan decides we should drive to the north shore and see if we can find a beach that allows dogs, I’m game.






The dogs haven’t really been able to get out and run, besides chasing the chickens and roosters roaming around our yard.





Baxter chasing a rooster

Turns out dogs aren’t allowed on any county beaches. Stuck in a car, we decide to check out a yoga place I found on the Internet. Tucked in the hills of the north shore, the yoga center is in the ritzy residential area of Princeville. We walk past the owner’s house, down a hill, to the yoga studio, a solid structure with wood floors, open windows all around, and surrounded by mountains. The cool air and birdsong make it conducive to yoga. Michelle, a tiny, vital woman of about 50, just finished a class. Her long, dark hair now streaked with grey has traces of sweat. She is the owner of Mana Yoga and is friendly and knowledgeable. She is pioneering her own kind of yoga in which your body is never in a 90 degree angle (ie: forward bend, down dog), she says it’s not natural and that’s why a lot of people get hurt doing yoga. Her creased, animated face, expresses her frustration with the yoga community and it’s insistence on doing harmful poses, that she is convinced, are relatively new. She has 25 years of experience behind her, she makes sense, so Dan and I don’t argue with her. We’d love to take a class but it’s a good 30 minutes away.

We tool around the north shore, fantasizing about moving there. The east shore and Kapa’a, where we live, is like Aurora (metaphorically) the north shore is like Aspen or Vail, very rich, very well landscaped.






Downtown Kapa'a

Back in Kapa’a town, (they add town after all the city names) we check out the community center. They have a pool and soccer field right along the beach. Inside, 3 women are taking a hula class while the teacher sings a Hawaiian song and plays ukelele. Her beautiful voice and simple notes are soothing and I think about trying the class. The schedule says they have a yoga class on Saturdays. The community center is minutes from our home; maybe I’ll check that out this week. We try 2 other grocery stores before going to the farmer’s market. One is a health food store called Hoku. I heard it was cheaper than Papaya’s which is where we went the other day. It is cheaper but still too expensive, I think I’ll have to give up my organic quest, seems it’s for people with bigger budgets than us. The other is an Asian market; the prices are fantastic, but there is not a lot of produce.

The farmers market is the big score, one-quarter mile, lined on both sides, with vendor after tightly packed vendor. Almost all of it is organic, and the variety is unbelievable. There is a guy whose nursery is on our street 2 blocks away. We talk to him about gardening (we’d save a bunch of money growing our own food and almost everyone does it here) and learn that everything grows like crazy all year long. We leave totally stoked; making plans for our new garden. Our hands are full; 3 bags of pineapple, limes, lemons, tangerines, greens, lettuce, tomatoes, papaya, chili peppers, eggplant, green beans, zucchini, broccoli, grapefruit, cucumber, a big bag of basil, and a huge avocado, for $32.00. Score! I’m so excited. We can live off that for 3 days. With the jasmine brown rice I got at Hoku, we can have stir-frys, eat healthy, and cheap. Now, I just have to find a great place to get fresh fish.






Lunch at home



-- posted from my IPhone

Location:Kaapuni Rd,Kapaa,United States

Day 4

A rooster call wakes me, it's about 5am. The sky is pitch black and thousands of stars are twinkeling brightly. There are no curtains, we don't need them for privacy, so the sky is what I see when I wake. I'm a little restless, having just had a bad dream.
Dan and I were in Colorado, still living there, and we had a dinner party for 6 couples. I was bedraggled and frumpy and I forgot to make dinner! Everyone came to eat and there was no food and I didn't care, it was because I had brain cancer. The stars have faded and the sun is making it's slow rise. I like the natural alarm clocks; roosters, birds and light. I start thinking about money, we still have quite a bit left but have spent a lot in the past 2 weeks. I wonder if we should take most of it and buy a property to rent out, maybe to tourists? We still need to buy things, Craigs List will do for the rest, still don't have Internet, that'll come Friday. Ideas...If I personal chef 3 times a week at $100.00 for a family of 4, I only need to work 3 days a week...Yesterday, while I was looking at the tourist magazines, I read an article that could have been written better. It's a start up and most of the articles are written by the same person, I'll call them, do one for free, see where it goes. I tell myself to relax, it'll all work out, in time, be patient.



