19 switches

In the past 2 weeks, we replaced 19 light switches. It all started when the hall light needed too much encouragement to.turn off.  About 2/3 of the switches seemed like originals.  This is the last original.

Yard improvements

It has been dry recently, so I made more yard improvements.

The Punahou Carnival was this weekend.  My favorite booth is the plant booth.  I spent $28.50 for some amazing plants.  I carried all of them home on my bike.  This is $23 worth of plants: on the side are 2 monstera, in the box are a hibiscus, taro, 2 heliconia (like bird-of-paradise), ginger, pink flowers, purple ti-like plant, and an impatient.  Today I picked up a papaya, variegated hibiscus, more pink flowers, lavender, oregano, and something related to ti.  I picked up free compost and wood chip mulch to help my plants get a good start.

Here is the cargo from Friday.

The monstera and impatient went in the side yard. The impatient is in the back, next to the gardenia tree (you can't see it).

Hibscuses are in the other side yard.  I am hoping to screen the neighbors house a bit.

The tall ti-like plants were rescued from the bird of paradise 2 weeks ago.  The soil was partly drainage rock so I dug them back up and mixed in some compost.  The little green guys are some sort of bromeliad that came with the property.  The new ti-like plants are the short stocky green plant and purple plant.  You can barely see the purple one.

These are the rehabbed garden plots.  My tomatoes and basil are going crazy.  My tomatoes have flower buds!

The plot in the foreground (left) was totally filled with vines and green onions.  Now I have beans planted in front of the green onions.  They just started to sprout. The plot in the background (right)  is my new plot.  It will take several weeks before I can plant anything.  Right now it's just compost and extra dirt from other parts of the yard.

Things outside are really coming together.

Photos

Here is the living room.  Can you find the bunny?

We painted it in december, but I kept forgetting to take photos when it was dark.  The light from the windows makes for poor photos during the day.

This is the progress on the side yard.

Today I am getting plants at the punahou carnival.  The goal is to make the side yard as low maintenance as possible.

Dinosaur eggs and other fun stuff

Home repairs are coming along. The living room is no longer tan-barfy-peach.  The master bedroom ceiling is 100% white. Previously it was a mix of white and beige on different ceiling panels.  I have Ethernet for my desktop computer.  The garden space increased by 250%. Half of our light switches are new, and we have a new landscaping project started in the side yard.  Now for some photos.

Matt is preparing to install a new light switch in the carport so we can turn the light on and off with out going back into the house.  The old light switch seemed to be broken.

Upon removing the old light switch, we found some eggs.  

It felt very Jurassic park.  We think they are anole eggs.  2 were still unhatched (just to the left of the wiring).  We tried our best not to disturb them.

Here is the living room in progress.  The new color, pensive sky, is much nicer than tan-barfy-peach. I need to take another photo of the room completely finished.  Master bedroom is still being put back together after closet painting this weekend.  

Sunrise (not related to home repairs), but this is what makes it worth while.

Drainage is working!

For the first time, we have had consistent, measurable rainfall at our new house.  We have received approximately 1 3/4 inches of rain in the past 7 days.  The drainage system Paul designed seems to be doing its job.

The water is following the drain tile and staying away from the house.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7BT-An1l-M


It's getting all the way down the driveway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsDuum41M1M


And it's staying out of the basement!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=logliqeHYqo

We will call this a victory for now.  The next test will be a heavy storm, with multiple inches in one day.

A compost bin and new kitchen faucet

I finally made a compost bin for the back yard.  Now the trick is to remember to put my compost in it!

The dripping faucet in the kitchen finally started getting worse (and the persistent bloop bloop bloop was getting on my nerves).  Since the old one had 2 handles and I prefer 1 handle, the clear answer was to replace, not repair.  The faucet selection at Home Depot and Lowes is quite extensive.  The biggest problem was finding a faucet we liked with a handle that wouldn't be obstructed by the backsplash.

Old faucet.  Sorry about the lighting, the sun was shining directly into the window.

New faucet.

Now we need to keep ripping off the old paneling so we can tile the walls under above the counters. 

Yard Improvements

We have three more banana trees in the yard now.

It will be a while before we get bananas, but they should be delicious!

The avocado tree has plenty of fruit out of reach.  We're planning to get the 15 ft telescoping fruit picker from Home Depot soon.

I'm even trying my hand at a garden.  So far, I have basil, rosemary, and a pepper plant.

I pruned the pomegranate tree.  I still can't tell if the fruit is edible or strictly ornamental.  So far none of the pomegranates have been very good.