50 days and counting

well we move officially on the 21st july. i will be without the internet (well i will be without pretty much everything) as from that date.....so i thought i would endevour to share bits and bobs with you all until then.

my tip for today is the easiest way to get dogs to take tablets.
buy a packet of cheese slices and wrap the tablet in cheese. im not sure that cheese is terribly good for dogs..but what the heck, this takes about a third of a slice and dogs dont recognize the smell of the tablet in the cheese and they just woof it down. doesnt work with cats.

 

Way to go girl! Here's wishing you a smooth move on 21st.

Re tip on giving animals tablets: Cheese sounds good, pretty much anything that can wrap around a tablet.

As for giving cat's tablets, I do it the way vets do it:

• Cut tablet to small, sizeable amount
• Position cat securely and with one hand hold cat's mouth open with face upward while gently shoving tablet towards back of throat
• Quickly hold shut cat's mouth while gently stroking cat's throat
• Praise cat for being such a brave little soldierrolleyes
• Repeat above steps if necessary
• Give some favourite reward after tablet taking over

My cat reads my mind when it comes to tablets, so even his favourite food won't fool him

Cheers

LS

 

I find peanut better works for me. Messy, but the dogs actually look forward to getting their pills. Cheaper too.

 

Can we look forward to an interesting tip every day?
I wonder if the cheese trick would work on a child?
Maybe chocolate needed !!

 

Best of luck with the move, laurieB. :major
How soon after that will it be before you are able to be on MG again?
We will miss you. :cry Bazza

 

Chocolate is supposed to be poisenese for dogs and cats. When I was a kid it was common to give them it, but now its a bad thing. Strange how biology changes over time.

 

Re: 48 days and counting

so, i have been taking 'inventory' of my home, trying to work out what can stay and what has to go. moving the contents of a three bedroom house to a 10 x 20 cabin is not going to be easy. we are already having 'discussions' about the televisions. we have 3 ordinary size ones and two small ones. i vote to keep the best small one and sell the rest in the yard sale...hubby wants to put them all in storage. and so on and so on. i managed to throw away half my clothes yesterday, but i still have too many and i have less than most woman i know. its a logistics nightmare.

so...tip of the day. kitchen cleaner...if you are troubled by ants than instead of your usual kitchen cleaner mix a squirt of dishwashing liquid with a cup of white vinegar and top with water. use this for all your kitchen surfaces and within a week or two ...no ants! it doesnt work over night. its like magic. there are fewer ants every day untill you suddenly realize that they're all gone. doesnt have any effect on cockroaches though.

 

Re:45 days and counting

my tip for today is to keep flour in the fridge. it stops the little flour mites from getting in and multiplying. also keep a packet of instant mash in the fridge. it stays fresh, and can be used as a substitute for flour to thicken things or coat things. those tupperware type cereal containers are good for this as they are tall and thin and fit at the back of the fridge.

 

Re: 38 days and counting

the earth is flat!!!
no really...i was googling google earth and it suddenly struck me that the highest mountain is only what? six miles high? and mauna kea extends about that much down, so.. from the highest point to the deepest ocean is only a matter of a few miles. hawaii looks FLAT. the land i am going to live on looks flat. its on the side of the volcano. anyway here is where i'm gonna be. i am currently at the top.

speaking of google earth, there is all sorts of pictures and info about hawaii on it. it all very interesting, but is there a way of not having all those markers there? i went to 'prefrences' but didnt understand most of it!!

 

Re: 26 days and counting

oh how time flies. we have spent the last two weekends on the land. last week we went with the intention of raising the walls. my daughter came over from Kauai, it was fathers day on the sunday and jacobs birthday on the monday. we went down friday night intending to make an early start saturday.

the planets are in a line. i don't know how unusual this is, but it sure looks weird.
we had a smilie moon and direct line of the planets seemingly pointing to it. the planets tend to shine much brighter than the stars, or maybe some of the brighter stars are involved in this alignment, but it looks surreal. if there are any astronomers out there maybe you can tell me whats going on?

