The weather outside is frightful

The weather outside is frightful was Originally Posted on January 4, 2004 by lavarock

The weather outside is frightful, as the song goes. Up until last night, each night has dropped down to about 60 degrees F. I close the windows at 4pm and retain the heat until moring. I am at 700-foot elevation but people further up the mountain get it a lot colder at night.

Speaking of cold, I was up in Waikaloa and on my way back to the farm, actually saw the snow on Mauna Kea for myself. Snowcapped mountains in Hawaii… gotta love it!

As for weather at my place, due to a storm in the Pacific, it has rained here for over a week! A storm will dump rain for hours, then move off and it starts to clear, then wham!, another one. No lightning that I can detect, although occasional static on the AM radio leads me to believe there are a few strikes nearby.

I spent a quiet New Years here at the house with a glass of my favorite beverage and a comfy chair and the internet. They had fireworks in Kona, but because there would be no room in the inn (so to speak) up there, I didn’t want to celebrate, then try to maneuver the windy and narrow roads back home.

On the old home front (back in Georgia), I had to have a transmission repaired in my Honda Passport. It went bad weeks after I left and before I could sell it. That was about $1900! Now I have to have a bit of roof and some shingles repaired back there; another $1000 or so. This is all driving me crazy, because the cars are STILL not sold and house is not yet on the market!!! grrrrrrr

I can’t do much to the house here until I own it, so I still live out of a microwave and a very small refrigerator.

Lowes Home Improvement store opened the other day. It is a “soft opening”, meaning no fanfare yet. The “Grand Opening” will be soon. It is a very large store with nice prices, but there is still controversy about one access road they built which also serves a private community. That side of the parking lot is still closed awaiting court decisions.

I hear there have been whale sighting in Kailua Bay (near the hotel I used to occupy). It appears we get whales year round but it is the humpback whales we only host during aprt of the year. I believe they migrate from Alaska for the winter.

All indications I see are that many, many, many people are relocating to this island and this side of it in particular. Housing costs are going up in yet another cycle and some places appear to be grossly overpriced.

My original idea was to build my own website, host the server here and run my business from it. Because of time issues, I approached someone to build me one. However, the cost was going to be more than I wanted to spend and since I now have free time, I’m probably going to build my own site again. I found a good (and free) shopping cart system, which I am testing. I also found a relatively inexpensive credit card gateway and billing system to take orders. It has the capability of doing newsletters and showing monthly specials and so on. Since it is Open Source, many people are writing modules for it. I started reading the support discussion groups and was amazed at the things people want to add to the software. You can propose a module to do something and soon there may be someone to write it for you.

I contacted a second printer and am waiting fro him to review my coffee labels and give me a price. The first email to him was rejected as SPAM. I’m guessing the word PASSION that appeared all over the message was a trigger. Unfortunately, since the name of the coffee is Pele’s Passion, it kinda goes with the territory.

As I write this (6:30 am), a heavy rain has started again. I have no flooding here as the lava rocks pass that water right past them and into the ground. These people with catchment systems must be happy and wishing they had two systems to fill up.

I have an appointment to get the cable modem installed and for the house appraisal in a few days. With months to go before I can clear the ground for plkanting, I may start to propogate my own coffee plants. That could save me thousands of dollars if I do it right. I’ll need some expert assistance though.

Other than that, not much else new.