MAKING ROOM

The time has finally come to begin construction on our new farm office and the first step was making room around the existing structure by removing some plants. We dug up 9 Ti plants and 3 very large asparagus ferns from the back side of the shed and have relocated them to their new home around the water tank. The Ti plants are quite old and were very well established. It took an entire day just to move them and dig out the existing water and electric lines. The only thing that remains on the back side is our Stephanotis vine because we are afraid that moving it will kill it. It produces the most amazingly fragrant white star shaped flowers... almost like a cross between jasmine and hyacinth. We just have to work around it. John and I will begin demolition on this structure next week... just as soon as the solar panels come down and get relocated to their temporary home in the back yard.

The now bare backside of the shed and the stephanotis vine. This will soon be a two story structure where will will be able to spread out, work and have all of our supplies at hand.

The electric and water lines leading from the shed to the house.
The thin black wire is the connection to our power meter which tells us how full the battery charge is.

Hidden treasure. Really? A flash bulb?

Stay tuned for more frequent updates.

Up next... digging for the new gas line and relocation of the propane tank.
OH... did I mention that John and I are doing a lot of the work ourselves... except for the framing. We have hired a contractor to help with that. Here we go.....

TREE TIME

Getting a few pointers for properly planting fruit trees.

This past Thursday John and I stopped by Leilani Farm Sanctuary to help plant about 30 trees which were donated by Orchards for Animals. The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation (FTPF) program “Orchards for Animals” was developed to help sanctuaries with rescued animals. The trees will provide the animals with nutritious forage, shelter and shade. These types of organizations rely on volunteers and we were all too happy to lend a few hours. Some of the varieties planted were: lemon, orange, tangerine, banana, mango, avocado, lychee, mulberry and papaya.

Kekoa was a no show, but we did hear a pheasant in the background while we were there? Was it him. Who can say. Until we actually see him we cannot be for sure. Here are a few snaps of the residents and a few volunteers.

Barry leading a traditional Hawaiian blessing of the orchard for the animals. Ned the goat is very interested by what he hears.

Planting a row of citrus. Yep, there we are in the background. That's me inspecting a branch on the tangerine.

Blondie

Lovie Bird the hen immediately started digging in the fresh dug dirt around each tree.

We filled container after container with compost and manure to place around the planted trees and Penny could not resist a free ride.

We finally got to meet Jenny and Lehua. Both adorable and so sweet.
I loved those gimormous ears which were covered in the softest fur.

I forget this handsome creatures name. But he's really sweet.

Here I am feeding Penny a ficus branch. The goats love them but cannot reach them. Unless that is they are pulled down low enough for them to nibble on.

FIND A PENNY...

We stopped in to see Laurelee and Kekoa at Leilani Farm Sanctuary on a rainy tuesday this week but he wasn't hanging out near the house. Laurelee said she hasn't seen him for a couple of days but she's heard him crowing so it sounds like he's sticking around. She's keeping us posted. Since we were there, we took some time to say hi to the other animals. One in particular, Penny, is a lovable baby goat with a somewhat sad story. She wandered into a friendly farmer's yard by herself at a very young age, her mother apparently shot by a hunter. The farmer took extremely good care of her, he took her everywhere with him, even in the front seat of his truck! Now she lives with the other goats at the sanctuary. The photo shows Laurelee holding Penny, who loves to be picked up. Does that mean, all day long she'll have good luck? Kidding aside, Penny's a cutie! Soft fur and cute little mouth and cheeks that are always chewing on something. I guess that's cud. Save a thought for Penny. And Kekoa too!

HOLEY GUAC-A-MOLEY

While out cutting down our dead CROWNFLOWER tree, I just happened to peek over at the AVOCADO tree when I noticed it has fruit on it. WHOO-HOO! The tree is about 4 years old and it's the first time we have had fruit. I counted about 40, but I'm sure there are more. I can't wait for these little guys to grow up so we can make guacamole! As you can see here they are quite small, with the largest being about the size of my thumbnail. How very exciting!

RELOCATION UPDATE

Just thought we would do a small update on Kekoa. This email just came in from his new guardian angel, Laurelee. We might try to head over tomorrow to say HI.

Hi Conn and John,

Kekoa is doing great! He is out of his cage and exploring the property, but staying close to home. There have been no problems with Kekoa getting along with the other animals. They do fine together…

Feel free to come over and visit. I’m sure he would be happy to see you!!

Looking forward to seeing you soon.

Aloha,
Laurelee

BIRDSONG

This is a Melodious Laughing Thrush that likes to hang out on the Ti plant and sing to his/her reflection in the shed window. We took this Saturday morning. At the 1:25 mark you can hear the other thrush singing from the front yard. Kekoa may not be around, but we have lots of other birds to keep us entertained. I saw dad hanging out in the back yard under the bananas this morning where I had put out some grain for the francolins and cardinals.

