Green Home on Maui

2019 Updates

February had a big windstorm that even brought snow to Haleakala!

The yard after the storm

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No major damage, but lots of branches and stuff to pick up

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Most of my spare time was put into the demo of the RV.

Being Hawaii a lot of time is spent outside, so putting in a deck was important.

I splerged and bought the recycled plastic composit wood. They should last longer than wood, in the jungle, but while cutting they shed tiny bits of plastic so one must cut them inside or in a protected area and vacuum the waste.

I put in a small over hang too, since it rains a lot, and the sun is hot!

I cantilevered the deck over the hill towards the stream a little.

The finished deck and over hang

You can kind-of see the stream in the valley. It was after a storm so is muddy.

The same hill one sees from the house but from a different angle.

Added a gutter and rain barrel.

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I also continued the work inside the RV

Put in a composting toilet

Repaired the structure, covered walls and ceiling with leftover tyvek and salvaged paneling. I took off the air conditioner and all else from the roof, and put in a sky light!!! Made from salvaged plexiglass.

A friend needed a place to stay for awhile so he moved into the RV!

Typical scene in my yard... Cats sitting around letting the birds eat their food!

Cats are not the vicious predators they have been made out to be.

Dealing with over 200 cats over 15 years, only a couple were actually hunters, and of their prey, over 95% were rats!

A cat needs the excitement of the hunt, but most can be satiated with having other cats around, or being outside most of the time, or playing with people and toys. They will often jump at something if it jumps in front of them, but most do not go out looking to kill!

But humans did raise cats from thousands of years ago, to be killers of pests!

Clans that had cats around were healthier because the cats kept rodent levels down, which were the cause of much disease.

Cats have ALWAYS been outdoor animals! It has been only since the 1950s, and the making of kitty liter, did anyone ever consider keeping a cat inside. (And thusly, it is only rich society that affords cat liter.) Yet now, cats are persecuted for being outside! Stop and think! People are trying to force changing evolution in only a few decades.

We should not let all cats run free and do whatever they want, but we cannot condemn them for doing what we raised them to do!

We need to focus on having all cats (and dogs) spayed or neutered.

A cat needs the outside to run, just as much as a dog does! It needs exercise and excitement.

If we want to keep a cat inside, it still needs exercise and excitement. It needs to climb, and hide, and hunt.

One can make a house into a better cat home. If you don't it is no different than locking a lion in a cage.