saturday we decided the proposed cabin was too small and redesigned it to include a small bedroom and lanai (deck - veranda). the weather tends to be rainy in the morning. clearing in the afternoon. which basically is making it difficult to get on with anything. cooking on an open fire is not a problem as such, but cooking for many, in the rain, kinda is. we had a birthday cake for jacob that we lit on the saturday. - cept we couldn't lite it and by the time we went to eat it it was kinda damp and the icing was gooey.
the rain comes in bursts of ten minutes to half hour-ish. meaning that every time one gets tools out and starts up the genny, it rains. once you put it all away, the sun comes out. this is making it very difficult to get anything done. bruce did manage to extend the floor and put 'proper' stairs in, but despite staying until the tuesday i did not feel that we had accomplished much.
i returned home tuesday physically wrung out, and mentally bemused. to start with i was sun burnt. the constant showers during which you seek shelter, have you running about in the periods of sun more than i presumably do otherwise. my lips were sun blistered, my face red and sore, the top of my head burnt. in addition i hurt all over. where we are walking on loose and varying sizes of rock, in flip flops, (and for me long skirts) every step becomes a balancing act. its a bit like spending four days doing a mixture of pilates and tai chi. every bone and muscle hurt but especially my ankles.
not to mention i had spent four days damp to sodding. even my eyes were sore from camp fire smoke and the battle to keep it alive.

all in all i was beginning to wonder what the hell we are doing.

 

posted this in two halves so i don't lose it to the time factor.

this weekend we were in a determined frame of mind. i borrowed shoes from zoe, sturdy trainers that laced high on the ankle, and a pair of jeans no less. and remembered to bring a sun hat.

we went saturday morn and only stayed till sunday. we ate out. we raised three of the six walls (it is now an 'L' shaped cabin). the photos show the process. not quite armish is it. i feel a lot more optimistic today. i am not so burned. the jeans and shoes did help....but were more uncomfortabe wet, and left me with a rash where i was constantly sitting on wet surfaces. the shoes were fine at first. a little on the small size. unfortunately, since i have not had shoes on my feet for several years now, the pressure against my toes has caused bruising under the nail. i will probably lose at least one of them.

the rain made for frequent beer and 'smoke' breaks, and as jacob and zoe are now back in kauai, the four men had me in stitches for most of the weekend.
next weekend we are there again...the other three walls and the lumber for the roof.......hopefully. this week i will buy a pair of shoes and something other than jeans, to work around in. my usual silk floaty attire just isnt gonna cut it.

we will also buy a fold up rain/sun shelter tent thingy to use as a work shop. we have a 'portapotty' type toilet being delivered on wednesday, so no more balancing act in the woods.

 

Woohoo Girl! It's all happening. Looking good. Bet you're starting to feel excited now that things are starting to take shape.

Cheers

LS

 

Re:minus seven days and counting

well, today's the day. we didnt quite finish the cabin, so we will be 'tenting' for at least a few weeks. we got a little further than the picture you see, the roof braces are on, so we will just be able to throw a couple of large tarps over the top and camp inside the cabin frame. because the original plan was just to put up a platform for the tent, we did not build it on blocks. the volcano has been having a hissy fit, and has punched a new hole in the side of the mountain. the resulting earthquakes, although minor, have shifted and twisted the platform. so we had to go backwards, jack the whole thing up and pour cement blocks under the posts. that would not have been to much of a problem except that we had to haul water to make the cement, all the time praying against the rain.

anyway, done now, and praying we can just keep the whole thing level and square until we put the roof and walls on! (life is never simple....even the 'simple' life)

then of course there was the packing and sorting. how did i end up with so much stuff? considering that i deliberately try to keep my possessions to a minimum, its amazing how much i have accumulated over the past few years.
spent two weeks dividing everything up into what i could let go, and what i just had to put into storage. had a big garage sale last weekend just as a big storm blew in!! (some hurricane or another making its way across the pacific).
so didnt sell much!! gave it all away to the local church, so somebody elses blessing.

oh, and we have rescued yet another dog!!! i dont know why these dogs are picking on us. like li'l boo, this one just turned up on the door step and refused to leave. (they both started off just coming round occasionally to say hi to our other two, than more and more until in boo's case he was living under the porch and in bella's case she was living under bruces truck.) totally schitzy, it took weeks to entice her close enough for a stroke. to start with we put up posters around town "is this your dog?". no replies, which was a good thing as we have since realized that this dog has been badly abused. whereas our other dog used to be frightened of everything, this one is only frightened of men. she shrinks and cowers every time one is near her. it has almost reduced my hubby to tears. we have had her for two weeks now, and she has formed a friendship with my son, (who is almost a man) and has started coming up to hubby and my brother for a quick stroke. bella isn't in bad shape for a stray. a bit thin under all her fur (she's fluffy). she is utterly beautiful, utterly charming, sweet, affectionate, funny, border collie mix. i dont understand how she can be a stray!! i dont understand how anyone could mistreat her!!! anyway now we have FOUR!!

i do not know when i will be able to post again, take good care of yourselves untill then. much aloha. pray for me.