Here is a detail of the Melodious Laughing Thrush.

A FRIEND IN NEED

John "cuddling" with Kekoa this morning.

Most of you are most likely quite surprised by the news that we have relocated Kekoa as of today. When we got him this morning, we wavered about actually taking him to his new home at LEILANI FARM SANCTUARY. We contemplated building him a big enclosure... but that would not be fair to him.

So we called Lauralee and made arrangements to drop him off. We gathered all his grain and a bag of mac nuts, wrapped him in his favorite purple towel, which would be staying with him and we headed on over. The sanctuary is only about 10 minutes away by car which makes it convenient for visits.

On the drive over, he was very, very calm, but panting a lot.

We pulled up and saw the most adorable red barn for the goats and donkey's, but the chickens running around under it. Laurelee was waiting for us on the lanai of her cottage, which she just completed. The setting is a spectacular 7.5 acres of fenced in property with lots of shade and places for the animals to graze and play. We met several of the animals... let's see, we met Akachan a sweet little black chicken and several other who's names escape us, Gordon and Nathalie 2 of the cats, Johnny, Larry, and a few other goats and then there was Blondie.

Blondie is a brand new baby chick she had just gotten from someone right before we arrived. All the animals were in heaven and you could tell they all loved Laurelee very much. Here is John asking Blondie to please be friends with Kekoa. Lauralee actually moved into the new cottage today, hence the debris. So there they are... 3 new roomies.

At one point Gordon, the gray cat walked up to Kekoa in his temporary cage and looked in, like hey... who's the new bird? Kekoa was a bit unsure and handled the whole situation quite well. We all decided to have Kekoa spend a few days or nights in the cage on the lanai, until he gets used to the sounds, sights and smells of his new digs. He walked right in and climbed up on the bar. By the way... he has a sweet ocean view.

We spent a good hour or so there, talking and explaining his quirks. At one point Laurelee picked him up and he was so relaxed. He could tell she is one of the good ones and we also think it helps that she is ... well... a she. As we drove off we let out a sigh of relief. We knew we had left him in good hands. Question is, will he stay there? Although the property is fenced in, he is after all a bird and could fly out. She assured us that all her neighbors are well aware of the sanctuary and have no problem with the animals.

When we returned home we found this on the floor. Guess he got the last word so to speak. As the day went on, we both got a bit sad as we heard all the other pheasants crowing here at the house around dusk. When we came in from outside, we had the sweetest email form Laurelee.

Hi Conn and John,

Kekoa is a wonderful pheasant. I love him.

This afternoon, I brought him and the new little chick inside the house. The two birds became instant friends! Blondie the chick, jumped onto Kekoa’s back and rode around the house on top of him. Then, when I put Kekoa back on the lanai, Blondie stayed right next to Kekoa.

Kekoa has been very mellow and willing to let me to cuddle him. I’m looking forward to taking pictures for the Leilani Farm Sanctuary website.

More later…

Aloha,
Laurelee


SERIOUSLY... is that the CUTEST THING EVER? Yeah, we teared up a little. He finally has furred and feathered friends!

RE-COOP-ERATION / RELOCATION

Longing to go outside.

Today marks the one year anniversary of us finding Kekoa, so we thought it fitting to send him back out into the wild today which sort of brings it all full circle. We sent him on his way and told him to be nice and stay out of trouble.

REALLY? AM I REALLY FREE TO GO?

We took the cast off two days ago and he was using the leg quite well. As of today he was doing really well, but he still pretty much stands around on the right leg. There is a bit of a knot on the left leg at the site of the break, but the swelling had gone down in both his leg and foot. He has even regained the ability to move his toes which enables him to scratch his head.

Taking a nap while removing the cast. We wrap him in a towel to keep him from flapping around and it protects his feathers.

You can see the knot just above the left talon.

Another nap time. He does like to nap on the floor next to us.

Over the course of the last few days as he became more able to use the leg, he began attacking our feet. He just could not stand it. It kind of makes us think maybe he tried to peck someone or got to close to them and they might have kicked him away. It is pretty freaky when he puffs himself up and comes at you. And he has drawn blood a few times. It's hard to say what happened exactly.

UPDATE:

As I was typing this... a neighbor... 2 house over came by. We started talking and we found out he has had many issues with Kekoa attacking him and his girlfriend over the last few months... which we had heard of a few times. He showed up there today apparently on the attack. They say they are pretty accepting of his behavior, but they have their limits and have "had" to kick him away. Could explain the broken leg. Some others may not be as forgiving.

I made a call to LEILANI FARM SANCTUARY not expecting them to take him, but just looking for some advice. Laurelee, the founder said she would be happy to take Kekoa in and that he would be her first pheasant. We are grateful and hope that it works out. We are going to make a trip and see if it is the right fit. They have lots of chickens, cats, a few donkey's and goats. If not we can always go pick him up and figure something else out.

