So Many Projects!

So Many Projects! was Originally Posted on April 24, 2011 by lavarock

I’m trying to play catchup on projects and problems at the farm. Although I have been helping my friend recover from an operation, my farm has taken a bit of illness itself.

It is a given that weeds and grass are growing in and amongst the fruit and coffee trees. I have been paying a friend to help with that, however his expensive weedwacker has broken. His truck also is not very dependable and he has to drive an hour or so to get here. I have a supply of cheap weedwackers, all with various problems, but might have one or two still working. Some took the toll when Hawaii introduced ethanol into our gasoline which boats and equipment were not made to use. The ethanol seems to have eaten away at fuel lines.

Needing a blade rather than a string to cut heavy weeds, I went looking for a professional unit, only to find that the units that were most suitable for my place are not in stock. They also are in the $500 to $800 price range! It almost makes sense to keep buying the $100 ones. The local guy who fixes these things has many mowers and units strewn around his shop and I fear he is very far behind on repairs.

My $5,000 flail mower which attaches to the tractor, has a broken flange. I must have hit a giant rock to have done that. There is a guy in Holualoa who can weld it, however I can’t easily get the thing there. I’d like to take the tractor and mower together, but that requires a trailer. My neighbor had one, but sold it a month or two ago. The trailer sales place up the road is all but out of business. A worker told me that if it wasn’t for the kyack guy who rented part of the lot for storage, they would have closed down already. He has a giant trailer, but it really should have extra brakes on the vehicle pulling it. The better-suited one for me is on loan for a few weeks. I will be hard pressed to wait that long. Three of us farmers talked about buying a trailer in a “hui” (a loosly formed association) but it never came to pass.

The welder said that he can come to my place, but I’m sure that will raise the price considerably.

It is possible to drive the tractor and mower along the road to the repair shop, however, if you have ever driven in South Kona you know that is a dangerous things. I would have to have a car behind me with flashing lights and be in full speed mode the whole way. It is 10 miles along the highway.

I will probably post a Craigslist ad for someone to drive my tractor on his trailer if I can’t find anyone else. I prefer not to drive a truck with the long trailer myself. You would understand if you had seen the movie “The Long Long Trailer” with Lucy and Desi (playing a different married couple). I still have one person to ask.

Then there is the water tanks and pump. The pump destroyed itself a while back and I ordered an inpeller rebuild kit (the part that moves the water). It cost over $100 and I installed it. A couple days ago I cranked it up to find that it would not work. There is something else wrong and the rebuild kit has sacrificed itself, so it will be yet another $100 and a cost to have someone else play with the pump. In the meantime, the bottom tank is full of water and I can’t get it up to the three holding tanks up top of the property. In the meantime, I could buy a small pump from Lowes or Home Depot, a pump used for a garden fountain, to move the water. I may have to get such a pump later anyway to move water from a small holding tank to the main tanks. The small tank will take the roof runoff to feed the main tanks. Replacing the main pump is $1,000, so I’d rather get the current one fixed, but out here in the islands, sometimes you have to replace something and send the broken iytem for repair. Parts can take weeks to arrive, although the USPS Priority Rate boxes are a godsend here. The rebuild kit was going to cost $30 or $40 to ship vie UPS or Fedex (it is lightweight plastic), but I convinced them to get a flat rate box. I had the parts just as fast and it only cost $12.

I need to weedwack around the fruit and coffee trees and then spray some Roundup (or equivalent weed killer) to keep the grass and weeds from growing. Then I will pick what coffee is left on the trees and dispose of it. This is cherry that dried on the vine and has not yet been picked. I have lots of green cherry growing from the massive rains we have had. Who said we were the most draught-striken spot in the U.S.?

Last night I stole parts from one toilet tank in the house to fix the main toilet. I don’t want to have it break when I’m in town. Unlike the recent garden hose episode where it developed a cut and sprayed almost full force for a day or more, watering random rocks in the yard.

My contract for the water tanks and irrigation was an old-style contract where we decided upon a system, they calculated the cost and set the maximum contract price. I would work to get a good deal on items so that my cost would not exceed the contract, because they would not pay extra. Then I would contract for the work (or do it myself) and keep track of all receipts. At the end of each part of the project, I would submit my totals and the receipts for every screw, bolt and wire. They would pay me based upon what I had spent. Imagine the paperwork. Latter contracts determine the cost of the project and as long as you build the system to their specifications, they pay you the contract price upon completion. They don’t care about receipts for each item, just that their inspection proves you did it according to specs. If only I had gotten a new contract.

I have lots of projects left to do here at the farm. They include having the electric company replace the service connection on the house where it is pulling loose. They or I will have to cut trees under the electric lines while they do that. Then I need to have the cable company reattach the cable line. I’m using my cellphone as a modem when I need internet here at the farm, but would prefer to have full speed.

I am cleaning out the storage area under the house and in the garage. The garage will probably be tgaken down and a simpler structure added. The current garage has large holes in the roof and suffered termite damage. I don’t think any of the wood is useable.

Then I would like to fix up the utility room where the water heater is. I have closed that off as that is where mice were getting into the house. I need to plug the holes where the water pipes go up into the house, then add all new plywood walls and something to replace the drop ceiling that is there, and it would make a nice place for the washer and drier. Currently the washer is outside next to the outdoor washtub under the stairs. There is a concrete slab there. That may be where they had a washer decades ago before the downstairs was enclosed. Personally, I used to use a clothesline for drying laundry until I found the afternoon rainfall too unpredictable.

I have thought about getting the downstairs fixed up first; the office could be a small bedroom, the utility room could be for the washer and drier and I could install a shower stall at not too much cost. There is already water and drians there for a washer drier. There is a half bathroom already right there. Then I could use that area for a WOOFER or trade it someone to work on my other projects in trade for staying there. That idea still sounds plausable and I may pursue it.

There are many more projects, however I’m sure that you are as tired reading about them as I am thinking about them. Let’s just say that I have my hands full at the moment and I have to get outside and start work. It is already 7:30am and I’m burning daylight!