Jump to content
SaltCritters.com

Islandoftiki's Hawaiian adventure!


Islandoftiki

Recommended Posts

Mr. Microscope

Beautiful view. I wish my drive looked like that.

That telescope looks cool! I hope they get the goahead to finish it. I really don't understand the protests. It's not like it's an oil refinery or something.

Link to comment

You have probably been asked this before but what do you do for work near Kona? Did you move to Hawaii just for the sole purpose of work?

Link to comment
Islandoftiki

You have probably been asked this before but what do you do for work near Kona? Did you move to Hawaii just for the sole purpose of work?

 

I'm a master automotive technician. I work at a European automotive repair shop in downtown Kona.

 

 

Hey John, if I remember correctly, you used the Oxydator, right? Was there any reaction good or not so good from its use?

 

I made my own odydator type device to use in the 2 gallon tank. I noticed some improvements in water quality, mostly minor improvements, but I never really kept up with it because I was too lazy to deal with re-filing it regularly.

 

Thought everyone might enjoy seeing the ohana building as we got it all cleaned up and prepared to it's first guest who thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

 

Stay tuned for more updates! We're off to the beach for the afternoon!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Islandoftiki

Did you guys feel the 4.5 earthquake where you are? I don't know anything about the islands.

No, we didn't. We're too far north to have felt that one. The Big Island is pretty geologically active, so small earthquakes are pretty common. It's uncommon to get really big ones, though they do happen from time to time.

 

I have a big video update sitting on YouTube right now, but I'm not sure how to post it from my phone. I'll post it when I get home. :)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Mr. Microscope

Fun video! I enjoyed every minute of it. Thank you for sharing your adventure with us. It's so exciting to see everything come together.

 

What kind of orchids are those pink and yellow ones? WOw! Beautiful.

Link to comment
FlowerMama

Well, it's so enjoyable to watch your videos to learn what you're doing. Irrigation systems, drip lines, herb growing, the island folk will be coming to you for tutorials!!!!

Link to comment
Islandoftiki

Who has two thumbs and likes tide pools? This guy!

 

I present to you, three minutes and thirty seconds of one square foot of The Big Island of Hawaii.

 

 

How many different crabs can you find? I think there are over seven, but I'm probably missing a few.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Mr. Microscope

Love the audio on that. So relaxing.

 

I only counted 6 crabs...dang..

 

Are those fish little gobies, or do you think some sort of juvenile fish?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Islandoftiki

Love the audio on that. So relaxing.

 

I only counted 6 crabs...dang..

 

Are those fish little gobies, or do you think some sort of juvenile fish?

I'd hedge a guess at tide pool gobies or zebra blennies as the two most common species. Hard to tell when they're that small.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Islandoftiki

As some of you may remember, our convertible Mini Cooper S suffered a catastrophic clutch failure several months back, and due to all of the craziness I haven't had time to touch it until this weekend.

 

As some of you know, I'm a master automotive technician who specializes on Swedish and European cars, so this isn't a difficult job for me in the least. However, it is one of the more labor intensive clutch replacements out there. Saturday I dug in:

 

Step one: Bring home most of the tools from the top drawer of my tool box at work:

 

20150515_193443_zpsdx6k5x1f.jpg

 

 

Step two: Rip the face off of the Mini:

 

20150515_193429_zpsxy9qqbyf.jpg

 

 

Step three: Yank the subframe out:

 

20150516_120217_zpssik4xynw.jpg

 

 

Step four, give the transmission a good tug and out it comes. Chuck it on the floor:

 

20150516_135700_zpspdpmyzc8.jpg

 

 

Step five, survey the damage. I like to call this an "exploded view":

 

20150516_135606_zpsnx89dqgt.jpg

 

 

Much fun. The new clutch is already installed and the transmission is back in the car.

 

20150517_170718_zpsqufl3wcs.jpg

 

 

I'm waiting for new power steering lines before I put it all back together since it's much easier to change them while the subframe is out. They're barely leaking, but I don't want to rip it all apart in a year do do them.

 

 

Speaking of clutches, I found a clutch of gecko eggs that were in a particularly bad location, so I rescued them. They are very much alive and I've put the in a small cardboard box with an escape hole. They'll live in the breezeway so they stay safe and I can monitor their progress.

 

20150517_124241_zpse5ynnol9.jpg

 

 

I also got around to installing a dog door in the breezeway for Samson. I'm sure he'll appreciate it. It only took him about 10 minutes to learn to use it. He's a sharp one.

 

20150517_174343_zpsizmdj7yk.jpg

 

I also added a second hose bib so we could set up a drip irrigation system and get some stuff growing! First order of business, cilantro! It's hard to find fresh cilantro on the island.

 

20150517_175847_zpsswdgglhs.jpg

 

20150517_175857_zpsapwmfnuu.jpg

 

 

  • Like 6
Link to comment
  • 3 weeks later...
Islandoftiki

Sorry for the delay in posting updates. There has been so much going on lately, I haven't had time!

 

Let's see, where did we leave off?

 

I finished the clutch on the Mini and it's up and running again!

 

20150524_161500_zpsjck6jjgo.jpg

 

Check out the process of getting it out of the garage through the 6' wide double doors. It fits! If you fold the mirrors in!

