Sprinkler Fix

The newly working head with the broken parts.

A sprinkler head came off, but the fix was more complicated than screwing it back on. The connecting pipe had snapped, and my attempt to unscrew the pipe resulted in further twisting down the line.

The co-CEO of the household said that I should just pay the gardener $150 to repair the watering system, but I negotiated a compromise: give me a couple of days to solve the problem first, then, if necessary, we'll call him. I couldn't let the grass grow under my feet because it was wilting under the summer heat.

The task took three hours, and the cost was $50 for parts, glue, and tools. Whether I made the right choice from a life-optimization point of view is debatable, but at least I don't have to pay the gardener.

Between the Cracks

My brothers and I have areas of responsibility (e.g., paying bills, gardening, taking out the trash) for Mom's property, but items often fall between the cracks. When we arrived in Honolulu, the weeds had been sprouting for some time in the car ports and asphalt walkway.

On the second day I applied Roundup to every spot where green shouldn't have been. Because Roundup's glyphosate is a possible carcinogen, I wore gloves, a mask, and goggles. After one week the chemical had done the trick (before and after photos above).

There were a few other minor items that I took care of, but none detracted from our vacation.

I’d Rather Have My Problems Than Theirs

2021: tents along Kapiolani Boulevard, a block from my parents' home

The homeless tents have moved from across the street to our side, albeit two blocks Ewa (that's west, for you malihinis). Overall homelessness is reported to be improving slightly, but statistics don't matter much to individual neighborhoods.

Second cousin's iron bars are to the right of the wall

My second cousin, who owns the building next door, says trespassing is getting worse. She's installing iron gates that, like ours, will be closed at night.

The strip of grass next to the sidewalk (pictured right) is overgrown. A younger relative is supposed to tend to it, but he works two jobs and deserves a break. My brother lent me a trimmer, and I took care of the grass, although not very neatly.

My brothers have done a good job handling day to day operations, but I needed to get a sense of where Mom's finances stood. Besides, it's almost the end of the year when we must prepare her tax returns. The eight-day vacation has sped by quickly, and it's time to plan for the next one.

After the Trimming

The monkey pod tree has undergone more trimming during the summer. The neighborhood coconut wireless says the job cost "in the thousands."

The view is more balanced between the houses and trees. It reminds me of 2015.

2014- Covering the House

2015- After Trimming

2017- Coming Back

2022: Watch out for the "little" bush

The bush that blocked our view of the white house last February has also been removed.

Enjoy the sights after the multiple prunings. Due to Hawaii's tropical weather everything will grow back quickly.

Tend to the Bush

2014- Covering the House

2015- After Trimming

2017- Coming Back

2022: Watch out for the "little" bush

It had been a while since we'd checked out the status of the neighbor's monkey pod tree.

In 2014 it had covered his house.

In 2015 a drastic pruning let the sunshine in.

In 2017, only two years later, it was coming back.

Five years later it had grown more, but it was clear that he had engaged trimming services to keep it under control.

But his next door neighbor better tend to the little bush out front that is not so little any more.

Get the Answers Before It's An Emergency

My brother in Orange County and I take turns flying to Hawaii to visit Mom.

In October he put in some new plants by the front walkway.

When it came time to water the plants, none of the four nearby valves and spigots worked.

In response to a text for help, one of my kamaaina brothers answered that I had to turn on the master shut-off valve next to the pond by the back door.

My father had installed the pipes decades ago.

I grew up here, and I didn't know how something as basic as the irrigation system worked.

What else don't I know?

I only hope that the next time I need to figure out something it's not during an emergency.

Masques

Gardening outfit 

Surviving the coronavirus may not make us stronger, but it has definitely made us more conscientious.

I wash my hands as frequently as a hypochondriac and wear a mask whenever there are chemicals or dust in the air.

A mask is poor protection against the virus, but it does mitigate weakening of the lungs before the virus breaches the castle walls.

Some purple prose from Poe, for perspective:

Plague doctor (allthatsinteresting)

And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.

Unexpected Pleasures

Waikiki is quiet before dawn. The tourists are still sleeping save for the solitary jogger. Workers sit quietly at the bus stops, waiting for the ride down town.

The noise from the tree-trimmer is jarring. Really...at 6 a.m.? Until one realizes that traffic congestion makes this the best time to trim the fronds and coconuts before they hurt someone.

It's rare to see a tent. The police chase the homeless away from Waikiki to the other side of the Ala Wai Canal, the old neighborhood. Dad installed a monitored security system, reinforced windows and iron gates because his streets have gotten meaner. After a while one gets used to the new normal.

