Day 116 / 80 To Go: 2040 lbs!!

Posted by: Cris


I finally went to sleep about 2:30 a.m. after Sherpa had been up and walking around a little bit, drank a little water and laid down on the bath mat in a normal sleeping position and drifted off to sleep. I figured it was safe to close my eyes. She woke up at 6:00 and I told her to lay back down. At 6:30 she decided it was time to get up and when I told her we were going outside, she quickly ran for the door, tail wagging and down the step and out. I was outside working all day and she seemed back to her old self. The problem now is that I'm not sure how we are going to move forward with the Cane toad battle. Back to that in a minute.

Catching up from yesterday:

We finally dug some of the stuff out of the Christmas boxes we sent from Aunt Coral's house. The princess stuff was a huge hit. At one point, Nova had all of the pieces on at the same time.

I finally decided I was over the tramautic event of cutting Summit's ear several years ago and set to cutting her matted and mangy hair.

There was enough hair to make another Summit.

Ahhh, that's what our Summit is supposed to look like.

So, that haircut was about an hour before the Sherpa drama last night.

This morning, I got started fairly early and set to dropping cement into fence post holes. That meant first a trip to get more cement.

The girls played a very long day with Nelson and Katy while I worked outside until dark.

Nova is putting on a concert and singing into her "microphone".

Of course, they had to watch a show during the day - not sure why they chose to sit crab style.

Lunchtime:

Juneau's faces we catch on camera crack me up.

Nova has been eating like a horse lately - her favorite: Beans & Rice for dinner

This morning I hauled another 10 bags of concrete down the hill (tally: 22 bags) and started planting poles. I knew I was in for another concrete run when the main corner pull took 12 bags (6 cubic feet) - actually 13 bags because after filling the huge hole, I took the 13th bag and filled the pole itself up to the top. Thank goodness for my neighbor Jeff lending me his cement mixer.

By the time I had put in the 4th pole, I was out of concrete so I headed back to City Mill (local Hawaii version of Home Depot). The forklift guy recognized me and when I said I was getting 12 more bags he said "Man, what are you building?" I told him fenceposts but could bear to tell him I was only planting 8 posts...I'm sorry, I can't help it...I have these genes and they tell me to do things.

So, I made it home and carried 12 more bags down the hill (tally: 34 bags - that put me over 1 ton of concrete carried down the hill, 60 lbs at a time - 2040 lbs). Those bags got me through pull 7 and so I called it quits, out of concrete and needing one more pole to put in the final end post. It looks like it will take about 10 bags so I'll need one more trip to get 7 more bags.

At this point, if the big tsunami hits, our house may be wiped out but there will still be 8 steel fenceposts standing there when the water recedes.

After the events of last night, my day wasn't done as I set to putting 1/4" mesh around the base of the fence in the upper yard. The interwebs says that 50 cm (20 inches) high barrier will keep Cane toads out so I put up a 24 inch mesh which was no small job so I was finishing up in the rain and the dark. We'll see how it works...some folks say you have to use something completely smooth like metal or plexiglass. Luckily, the upper yard is elevated and other than the sides along the house, are already well over 50 cm off the ground so it should be possible to protect the upper yard. I'm still thinking I'm filling in the koi pond though to get rid of the attraction. The pack is way more important than having fish...and the prospect of the upkeep on a koi pond wasn't thrilling me...So, Tim - Go ahead and get started on those drawings for my future deck :)

I finally stumbled into the house tired and dirtier than I've been in a long while and cleaned up just enough to be able to sit with Juneau and Nova for a few minutes before bed.

The girls are really happy the dogs are here.

We finally got around to opening the awesome valentine's box we got from Aunt Donova last week - I kept saving it for a special occasion and it kept getting pushed back. The girls were THRILLED by the Toy Story loot inside, especially this awesome story book with all the adventures of Buzz, Woody and Jessie. We got busy on it tonight at bedtime with a Toy Story bedtime story. They were in storybook heaven.