 

 

Our neighbor's donkey comes to visit us nearly every day. Usually in the morning now when I'm at work. He stands at the fence line and lets out a loud Hee-Haw to let Pamela know he's there and that he's expecting carrots. He's absolutely in love with Pamela.

 

20150525_183911_zpsu2joew8b.jpg

 

We bought a trailer, which is pretty necessary on the island. You either need a pickup or a trailer, or both. Almost nobody has free delivery of any large items like furniture or anything else.

 

20150525_185240_zpsl0mxn3g2.jpg

 

Then we got baby chickens!

 

20150526_183058_zpsoqsut829.jpg

 

And screen doors for all of the sliding glass doors!

 

20150530_180339_zpsesiocgf9.jpg

 

And I added closet storage, all the way to the ceiling!

 

20150531_115832_zps9czbkyfs.jpg

 

And then the chickens got really big!

 

20150606_120550_zps0jyso5wp.jpg

 

20150606_120736_zpsjxvpxy4x.jpg

 

And Geronimo came to visit again and started playing with the irrigation pipe.

 

20150606_142508_zpsqxngrvot.jpg

 

And the chickens graduated to a small coop!

 

20150607_183247_zpshh0va965.jpg

 

And our dog is learning to get along with the chickens and not freak out about them.

 

20150607_183630_zpsqnysq4yo.jpg

 

And now we're cleaning up this old shed and converting it to a large chicken coop!

 

20150607_183002_zpsz1agzz0u.jpg

 

We pressure washed the inside and sealed the concrete floor.

 

20150607_182948_zpsf8aj0elu.jpg

 

As I started pressure washing the shed, geckos started coming out of the seams and from behind the doors and there were tons of them. As they'd fall to the floor, Pamela would run in and rescue them one at a time. She probably saved three dozen geckos. Then as she was standing outside, several scorpions came out from the foundation, so she saved three scorpions as well. The scorpions were much easier to wrangle. Just hold out a stick and they climb on board. Then move them to a tree and they step right off onto the tree. If they start walking up the stick toward your hand, just grab the stick from the other end.

 

20150607_183044_zpsufda7qin.jpg

 

Then my coworker needed to rehome their pair of Jackson's chameleons. A boy and a girl. These were caught right here on the island. They are non-native and considered an invasive species, so it seems okay to keep them as pets and get them out of the environment. They do well in captivity and are quite docile and interactive. They get fed cockroaches, which are not hard to find here.

 

The boy is molting right now.

 

20150609_172617_zpsckuwwako.jpg

 

The girl wouldn't cooperate for the picture. They're pretty good sized and really cute.

 

20150609_172449_zpsl7tdnxaf.jpg

 

And that's the short version of what all has been going on. There's a lot more than that, but these are the highlights.

 

Stay tuned for more!

  • Like 10
Link to comment
Mr. Microscope

Yay! An update! What fun it looks like you guys are having. Neat idea for the chikens. Those chami's are really neat.

 

Three cheers to Pamela for saving the geckos and scorpions! ;)

  • Like 1
Link to comment

Man, you guys are amazing with all the projects you have going. You just seem to know so much about many things.

That's a crazy fit w/ the Mini.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...

Just an FYI, arachnids don't really perceive red, especially the far red spectrum. So if you want to hunt them at night, get a flashlight with far red LEDs and they won't react to the light. They'll still probably know you're coming though, since they're really sensitive to vibration.

Link to comment
Islandoftiki

Well, let's start this post with a picture of the sunset the other night.

 

hdr_00014_1_zps0s3vddpt.jpg

 

Following that, we got a spectacular view of Venus and Jupiter. Sadly, I don't have camera gear for taking pictures of stars. Needless to say, every time we look up at the night sky, we say wow.

 

A couple days ago we found Wilson! He must have washed up here in our backyard in a tsunami. Ignore the fact that we live at 750 ft. above sea level.

 

20150618_182704_zpsdm9prnr6.jpg

 

 

The chickens have been growing like crazy. I'm a little astounded by how fast chickens grow! It's crazy! It's like they nearly double in size every day!

 

20150621_184828_zpshxennx57.jpg

 

20150621_184923_zpsyfrqlgtb.jpg

 

And the Buff Orpingtons are particularly friendly and cuddly.

 

20150618_213536_zpsxtivf39m.jpg

 

 

With the rapid growth rate of our chickens and zero mortality, we need to graduate them to a larger home in the next couple of weeks. I've been hard at work converting the broken down shed in the front yard to a first class chicken coop. This will be a palatial mansion for eight chickens.

 

20150621_190524_zpsnb8fxcc2.jpg

 

20150621_190545_zpsponnhqlp.jpg

 

20150621_190619_zpsznvsmk60.jpg

 

20150621_190643_zps4uqwq2rl.jpg

 

 

And here's a little marine news for you. This is right here in our back yard. Literally minutes from our house. I haven't seen them yet, but I'm keeping an eye out for them every morning and evening on my commute.

 

20150615_131816_zpsumjod37i.jpg

  • Like 10
Link to comment
HarryPotter

Omg this may be my new favorite thread!

 

We raised about 8 chickens from eggs a while ago in an incubator, and had them for a few years. Sadly coyotes kept getting to them

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...