At least the late night/early morning denizens in the tourist areas are safe. A few Waikiki diners are open, reminding me of this painting (below).

Edward Hopper, Nighthawks (1942), Art Institute of Chicago

An overweight man in a dirty tee-shirt was sitting at the bus stop. He asked for a dollar. He won't have a lot of prospects at 6:30 in the morning. I gave him a twenty. His eyes widened in surprise. Life is full of unexpected disappointments or worse. Unexpected pleasures are few and far between.

O, the Fecundity Part 2

Walking around the neighborhood, I came across an apartment building whose owner hasn't trimmed around his tree. (Though it's on the street side of the sidewalk, the property owner is responsible). The weeds were six feet high. Thirty bucks to a kid with a weed-whacker should take care of the problem.

In related news I walked around my parents' property and found that the Roundup applied last month did the trick. A little weedkiller now prevents an expensive asphalt repair later, not as memorable as "a stitch in time saves nine" but true, nonetheless.

Roundup: Common Sense Has Left the Building

$39.95 at the Iwilei Home Depot

Hawaii's fecundity is integral to its appeal but is an extra burden to property owners.

The weeds had found the cracks in the asphalt around my parents' home and had grown noticeably. Because family volunteers perform maintenance irregularly, I went to Home Depot for Roundup, which kills weeds to the root. It took about 30 minutes to spray the front half of the home.

Roundup is effective in killing plants where they don't belong. Lately it has been in the news because of jury awards to users who have contracted non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

California wants to regulate Roundup, but the Trump Administration has "ordered companies to ignore state requirements that businesses warn customers". Of course the discussion has turned political, exacerbated by the billions of dollars at stake (google non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and at the top of the list is an ad for potential Roundup plaintiffs).

Below is a representative quote from an environmental advocate (bold added):

“The Trump EPA’s disgusting campaign to hide glyphosate’s well-documented links to cancer from American consumers is hideous,” said Brett Hartl, the director of government affairs for the Center for Biological Diversity. “This is just the latest example of the Trump administration’s disturbing push to ignore peer-reviewed independent research by leading scientists in favor of whatever pesticide companies claim their own confidential research reveals.”

Whether or not there is a warning label, users of Roundup--or any other powerful substance--would have to be naive not to take precautions such as wearing protective clothing, eyewear, or gloves. On the other hand the vast majority of home gardeners can take comfort because people who work with the chemical in agriculture or professional gardening seem to be the only ones at risk.

Common sense tells you that one cigarette a week won't kill you but two packs a day might. The same is true for Roundup; if you use it once every two months or so you'll be fine. It's neither 100% safe or 100% dangerous, but common sense has left the building.

Bring Out the Heavy Machinery

Tree removal is occurring in the old neighborhood. When I was growing up, pruning and chopping were pretty much done manually; for tough jobs one used powered hand equipment.

Now wood chippers seem to be commonplace in suburban areas.

Less than a block away, outside the Ala Wai Rec Center at McCully and Kapiolani, another crew was running a chipper.

Perhaps the City is clearing away potential hazards in anticipation of the arrival of Hurricane Erick and Tropical Storm Flossie.

On the other hand any excuse to bring out the heavy machinery is ok in my book.

Overheated

The house that was listed one week ago on our block has a "sale pending" sign. This is good news: the owner got her price (or better), which means demand for neighbors' homes remains high; more importantly, my flower bed is looking ragged, so I was going to spend the weekend digging it up to make it look respectable. Now I don't have to.

An overheated real estate market is like an overheated stock market; buyers overlook the weeds.

In Like a Lion, We Hope

Bay Area weather forecasters expect March to come in like a lion: [bold added]

Sacramentans are grappling with graupel

Winter’s biggest storm to date will touch down Wednesday in what forecasters expect to be a three-day assault on Northern California.

“This is a once-a-winter kind of event,” said Zach Tolby, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Reno.

Rain is coming to the Bay Area and heavy snowfall should pound the Sierra, which is welcome news following an unusually long dry spell up until this week. Parts of the Sierra got a foot or more of snow from Sunday to Monday, while other inland areas, including Sacramento, experienced the phenomenon known as graupel — a kind of soft hail that forms when supercooled water droplets freeze on falling snowflakes.

The weather service issued a winter storm warning for Northern California’s foothills and mountains starting at 4 p.m. Wednesday and lasting until 10 a.m. Saturday. The warning, which had previously been issued for 10 p.m., noted that “travel will be very difficult to impossible.”

