Mr. Microscope Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 Fun pics! lol about Wilson! Are you going to hook up some exhaust in the new coop? I imagine temps will soar in there. Quote Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 Do they have solar powered fans? Quote Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted June 24, 2015 Author Share Posted June 24, 2015 Fun pics! lol about Wilson! Are you going to hook up some exhaust in the new coop? I imagine temps will soar in there. Interestingly, I was working in the shed with only the doors open all day and it stayed reasonably cool in there. I will be adding a bunch of ventilation this weeked though. The shed is shaded by mesquite trees for nearly the entire day, which helps keep it cool. Do they have solar powered fans? Yes, yes they do. That's a great idea. I will look into that. 2 Quote Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted July 5, 2015 Author Share Posted July 5, 2015 Hey gang! For the past couple of weeks, I've been busy modifying the storage shed on our property to become a chicken coop for our eight baby chickens that are rapidly becoming not babies. For the past two weekends, I've been getting the outdoor run built. It's presented some challenges because we have a crap-ton of mice in our area and we wanted to keep the our of the coop. So, after I built the main foundation for the chicken run, Pamela dug the trench around it. See that pick axe? That's what you have to use to dig in our rocky soil around here. It was no small task to dig a four inch deep trench around the coop. We then lined the trench with hardware cloth and backfilled it with lava rock. Good luck digging through that, rodents! And because the mice also live under the concrete foundation of the shed, I had to address that, too. To add ventilation, I built three hardware cloth windows and added them to the coop. The foundation is complete! Now, who wants to play frisbee? I then built the basic structure of the outdoor run. And that night, Venus and Jupiter gave us an amazing show! Check them out all hangin' out together like best buddies: Today, I finished the outdoor run. It is 100% rodent proof! No mice are getting in there! After finishing that, we climbed up on the roof to see if we could find where rodents were getting into the roof of the bedroom building. Unfortunately we didn't find their secret entrance, but we did discover that we have an amazing view from up there! The far left side of the picture is where thee fireworks will be happening in about 45 minutes. And lastly, here's an adorable video of my male Jackson's chameleon drinking water from a water spray bottle. https://youtu.be/Bz6AIO1YwZ0 8 Quote Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted July 5, 2015 Share Posted July 5, 2015 Love the hawaiian music addition to your video. I just want to close my eyes and pretend I'm there. He's so funny. I love when he blinks when it hits him. It's like oh damn, it hit my face, let me lick my lips. 1 Quote Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted July 17, 2015 Author Share Posted July 17, 2015 It's been hot here! Hot and humid. We'll call it mildly miserable, but not intolerable. Suffice it to say that I'm getting tired of being moist. The chickens, who continue to grow like weeds, have a few tricks up their sleeves to help stay cool on these warm summer days: 4 Quote Link to comment
SquishyFishy Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 I am so impressed with everything John. When I think of how it all looked when you bought it. You guys have good eyes with foresight! And great skills. Can't wait to see your first egg! Your menagerie has grown exponentially. All the residents look like a blast to live with! I can't believe its been 2 months since we were there.....boy do I want to come back!!!!!!!!! 1 Quote Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted July 19, 2015 Author Share Posted July 19, 2015 I can't believe its been 2 months since we were there.....boy do I want to come back!!!!!!!!! When you come back, plan to spend a couple of nights up north with us! After all, we have fully functional guest quarters -- soon to have air conditioning! The electrician just finished the electrical, the A/C units go in soon! Quote Link to comment
SquishyFishy Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 Did you see the special on the Pluto flyby? They featured the observatory up there. I'd like to visit it. And see the sunset/sunrise over Haleakala. How much does it cost to get over to Maui. Can you just take a ferry or something? Also, the Vog was pretty bad the day we were there. Is there an optimal month for sunshine down in Kona? The next snorkel Has to be sunny! Quote Link to comment
Hammerstone Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 What a dream come true!!! Quote Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 Do the home depot buckets have food or water in them? Quote Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 How much does it cost to get over to Maui. Can you just take a ferry or something? Also, the Vog was pretty bad the day we were there. Is there an optimal month for sunshine down in Kona? The next snorkel Has to be sunny! You have to fly over to Maui on one of the local airlines, I've seen tickets as cheap as $160 round trip. Winter is the best time for clear weather. The vog is dependent on the tradewinds and the amount of volcanic activity. Where we live up north, we almost never get vog. Do the home depot buckets have food or water in them? Yep. They're automatic food/water dispensers. Both of them are designed to be low mess/spillage. They work really well. Quote Link to comment