Even though he is not our "pet", we kind of feel responsible for his and the neighbors well being. If it were the other way around and someone's pet was causing us trouble, we would expect it to be taken care of as well.

We hate to do it, but we had talked of the possibility a few days ago. It's for his own good. It's hard making the decision to help a needy animal... a wild needy animal at that. You think you are doing a good deed, but in the end it really endangers the animal. He has too much human contact for being a wild and at times aggressive bird. And we cannot keep him in a coop for the rest of his life. We are ok with it as it's what's best for Kekoa... not us. And besides, Laurelee said we can visit anytime and continue his chronicles.

The neighbor will either bring Kekoa by when he see's him or we will get him next time he shows up.

Stay tuned. This story is not pau (done).

GRRRRRR-EAT!

I am currently working with my cousin Stacie and her husband Chris on the logo's and websites for their 2 athletic companies. This is the new logo and card I did for TIGER ATHLETICS which is a training and exercise program for kids 4-14 in Minneapolis. I did several different versions of a tiger... cute, mean, leaping and so on, but this is the version the kids chose as their mascot saying it looked cool and powerful. We will also be using this on T-shirts, patches and other printed materials over time.

The requirements were to use black, orange and white, make it appeal to young kids, that it be athletic looking without looking so athletic and to make it sleek and modern. These are the first cards I have ever printed with a full UV coating and I have to say I really like them. I somehow thought it appropriate that they look slick and fast like a shiny new race car... and with sweaty hands I thought they might last longer. It's also the first time I have used black on a logo and again... I have to say I love it.

The website for TIGER ATHLETICS will be up and running shortly.

Up next and just sent off to the printers today are the cards for IGNITE ATHLETICS, their adult training and exercise program. Stay tuned for those and the new site for that as well. It's a busy spring here at CFC.... And with my "office" directly in the kitchen next to the fridge... I think I could use a bit of training session.

KIDS IN THE HALL

Table 11 awaits it's chance to inspire.

This past Thursday John and I joined a host of other professionals from the fields of fashion and interior designer, FBI, music and marine biology just to name a few at SEABURY HALL for a career day program. We woke up bright and early... early for the work from home designers.. at 5:45 AM and made the 40 minute drive up the mountain to Kula.

Seabury Hall sits in the "Upcountry" region of the Hawaiian island of Maui and is an award-winning college-preparatory school established in 1964. John and I were there to discuss Fashion, Web + Graphic design with 8 of the 60 senior class members. We only had 3 small groups and had 15 minutes - 7 minutes each per session. That's just not enough time to delve into what a day in the life of a designer might be like or how we got to where we are and what inspired us. We spoke with Kim Abrahamson, Director of Alumni Relations about the possibility of going back to spend an entire class period with the art students and they were elated that we would make such an offer. Not that we think we are that special... but the kids were really great and had so many questions that went unanswered.

We not only chatted with the students, but got the opportunity to "talk story" with other designers, photographers and artists living here on Maui. It was rather inspiring for us to hear their stories and we hope we were able to inspire a few of the kids with ours.

A hui hou!

A mountain view with a complimentary continental breakfast.
All I needed to see were the donut holes and I was FINE!
The jacaranda tress were in full bloom and were intoxicating treat as they do not grow at our elevation.

We brought along some of the work we had done over the years as well as a few stacks of our favorite books. We thought they were important to see how and where we find inspiration. It all starts with knowing the history of fashion, typography or graphic design.... or any other field for that matter. Who our predecessors were. How they changed and shaped the industry.

John and a student discussing typography.

The plastic chairs were amazing... and we pondered how we might be able to fit a couple in our book bags. I mean look at the color combo's.

ALL COOPED UP...AGAIN

After a VERY LONG week of Kekoa mending in the house...we finally made it to the hardware store to get some plastic poultry mesh for the coop. We had chicken wire on it, but found he always cut the top of his beak between his nostrils, which was always one more injury to nurse. After swapping the metal for plastic, we put Kekoa in his new healing center.... which he does not seem to enjoy AT ALL. We simply could not keep him inside another minute. He began getting VERY CRANKY by Thursday and was on the attack all day. How's that for gratitude? Well we try to overlook it and laugh it off... he is a wild creature. I think he's just feeling trapped. He puffs up and get those feathers all fanned out... and even chases us. And yeah... It's a bit freaky.

His father has been hanging outside the coop early mornings as well taunting him to no end... which prompts further puffing and fanning. This is what he does when we walk up. Notice how he flattens out the tail and tilts it toward the camera.

So he's been in the coop 4 days and decides to let us know when he is awake at 6:00 AM not with one crow, but 6-8 VERY LOUD ones over the course of an hour.

He is using the leg more to hobble along, but not to stand on. Looks like another week or so of recovery. We can't wait to let him go back to being a free bird. It's really quite sad to see him all cooped up.