The Cattery

I can now put construction, and specifically of catteries, to my resume.

What’s that? You don’t know what a cattery is? Well, let me explain, but I’ll start from the beginning: So, Roach killed himself and left 9 cats and no will. Becky, being the most legitimate cat lady I’ve ever met, obviously went on a cat rescue mission. Complicating this whole tragic event even more is the fact that Roachs mother and sister (and her friend, debatably partner) apparently didn’t really know him or care about him or something, but within a week of them being here, they liquidated the entire house and obviously only cared about what money they could get. Totally rude, and they took over and kicked becky out and took her keys to the house and everything. So, the last weekend, cattery construction ensued.

There were already 17 cats on the farm and they all have their own territories, so Becky decided it necessary to build an enclosure in the jungle around her daughter Abby’s house. Abby is on the mainland and that other guy Mike stayed there while he was here. Anyway, there was some extra tin roofing panels, and Becky decided to nail them to 2x4’s that were nailed between trees to create the ultimate Mad-Max-Jurassic-Park-Cattery-Fort.

It was a whole weekends plus Monday’s worth of work, and Michael and I were in charge of dragging the individual panels of roofing up the hill and screwing them into the 2x4. Then we had to put lava rocks at the base on either side (which was mostly my job) and shoots it was hard work. This is what it looks like from the inside and even though it’s blurry, you can kind of see the rough terrain on which we were building this extreme cat fence.

And this is from the outside. it was the craziest thing I had ever built, but it was pretty fun- and Roach left Becky some money to take care of them and she gave me $100! thanks roach…

This is one of the new cats named Penny hanging out in the cattery… note the giant rocks piled up on the edges of the repurposed roofing…

Since we spent the energy and time on the cattery, the greenhouse basically got ignored for 3 days, which was not good, because plants don’t stop growing if you need a break. We’re pretty behind in terms of pruning and clipping and treatments, so things are going to be a little bit hectic for awhile, but another WWOOFer guy who has been here before is coming in a couple weeks. So that’ll be a big help.

Until then, I hope you see as high a level of humor as I do about the cattery…

It is a real sight…

This is part of the stairs going to the second floor and Becky a little bit. She’s been staying up there with the cats until they get used to it or something. This is the corner of the fence against one side of the house. These pictures really don’t give the grandeur of the structure enough credit.

Heavy Heavy

Saturday morning, Becky’s ex boyfriend and close friend, Roach, committed suicide at his home nearby. There is a long and complicated story that is attached to the whole situation, apparently he had been suicidal for awhile, but this time he actually did it. Needless to say, Becky is pretty devastated, but she has been dealing with the situation fairly well it seems. Her sister came into town Saturday night and has been staying with her at his house (they were worried about people stealing his shit) for the first part of the week, but things are slowly starting to return to normal.

As for me, Roach’s suicide really made me think, I wasn’t really upset or anything, as I had only met him a few times, but it sparked a lot of thought about the nature of suicide as well as the mechanics of one’s actual death. I was a little shaken up on Saturday, so I went to visit Pele, and while I was walking across the lava field, I was imagining what it must look like when someone's soul and energy leaves their body and rejoins with the eternal energy life force. Afterwards, I went to the beach to visit the water and I sat in a big dead tree on the edge of the beach for a long time and I talked to him. I think, because I could feel it, that initially after someone dies, that energy is released and for a little while while it’s in transition to wherever or whatever or just while  the atoms and molecules are being reabsorbed into the earth, you can connect with that energy or whatever it may be. So, I told him how his permanent solution to fairly temporary problems had affected me, someone he probably didn’t even think it would. It just reiterates the fact that suicide is a selfish act that leaves victims out of innocent bystanders. It really just sucks, but things have to and do keep going. I think things are to go back to “normal” soon, but until then, empathy is pouring and I am trying to do everything possible to be helpful.

I’ve been enjoying the company of some new friends and I really like this process of joining the community. I’ve been going all over the place with people and doing cool things, and I just love having friends again. Except having friends in the real world seems way different then before. Perhaps it’s because I’m not living in the same place as all my friends, and I actually get to go to other peoples houses and stuff.

Some cool things lately:

#1 Acrobatic Yoga: I did it for the first time on Sunday on this lawn of a big subdivision overlooking the ocean. Basically, it’s like playing airplane-yoga. This guy named Joelle lay down on his back with his feet up in the air holding me up by my hips. The yoga part is when he twists and moves your body in different positions. It was one of the most incredible stretches I’ve ever felt and it was so fun. It looks pretty cool too. I need to figure out where I can get me some more of that

-Snorkeling yesterday at this amazing reef with more biodiversity then I’ve seen underwater, ever. The corals and the fish and the urchins oh my. Here are some incredible pictures, thanks to my friend Zoe! It was so incredible the things I saw…

Endemic purple and Yellow Corals

Pencil Urchin!

Two kinds of puffer fish hanging out!

-Driving up the coast to Laupahoehoe (la-pa-hoy-hoy), which was this little park and boat ramp at the site of where a school used to be that was destroyed by a tsunami a long time ago. The cool part was there were a bunch of gulches, or river valleys, that you drive around/through and they were so incredible. Ohmygah, this island is so beautiful, I can’t even take it. And, I really haven’t seen much of it at all.

Hokay, unclear if we’ll get internet back at the farm, but I am sort of liking being less connected. It’s nice just to be absorbed with nature. Speaking of which, it’s time to do some of that.

Ooo Baby, here I am, come rub up on my belly like guava jelly.

<--- This is a line from a real Hawaiin song. No shit.
Anyway, because I feel a little bad that i haven't updated in a long while and since I tried to upload this before, here is a little video.

