Dec. 5, 2017
Woke up at 8am
Got a great start today. I started out today unloading all 10 80lbs. bags of cement from the van and went to the community spring to fetch some water. I needed 8 bags to finish the cap and I bought 2 more as a precaution. Once I returned, I made quick work of the remaining cement job for the cap. Once this was finished I started back working on the subfloor. After about 6 long hours of hauling two by sixes and hammering them in, I managed to get the framework about 90% done. It was not easy, and I will most likely be feeling it in the morning, but it did feel good
to get some work done without any rain for once.
Dec. 6, 2017
Woke up at 10 am today.
I guess I needed to catch up on some sleep. I didn’t go to sleep until 5am this morning as the north winds were blowing extremely hard last night. But, once I did get up and start moving around it was off to the races. After some much-needed Advil, of course.
I went ahead and finished laying the rest of the subfloor. Later on in the day, I went over to Home Depot to grab the piping for all of the plumbing that will need to be done before I close up the floor. Once I got back, Continue reading “Day 31”
Dec. 7, 2017
Woke up at 6am
It was a bit cold last night. I actually had to wrap myself in my sleeping bag around 3am this morning. Once I go up and out of bed, it was off to the races for me. I managed to get all of the plumbing done for the home. This includes the Pex piping for the hot and cold water runs. The Pex piping is really great in the sense that you can do bends and curves
without needing to do 45-degree angles, but not so good in the fact that it was wound so tight that it made it difficult to unravel. Luckily I had some wire left from the cesspool cap that I could use as a holster for the piping. Which allowed me to keep it straight in places there were long runs. Now that this is complete, I can start getting to work on placing the tongue and groove plywood.
Dec. 8, 2017
Woke up at 9am
Last night was not a very good night for me. In fact, I have not been able to sleep well for 5 straight nights now. It gets so cold it wakes me out of my sleep. Last night was especially terrible. It was all good until around 3am when the temperature went from 62 degrees down to 52 degrees in a matter of 30 minutes. This rapid temperature shift made everything in the tent condensate. Now everything became extremely wet and
even the tent roof started dripping water. I had to wait until the sun came out to dry everything before getting out of bed. Every part of me was cold and clammy. I for sure think I will be getting sick very soon.
Once I managed to get up and going I started immediately with the plywood. My wife is going to murder me one of these days as I managed to forget to eat once again. I wanted so badly to get this floor finished that I didn’t eat anything after noon. But, there is a reason for my rush. The sooner the floor is finished, the sooner I can move up to the platform and off the ground. Since the floor to the home is 6ft off the ground, this should help a lot with the moisture situation.
Unfortunately, laying 3/4 in. tongue and groove plywood by yourself can be a real challenge. Not so much physically exhausting, as it is, trying to be in two places at once. In order for the grooves to line up, one must stand on the incoming board to line up with the previous board. Then it is hit with a very large hammer onto a piece of wood connected to the plywood as to not damage the tongues. This ensures that the board goes in evenly and all the way. These two locations being about 4 ft apart from each other which leaves me in a bit of a pickle. My solution was to load up the tool bags and place them on top of the box of nails to the spots that needed holding down. This seemed to do the trick, however, it takes a bit longer, and I only managed to get half the platform done
today because of this. No worries, I will finish this tomorrow and hopefully have the tent moved by this Sunday. This will guarantee a nice easy path all the way to the home from the road for the next few deliveries as there is no camping setup to maneuver around. I will be over the moon if this happens, as lugging all of those materials across this property has proven to be a bit of a nightmare. But what’s done is done, and on to a better tomorrow.
Dec. 9, 2017
Woke up at 7am
So today was a bit of a test for me. This was the first time I felt overwhelmed since I arrived. While putting on the last few pieces of plywood I noticed that the bases had shifted and my deck was no longer square. The price you pay for building on top of lava rock instead of a normal soil ground I guess. I figured I would have to do some shimming on the front facade to make up the difference. Of course, by the time I had realized this error, Hank comes strolling up the driveway.
After much arguing, we did end up agreeing that shimming was not going to be an option as this would only continue to be a problem all the way up to the roof. So the only solution was to put them back exactly where they were before. So we set off to try and fix the issue. This meant pulling up all the boards I laid yesterday and using a pick, a hammer, and my girth, to move the legs into place. Hank thought he could show me how it is done, but nothing he tried seemed to get the bases moving. After about two hours of trying to convince him that I could get it done on my own, I just all of a sudden screamed like a banshee and ran full speed at the platform. I hit it right on the front corner with Continue reading “Day 34”
Dec. 10, 2017
Woke up at 5am.
