Finding Time

Finding Time was Originally Posted on September 9, 2011 by lavarock

Yesterday was one of those days for me. I had lots to do and was able to get a jolt of energy to help.

In the early morning I ran the tractor and mower over the upper “parking lot” area of the farm. It is where I still have a few macadamia nut trees and is suitable for parking should I decide to have a party or something like that.

Unfortunately I broke yet another vertical water feeder pipe in the coffee field. These are PVC pipes that come up out of the ground and feed the drip lines. Weeds grow near them and if I am not carefull, I hit them as I swing the mower into the next row. They are fairly easy to fix, but I should not be hitting them.

I fed and ran the dogs, loaded my ice chest in the truck and headed towards town. I will be picking my 1st coffee crop from the new trees, I have to try to process the coffee cherry myself. That will require a big tank for water.

My first stop was to pick up a broken and recycled UPS (power surge unit) which was advertised on Freecycle.Org. I chatted with the guy for a few minutes and found he was a member of the Kona Coffee Farmers Association!

In my travels for a tank I stopped at Lowes, Ace Hardware, Home Depot and Diamond Head Sprinkler looking for something just right for my situation. The tanks at Lowes were aluminum and the drain hole was not large enough. I decided on the plastic tank at Home Depot however was running late and would pick it up later.

I stopped by Jack In The Box for a quick meal and got their All American Jack combo and ate the frioes on my way to Sandras house. I arrived there and quickly ate the sandwich.

While Sandra got the coop area ready for later, I started unpacking part of the pallet of Wysong products which had just been delivered. This is a xdehydraded meat product which dogs and cats love. we use it as an addition to the raw meat diets and as treats.

About that time, Chris drove up to deliver our weekly order of raw meat. We had over 450 pounds of meat again and as I started piling up the boxes, I glanced at my watch. 1pm already. Where does the time go?

The other volunteers arrived and we started on orders. If people happen to order certain amouns, we just transfer a bag of meat into a box to start fulfilling their order. Otherwise we have to cut and measure meeat (some of which has to defrost). Beef kidney is often frozen, but will pull apart somewhat easily after a while. The beef ribs come in slabs of perhaps 2 or 3 slabs then a sheet of plastic and another layer of ribs. They can be pried apart too, but then have to be cut some and weighed also.

As we got the last of the orders boxed and started to relax, I was asked if I was headed back into town. Yup, I have to get that tub (not able to figure out a better or cheaper solution). I was asked to make a Post Office run and would be able to just make it in time before the afternoon cutoff.

So it was the post office and then Home Depot (which is up near the airport on the north side of town). The tub is plastic and holds 150 gallons of water, priced at $149. There was a bag of connectors marked at $49 but I substituted some PVC pipe, a valve and connectors on my own for a mere $13 or so. The tub was listed as $149 however when scanned the price came up to $129. I was happy enough.

At Tuesdays KonaWeb party I had taken a folding chair to sit on and left it. I really need to have a checklist because each month I leave SOMETHING behind. You would think that I all sorts of commotion in my life that I can’t remember simple things like a chair. With my new water tank in tow, I drove up mauka (up the mountain) to Bob’s house and recovered the chair, dodging somewhat heavy rain at times.

I grabbed the chair and continued on to Sandras. She had made a pineapple upsidedown cake the other days and I had not yet partaken of it. Now was my chance!

When I left her place, I stoopped by a neighbors farm to check on her printer which had malfunctioned. We chatted a while and I saw their new coffee roasting room. She has been practicing her roasting skills and I got a sample or two of her handiwork. As I type this, I am chewing on some dark roasted 100% Kona peaberry beans.

I headed home and was greeted by two very happy dogs, Koa and O`lena.

So, that was my day, yesterday. I can’t say it was the most relaxing but it could have been worse. I might have left out a detail ior two, you know, I appear to be a bit forgetful at times. Just ask the chair.