Awake in Breakfastland

So, in these hard economic times, I got meself another job. Actually, on Monday I got a call from the Kalapana Village Cafe, where I turned in a application when I first got here. On Tuesday, I went in for an interview and my first day was yesterday. I am a line cook for the breakfast shift and I am sooo excited to be in a real kitchen again! I am also excited to start making a bit of money, although I’m pretty set since the farm work gives me a place to stay and some food and the cafe will give me food too. The only thing that I’m  bit upset about though is that this will interfere with my everyday swimming regiment. I’m going to have to probably work on the farm some afternoons after the cafe and ugh, I’m about to get a lot more busier. I also have to get up even earlier because I have to be there by 7 and I have to walk or bike the two miles there. It’s a pretty generous shift (until 3) and I’ll probably be working 3 or 4 days a week. And as potentially arrogant as it is, I can tell I’m a better cook then the kid who is training me and I am excited to improve the quality and look of the food.

So that’s been this week along with climbing a tall ladder repeatedly in the greenhouse to hang support strings from. It’s taking me a lot longer then it should and I’ve even been going in in the afternoons after I swim. I’m nervous that with this new job I’m not going to be able to be as active on the farm, which is what I really want to do, but I hope I’ll be able to manage the two jobs. Becky is so flexible and I’m definitely dedicated to  the success of this farm, but I know that it’s going to be a lot more then what I’ve become used to.

I had a really wonderful Halloween weekend with a lot of thanks to my friend Joelle and her mom Paige. I met up with them on Saturday and we hung out at the hot pond as per usual but then Paige took us to a haunted house at one of the local high schools and it was actually pretty scary. I was surprised, but all the kids were into it and screaming and bloody and ah. Then we had dinner at the most popular restaurant in Pahoa, the mexican place- Luquin’s. I had an incredible lilikoi (passionfruit) margarita with a Li Hi Mui (red fruit sugar?) rim. So tropical, so good.

Anyway, then Joelle and I went to a party that I was invited to by these nice ladies I met at the Natural Food Store and it was awesome. There was so much good energy at this party and I had more fun there then any Radnor Halloween. Everyone was dressed up (I was a boyscout :) ) and dancing to really good music spun by cool DJ’s and there was a bonfire and more fire dancing and a lot of people I knew plus a lot more I didn’t and everyone was friendly and no one was invasively dancing with you. It was great. Then I slept at Joelle’s (Paige designed this really cool octagon house in one of the big subdivisions called Nanawale) and Sunday, we three had a really great time. Paige works for the Big Island Invasive Species Committee and she does educational outreach and she was setting up a table at Kalani Oceanside Retreat Center’s Eco-Festival. Joelle and I helped her to set up and we got to hang out in this amazing venue with lots of diverse trees and shelters and things. We managed not to pay even though the event cost $20 and Paige had to pay. It was a really cool atmosphere and totally environmentally concious, which I’m so into. Anyway, I fell in love with a 16 month old baby girl named Senseimi (sp?) and her mom too, Sunday. She is this really cool Hawaiian lady who founded the roller derby team in Hilo :) and has just has the most incredible kid. I stayed for an aerial dance/traditional hula/ modern dance performance, which was really cool. 

Too much ramble, not enough substance. Sorry- with the severe lack of internet, getting these up and going has been hard and I’ve been loosing track and coming back, etc. I’m also about to get a lot more busy, but I’m not too worried about it.

Jurassic Climate Realization

Thank you for the comments, I was feeling at the time sort of lonely or something. I haven’t had internet at the farm for the past couple of weeks and so I’m just now uploading this post that I made a couple weeks ago. I’ve been continuing to have a really good time here and I’m more and more comfortable being here and doing the things that I do.

I’ve been keeping an extremely healthy lifestyle and it’s becoming apparent in my physical, mental, and emotional condition. It’s so easy to eat good fresh local food and I have been so active consistently, it’s kind of incredible. This place is so conducive to being healthy, that I’m really getting into it and I am continuing to feel better wholly then I have in a long time.

Anyway, to the realization------------

Michael and I were eating lunch in Hilo at the Queens gardens and I realized right there in front of me were cycads. CYCADS! Now, if you don’t know, cycads, are a time of prehistoric plant that are sort of like giant pineapples and not only are they still around as a living fossil in some places including Hawaii, but they were also one of the primary plants during the Triassic/Jurassic. This means that I am living in a similar climate to when the dinosaurs were around! This may not seem so incredible to some, but to me, this is fantastic- the warm climate isn’t only nice for the fact that it’s November and I’m still swimming and wearing shorts but it’s also more plausible that if there were still dinosaurs, they might be here. Probably not though, since this is an island in the middle of the ocean, but perhaps there could be dwarf dinosaurs…

Here are some pictures of the cycads. They’re so cool in real life. I have and have seen a bunch of cycad fossils but touching live ones was soo cool.

  

There are also an incredible amount of different fern species (also an early type of plant in plant evolution) and they have great displays of rows of spores on the underside.

Other things- I went to a rave/party a couple weekends ago, which was definitely interesting. The most interesting part being trying to make my way back to my bed late at night. Good thing was I was with a new friend named Barclay and we had a really good time walking by the moonlight and adventuring into places we shouldn’t have been. It was fun going out, since that’s not really something I’ve done a lot since I’ve been here, but I remembered how much I dislike drunk people. Although there were a lot of really entertaining people who were tripping or rolling on other various drugs and they weren’t bad at all. There was also fire dancing! Apparently, fire spinning is really popular here and that was the first time I’ve seen it on the island but since then, I’ve seen it 4 or 5 more times. It’s mesmerizing to watch someone manipulate fire and move with it in a rhythmic beautiful way.

It’s almost as incredible as watching the earth play with fire…