Worries about another drought outweigh fears of flooding in Californians' minds, so storms are welcome. Those of us who have replanted our lawns know which way we want the wind to blow.

The Grass Withers, the Flower Fades

Green today, brown tomorrow?

Thanks to the 2016-2017 wettest winter in over 100 years, California's reservoirs are in good shape. Right now, however, 2017-2018 is looking like another dry winter.

At the start of the week, statewide snowpack averaged just 30 percent of normal for the date, not far from the 25 percent logged at the same time in 2015, a record-low year.

I don't regret re-sodding in October. Water restrictions will occur in 2019 at the earliest, so I'm going to enjoy the color of green while I can.

The Indomitable Monkey Pod

2014- Covering the House

2015- After Trimming

2017- Coming Back

We're gonna need a bigger trimmer.

Looking Green

The sod is taking root. The fescue is at the length where we would normally cut, but we won't mow for another week to aid implantation.

Looks like we got it down just in time for the November rains.

Expectations Upended

Not Mr. Ohara
(visualdepartures.com)

A friend waxed enthusiastic about a landscaper by the name of O'Hara. An Irish gardener--why not?

After repeated calls I finally made contact with the man's wife, who had a Japanese accent. Oh, oh, Ohara.

In her email my friend used both the apostrophe and the capital H in the spelling of O'Hara. My expectations were easily set, and I did find their upending amusing.

Related: in modern English apostrophes inhabit a wacky world.

June Rain

Ducks on brown grass

Lawns are browning in our neighborhood due to rising temperatures and watering restrictions.

Today's June rain was as welcome as it was rare. Perhaps intermittent sprinkles can keep the grass alive until the predicted El Niño storms in the fall.

Ducks on green (2012)

When it's cooler like today, the ducks leave the lagoon and walk around the neighborhood. They leave their droppings on lawns, sidewalks, and decks. I walk toward them, and they waddle away, protesting noisily.

Ducks and geese in SF Bay are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty, and their insouciant quacking hints that they know it.

Under Pressure

The master control valve was rusty but
gave way to determination + a pipe wrench

Displaying more than my usual initiative, I wielded the pickax on Friday afternoon to prepare the flower bed for spring planting. After fifteen minutes of chopping, the pickax struck something hard. Water began welling from beneath the surface. Oh #@!!% (look elsewhere, dear reader, for a blog on disciplined Lenten purification).

I turned off the valve to the house, but the water continued to flow. A fairly desperate call (it was Friday, remember) at 4:35 to the city water department, now closed, referred me to the Foster City Fire Department. And so it was that a fire truck with five firefighters pulled up, surely an inefficient use of public resources but I certainly wasn't complaining.

After 15 minutes of fiddling with various valves and connections, the firefighters unlocked the master control valve near the curb and shut off the water to the property. Apparently the developer in his haste had run a water line directly to the sprinklers without going through the house system.

On a serious note, the problem of undocumented underground utility lines is a nationwide problem:

Failure to locate underground utilities before you dig can result in disruption of services to individual homes or entire neighborhoods. Even worse, cutting into some buried cables or pipes can result in injury or death. But, underground pipes and cables can be hard to find. In some instances, they have been recorded on GIS [geographic information system] mapping. In many cases, however, there is no record of where this underground infrastructure has been buried.

Glue gets it done

Who knows what other surprises lurk beneath the surface? In these drought-ridden times perhaps it's finally time to pull out all the flora--without digging too deeply, of course--and put in a rock garden.

[Update - 3/1/15: fortunately the leak was from a PVC pipe and I was able to replace the section myself on Sunday morning.

(BTW, I found that so-called "glue-free" lockable couplings weren't leak-free under continuous water pressure)]

Discuss and Measure Twice, Then Cut Once

The growth that prompted the letter

A senior citizen received a written warning from the homeowners' association:

On a recent site walk thru [sic] we noticed that your patio plants have grown excessively and have not been properly maintained, which is a violation of the site Rules & Regulations....

We are, therefore, asking you to please have these plants trimmed back, and, going forward please make sure that they are regularly maintained. We ask that you have these items addressed within (30) days of the date of this letter.

After the trimming

There was an obvious threat implied in the letter; if he didn't trim the plants in 30 days, the association would impose a fine and/or perform the work, then bill him for the trouble.

Offering to help, I considered calling a gardening service but then saw the overgrowth wasn't extensive. It took less than an hour for me to cut back the tree.

Condominium and townhouse associations often are criticized for infringements of privacy and overly restrictive rules. However, that wasn't the case here. The guidelines are reasonable, and I do appreciate that someone is keeping an eye on the condo....and my old acquaintance.