 

Great pix and thanks for the "blow by blow" construction details.
Hope all is well with you and yours.
Hope the stray is becoming more friendly to all.
We were given a cockatiel that must have a hard life also. First 2 weeks it just paced back and forth along the bottom the cage. Now, more weeks later, it is a lot happier, climbing around the cage, starting to whistle and trying to talk to us. Bazza

 

well. this is exciting. i am using the puter at my sons new school. we are fine and enjoying 'the experience'. we now have running water..yipee. bruce has put gutter runing up on one side of the cabin, and we have a 50gal tank and about another 50gal in smaller containers. it rains most nights, so so far we haven't run out. i am cooking on a propane barbecue grill. it has a burner to one side, so i don't have to light the whole grill thing every time i want to boil a kettle. i have discovered that french press coffee is even better than drip. jacob has become addicted to READING, so for all those parents who wonder how their kids would manage without electronics, the answer is 'just fine'! i have been trying to clear the forest floor a little to plant flowers and stuff, but every time i clear 4ft square of ferns, i end up with a twelve ft pile of green waste. dont ask me how that happens. the dogs are driving me insane. there is no way to keep them under control, and they have free roam of a 50mile forest. we are going to try one of those electronic fences, the kind that zap them through their collar. i don't hold out a lot of hope for shadow though.... we have had him for five years and so far haven't managed to teach him his own name. still perhaps a few sessions of E.C.T. will do him the world of good!! life is all good. my aloha to you all. catch you up soon.

 

Hey Laurie...great to hear you guys are doing well and that you have plenty water hehe. Sounds like you have made a ton of progress. Heck you even have guttering which is more than we have so far!! Awesome that your son is just loving reading.......need any books mailing over? hehe

So good to hear from you...we all miss you, your posts and photos of beautiful Hawaii

*Hugs* and take good care.

 

Nice to hear from you, was wondering how you were getting by.

 

Missed you laurieB, from bigbazza in another tropical paradise (but with all mod-cons :major, and too many Mexicans (Southern Staters) :cry moving here and driving up all prices. Bazza

 

Honda apparently make a great little petrol generator. Only 8 kilos (around 17 pounds) in weight, and have had great reviews and sales here (in 4WD , fishing, and camping circles). Maybe worth a look when you next "in civilisation". :major Bazza

 

Check out http://www.hondapowerequipment.com/gen.asp if you are interested. Bazza

 

Hey laurieB, hows it going?
Long time no hear, about your current hijinx. Bazza

 

well i'm still alive and kicking. we haven't done much to the cabin since i posted you last, but i've done a sh*tload to the 'garden'. i now have clear a maybe 20' space behind and another to the road side of the cabin. i am now working on the front. all the plants i brought in pots are thriving, and people have been so kind in giving me a miriod of cuttings and babys from their gardens. i dont know what i have planted or where, so the whole thing is a giant botanical surprise. i miss hubby dreadfully. he has been staying up the 'other side' during the wee coz of work, and we have been seeing each other at weekends. situation should normalise soon though as he has work coming up on this side and once people see how skilled he is, word will spread. we still havent put up the electric fence thing.....money is short. does anyone have any expereince of these?? meanwhile i am only letting them out one or two at a time and this seems to stop them wondering so far and as a pack. jacob is doing well at his new school. i have dropped a stone (14 lbs), some because i am eating fresher, some because i am working hard at clearing land and there really isn't any excersise like hauling large rocks and boulders. beats aerobics any day...not that ive ever tried aerobics, but you get the drift. ok liberary time is up. catch you all soon. much aloha as always.

 

LauraB, how lovely to hear from you again...have been wondering what's been going on in your little bit of paradise.

You certainly have been busy and what a great way lose to weight while making your own little bit of Heaven. Only watch how you bend/lift stuff so you don't do your back in - that is, always bend your knees and stabilise yourself before lifting anything. (OK, lecture over.LOL)

You must miss your hubby during the week...guess it wouldn't hurt to send/hand post advertisement flyers to help get word around about your husband's skills.

Take care and much happiness in your new home...stay in touch and hope to hear from you soon.

Cheers

LS:wave