I ran to the hardware store in the morning to grab a new hole bore bit for my drill. So I can finish installing all of the lag bolts that are holding up the foundation to the post and piers. Then started to finally close up the foundation. While I did this Hank and his tree trimmer buddy came by and helped me get rid of a large tree that was
threatening the neighbor’s house. (I feel like I should give you a little bit of a backstory in case you might have forgotten about this little arrangement.) A couple of weeks ago when Hank convinced me to go and buy a better chainsaw he was so kind as to offer up his services in exchange for said equipment. Seeing how I would not need one once all the trees had been cleared I thought “what the heck”, it will cost me less in the end anyway as he only works about 1 hour out of his normal four-hour minimum. So this way I will be getting off a little cheaper. Or so I thought. Now comes today. Hank and his mate come by to cut down a couple of the rather large trees that posed a threat to our neighbors home and fenceline. HIs buddy also made sure and poisoned the ones he cut down so they wouldn’t grow back. I really appreciated him doing that as this will save me a lot of work down the road. I kind of feel like I should give the saw to his mate instead of Hank as his friend seems to be doing all of the hard work and Hank just makes excuses as to why can’t continue working.
Once they had finished and his buddy left, I told Hank about the trees in the back of the property that need to be eliminated as well. Then comes the best part of my entire trip here. Hank tells me that he feels like he has done more than enough to earn my chainsaw and he had to spend a $100 on calling his buddy out to come to help him with the trees. I informed him that this was his decision and had nothing to do with our arrangement. By the way, I found out later in the conversation that it was $100 worth in weed and not exactly cash that he spent. In the end, I chose to take the higher route and just walked away from the conversation. I know there are a million things I should have said and done at that moment, but this was the only option that would leave him standing in the end. I have had more than enough of my crappy neighbor, but I know I have to play nice as I will be gone for I don’t know how long, and he knows I won’t be home as well.
Trust me once my family and I arrive at the island and we are in our home to keep an eye on it, he is not allowed to step one foot on our property. I will definitely see to that. The least the bastard could have done was let me use my own chainsaw so I can finish cutting the rest of the trees down myself. He has borrowed it since the day I bought it and seems to now own the freaking thing. So I have never even started the damn thing. But no, he offered to let me hire him to cut down the rest of my trees at his usual 4-hour minimum rate. WITH MY OWN CHAINSAW! This was the straw that broke the camels back. Dude is dead to me. I will play nice to save face while I’m here, but nothing he does or says will ever be of any concern of mine.
Dec. 11, 2017
Woke up around 9am.
I knew I would be able to get a lie in today as the floor is complete, and the Home Depot delivery is scheduled between 10-2.
So I woke up and made some tea. Sat down and started getting everything organized for the purchase order I will be doing later in the day. Around 1:30pm the delivery arrived and he was able to place it near the home this time. I was so happy about that. This will save me a great deal of walking back and forth across the property for materials. Once he finished I immediately got in the vehicle and headed straight for HD to put in the order for the roofing material. Continue reading “Day 36”
Dec. 12, 2017
WOKE UP AT 5:30AM
Today I woke up to the sound of the most peculiar bird. One I have never heard before, nor have I ever seen before. Maybe someone watching the video can identify it for me. The video would have been longer but my phone died at that moment.
Today was pretty much a wasted day of me driving back and forth to Hilo. I started
out by trying to take back the air mattress as it is now starting to completely deflate on its own. The valve has broken and it is the rapid release one, so I am taken down to the floor in about 2.5 seconds. Well, the store did not have any to exchange and I have to go back at a later date.
Dec. 13, 2017
Woke up at 7am
I managed to get a lot of framework done today. Also, I broke out the table saw for the first time. I got the two windows in the front framed and half of each side wall. The only thing I realized is that I need a 14ft, 2×4 for the main entrance. So I headed to THD to pick one up. After coming back, I installed the piece over the middle and now the front wall is completely framed. This called for a celebration, so I sat back and smoked a cigar under
the canopy. while doing this, the wife and I discussed our options for the windows in the bathroom and bedroom. Also, we decided to not go with premade front doors and to make the Shoji-style doors by hand. Here goes nothing 🙂
Dec. 14, 2017
Woke up at 10am
Didn’t get much sleep last night, so I slept in some today.
I was able to get the walls completely around the home. I didn’t have time to put up all of the studs, but at least I can remove some of the bracings. This will allow me to walk around the platform a little easier without tripping all the time.
Munky's Hawaiian Adventure 