Looking down, out of the bedroom window.

Mundane but necessary business to attend to today. After doing the bills, we go to the bank to order checks. Angela, our banking representitive, spends a good hour with us getting everything squared away and putting money in accounts to make the most interest. She also tells us a good place to get fresh fish, and about changing our drivers license (we have to take a wirtten test). We learn about her and her family, she learns about ours. It was really nice, the best banking experience ever. She even gave us a piggy bank which is good because Dan just commented on how needs a change jar.

Stopping for a quick curry before laundry, we find a treasure. We are less hungry because of the heat (a good thing) and we decide to split meals from now on. But, I'm glad we decided that after we ordered! My pineapple, shrimp curry is so good, I stuff myself, finishing it all. We won't be having dinner tonight.

I haven't done laundry at a laundry mat since I was in my early twenties, the one cool thing is that we are doing all 6 loads at once. Two loads are blankets, one sheets, one towels, two are clothes. All told $21.00, I suspect future trips will be 2 loads, sheets/towels and clothes.




Even the laundry mat parking lot has a view, don't let the dark clouds fool you, it's 79 degrees (iPhone says it feels like 81), it's perfect. Not too hot and breezy.
Doing laundry made us hot so we had to get a shave ice. The ice is shaved paper thin so as it melts it's almost creamy, my new favorite thing!

The Hawaiian people are so genuine and kind. The bank lady, a lady in the laundry, and the shave ice guy are mellow, patient (let's get to know eachother) and really interested in you. If providing a service they want to make sure you get the best thing for you. The lady at the bank spent a lot of time explaining the different options and leading us to the most profitable outcome, at no extra charge. The shave ice guy gave us an extra squirt of ice cream (today, at his reccomendation we tried it with melted ice cream on top), such nice, easy people. I have a feeling I'm gonna love it here!

It's so hot I make a comment about going to the beach for a swim, to which Dan says "let's go"! With the dogs loaded up and panting, we roll down the windows and head for the coast. There is a sign posted "no pets", oops. Driving down the coast Dan pulls over at a scenic overlook, 4 feet below the cliff overhang is the coconut coast bike trail. We walk along the ocean, Baxter pulling like crazy because he's used to running around off leash. People are riding their bikes, walking their dogs or playing music; one couple facing the beach playing Congo drums, a man, alone in his car, (a light mist is now falling) playing his guitar. I want to walk along the beach more often as sunset approaches.

-- posted from my IPhone

Location:Kaapuni Rd,Kapaa,United States

Day 3

Not much to say today, we didn't have much to do. The treehouse is pretty much set up to our liking. There are still things we want or need to do (like heavy cleaning) but that can wait. The bedframe was delivered and set up this morning, it looks nice. They hated when they forgot something, having to climb the steps several times.



Dan took the mini van back to Avis (we needed it to transport things like the couch) and got a reasonable priced car until the jeep arrives which should be here in the next 2 weeks. We hung out, he took a nap while I watched tv and looked at the tourist magazines I picked up. I starred places I wanted to go or things I wanted to do, circled places I wanted to work (all outdoors; ranches, tour boats, botanical gardens, and the like), underlined food topics of interest (like the farmers markets and such). It's early evening the local news is on and I've got homemade spaghetti sauce on the stove (cheap and easy).
No plans for tomorrow, maybe laundry, maybe snorkle, maybe both. Here are some pics I just took.



South view from atop our landing.



East view, grapefruit tree on left clementine tree in front. They both need help! We can get tips at the big farmers market on Saturday, it's on the community college's campus and they answer questions like that.



North view/entrance

-- posted from my IPhone

Location:Kaapuni Rd,Kapaa,United States