charnelhouse Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 You have to fly over to Maui on one of the local airlines, I've seen tickets as cheap as $160 round trip. Or this. One time investment... 1 Quote Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted July 22, 2015 Author Share Posted July 22, 2015 Who's hungry for crickets? 2 Quote Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted July 22, 2015 Author Share Posted July 22, 2015 I also got to open up my aquarium gear boxes and dig out an Aqualifter pump, a timer and some air line tubing that I combined it with some drip irrigation line to create a timed rain storm for them. Chameleons don't recognize water bowls as a place to drink from. They lick water off of plants when it rains. We've been using a spray bottle to mist them and the leaves in the cages, but this will provide a more consistent chance to drink throughout the day and make it easier when we go out of town. I'm also looking to upgrade their cages to something a little nicer. 1 Quote Link to comment
Matteo Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 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: Step two: Rip the face off of the Mini: Step three: Yank the subframe out: Step four, give the transmission a good tug and out it comes. Chuck it on the floor: Step five, survey the damage. I like to call this an "exploded view": Much fun. The new clutch is already installed and the transmission is back in the car. 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. 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. 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. I loved my mini but my wallet didnt 1 Quote Link to comment
dpoltsdsu Posted July 22, 2015 Share Posted July 22, 2015 Awesome thread. I'm visiting Maui right as we speak 2 Quote Link to comment
SquishyFishy Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 John you are just amazing. I picture ya'll on a deserted island somewhere like Swiss Family Robinson....devising systems from nothing and clever survival scenarios! LOL! Hey, I bet you could be on T.V. with a reality show....Survival Hawaii! 2 Quote Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted July 24, 2015 Author Share Posted July 24, 2015 John you are just amazing. I picture ya'll on a deserted island somewhere like Swiss Family Robinson....devising systems from nothing and clever survival scenarios! LOL! Hey, I bet you could be on T.V. with a reality show....Survival Hawaii! I'm hoping eventually we'll be a little more advanced than that, lol. In fact, just yesterday we had air conditioning installed in the main bedroom building and the guest quarters building. We decided A/C wasn't really necessary in the main building since it never really gets all that hot because we always have the windows open; plus there are ceiling fans in every room. When did a/c units get so small? Speaking of making the house more civilized, we finally are getting to put up artwork on the walls! And this amazing teak mirror for the main building bathroom. Tomorrow is Friday and we've got a big weekend ahead of us. We're going to take time out of our house project mayhem and get out and do some snorkeling. We're going to try a new place just 3 minutes from here. It looks pretty amazing from the surface. I'll be taking my underwater camera. 3 Quote Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted July 24, 2015 Author Share Posted July 24, 2015 I'm dying to set up a tidepool tank with one of my fluval spec tanks. But here's the catch... I want to sump it. The question is, is it drillable? I assume it isn't tempered glass. What would be the best overflow for the small space available in the back chamber? A really small Durso or Bean Animal? Other? As a reminder, here's a picture of the pest tank for a rough size idea of the rear chamber. I don't have exact dimensions right now since everything is still packed away in boxes. I'm thinking a sump size of 20 gallons or more with a skimmer, and maybe an algae scrubber since chaeto is illegal here (I know where to get it, but it's still illegal and I plan of sharing all of the build with you). I may eventually do a diptych or triptych of fluval specs with a common sump. I'm not sure. I still need to figure out how to get my hands on an O. Brevirostris mantis shrimp here, and that will require me to set up my 25 gallon tank (I still haven't had the nerve to open the box to see if it survived the shipping). 2 Quote Link to comment
dpoltsdsu Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 Please set up the 25.. you could put some amazing stuff in there. So many Zoanthids in those tidepools.... 3 Quote Link to comment
Mr. Microscope Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 Yay! A tank! I don't know about the glass, but I'd do a herbie back there. It looks like you have room for two 1/2" pipes in the back. I imagine that should provide enough flowthrough. I have a herbie with 3/4" pipes in my 25 gallon. Quote Link to comment
charnelhouse Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 That A/C unit looks undersized for that space to me. Those wall mount split units are typically used for small data rooms in the neighborhood of 200 square feet. Has the tech for those things gotten that much better that a unit that small will cool that whole room? Of course I'm just a sparky, not a tin knocker, so my HVAC expertise is limited.... 1 Quote Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted July 24, 2015 Author Share Posted July 24, 2015 That A/C unit looks undersized for that space to me. Those wall mount split units are typically used for small data rooms in the neighborhood of 200 square feet. Has the tech for those things gotten that much better that a unit that small will cool that whole room? Of course I'm just a sparky, not a tin knocker, so my HVAC expertise is limited.... It's actually larger than it looks in the picture, but much smaller than some of the older units that I've seen. It's correctly sized for the room. All four contractors who bid on the job chose this size. 1 Quote Link to comment
charnelhouse Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 It's actually larger than it looks in the picture, but much smaller than some of the older units that I've seen. It's correctly sized for the room. All four contractors who bid on the job chose this size. Crazy. I knew they were getting more compact, but that is really low profile. Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.