The first thought that entered my head when the general contractor from Lowes said our drywall was compromised (due to a long-time slow leak from our sink's shutoff valves) was where in the garage did I put a utility knife and level. Because the Lowes' crew were getting ready to leave for lunch. Figured I would just cut out the drywall while they were gone and remove it. A weekend to dry out. Should be OK.But no, the general contractor carried on like this was an enormous issue. Hey, I get it. You can tell people there isn't much you can't do, from tiling, to plumbing, to electrical; how I have built a fireplace, a garage, installed 3 skylights and remodeled a good number of houses, but they look at this 5-foot, 66-year-old woman standing in front of them and they say, right.Before I kn... 08/19/2018

When I was last at our house in Hawaii toward the end of June, we had a few bad air quality days in Kona. Mostly unhealthy for sensitive people, but also a red day -- which is unhealthy for everybody. However, Kilauea seems to have stopped erupting, and the collapsing events at the summit have ceased. In fact, the HOV changed the alert level from "warning" to "watch." Although, all of this could change at any time, and the Vog could return.The photo above was shot yesterday at Kona Haven Coffee. We got a bit of music from the tourist place next door, good friends, good conversation, good resident cat to pet. What could be better? Well, I did have to excuse myself from going to lunch later because I received two offers on a listing in Sacramento. Next time, I will bring my laptop. Can't ... 08/18/2018

If you are an impatient person, you probably will not like the pace of life in Hawaii. On the mainland, if you wait in a line to ring up a purchase and the person in front of you has finished their transaction, yet stands there talking to the clerk, you might get irritated. Sigh. Shuffle the goods you're holding from one arm to the next. Narrow your eyes in disgust, glancing around to find another sales clerk.You're in a hurry, damn it. Why don't they stop talking? How rude is this? And you play those tapes over and over in your head until you finally throw your merchandise on the counter and stomp out, muttering you'll never walk into that porn shop again. But Hawaii is different. You can read more in my personal blog today at this link: What Happens When You Talk Story in Hawaii. 06/21/2018

Holy cow, I shot so many photos of the celebrations on Saturday for King Kamehameha Day on the Big Island that I pretty much had to split up the day into two separate blogs. Aside from the Parade, there was a lot more stuff happening at Hulihe'e Palace. Music, hula performances, food, beverages -- now that I stop to think about it, there was no beer or wine, which I didn't even notice at the time -- and many vendors with handmade goods. You can see a lot more photos and read more in my personal blog today at this link: Celebration at Hulihe'e Palace for King Kamehameha Day. 06/11/2018

Finding a parking spot for the King Kamehameha Parade in Kona was a big concern but my friend, Linda, who is from Roseville, California, said she would drive. She knew a place to park. Turns out it was a lot I had parked in a couple of years ago where the Kailua Village Artists store is located. And there is a cafe there, the Frenchman's Café, where we stopped for a wonderfully fantastic brunch.A couple more friends joined us, Laura and Erin, and now we had a foursome to attend the parade.Laura laughed when we told her how much it cost to park. Four hours = $33.00. I've never seen such high rates to park anywhere except maybe New York. Yowza. Then she told us a secret. According to other locals, those parking lots are run by out-of-state corporations who do not report violators to the s... 06/10/2018

I imagine most people never replace their bath tubs because what can go wrong? Most bath tubs don't suddenly break apart, unless, of course, you are unfortunate enough to have one of those fiberglass or acrylic bath tubs. Especially those one-piece tubs with seams that can separate. Or, you live in Hawaii.Many people in Hawaii remove their tubs completely and install showers. Others, if the finish chips because they've dropped, say, an anvil in the tub, well, you can get your tub refinished. It's more cost effective to refinish the tub than try to remove a heavy cast iron tub and replace it. But I have discovered there are cast iron bath tubs, and then there are good cast iron bath tubs.First you have to decide what type of tub. Its configuration style, and there are many. You can read ... 06/07/2018

This thought process is right up the alley of Debbie Gartner, and I thought maybe she had written an article about it but could not find it. It is probably included in something she has done about luxury vinyl plank flooring. Although I don't know why they refer to vinyl planks as luxury vinyl plank. There doesn't seem to be any bargain-basement vinyl plank. It is all "luxury," and seems such a farce.However the thing about vinyl plank flooring is I did not realize it could be installed over ceramic. It is a solution for ugly ceramic floors. Remember how much we used to love ceramic? Now it seems to have fallen from grace. Vinyl plank is waterproof and performs well in humid tropical climates. You can read more in my personal blog today at this link: Installing Vinyl Plank Flooring Over... 06/05/2018

One of the decisions we had to make when we decided to buy a vacation home in Hawaii was not only what island but what side of the island. There is a lot to be said for living on the eastern side of Big Island, a lot more lush vegetation, but it also has an active volcano. Getting insurance for a home is very expensive in Puna. Which is why home prices are so much less.Ultimately, though, for me it came down to the coqui. Too loud. Amazing how such tiny things can produce such loud sounds.That doesn't mean living in Kailua-Kona has no downside. We still get vog. It usually lasts only a day or two and the winds carry it away. But islanders on Big Island have had heavy vog carried over to Kailua-Kona for the past month, and it's not letting up. The difference is literally almost night and... 06/03/2018

This particular trip to Hawaii I did not make it to the beach. The days I had planned to go, it rained. But there will be other days and other trips. It is OK. I was able to focus on my Sacramento real estate business and missed all of the cold weather and rainstorms in Sacramento. While I initially thought my last 3 weeks in Hawaii were relatively slow in terms of market conditions, I actually accomplished quite a bit.Looking at MLS, I see I listed / relisted 8 homes, put 3 into pending status and working on a couple more offers. Closed about a half dozen, and scheduled a bunch of appointments to visit sellers next week for pre-listing inspections.I only turned down 2 listings. Not because I wasn't in Sacramento but because the sellers were not a good fit for my personality. One guy de... 04/12/2018

By the time I called the electric company, workers were at my house in mere minutes. I don't know if they have a guy who lives near by or what, but boy was that amazingly fast. When my power went out during a rainstorm in Sacramento, hours passed before anybody stopped by the house, but in Hawaii the service call was immediate.So yeah, this weekend, I had no electricity, and no water and then swarms of gnats later when the power came back. Just to fix a fire hydrant in the street caused a pipe to burst and workers also managed to mess up the electrical. But it's the gnats that were the worst thing to deal with this weekend. For some reason, maybe climate change, Hawaii has a stronger infestation of gnats than usual this year.Every few minutes, while watching TV, I have to jump outta my ... 04/08/2018

This is one of those blogs that can go on forever, and it sort of does. So many photos to choose from to feature in my blog, and they have to be pretty good before I'll select them. At least you need to be able to see what kind of bird it is, don't you think? Some images I see people shoot are fuzzy and blurry, but then again I tend to be more of a perfectionist about these things.I've uploaded a new handful of photos of birds in Hawaii that I think you will enjoy. I know not everybody thinks they are a birder but when the bug hits, look out. You can read more and see more photos in my personal blog today at this link: More Photos of Hawaii Birds on the Big Island. 04/04/2018

Obviously, I cannot shoot a photo of every single type of lizards and geckos in Hawaii. But there are common types you will see almost everywhere. Ordinarily, you do not see them at a resort. I stayed at and visited almost all of the resorts north of Kailua-Kona and you don't run into a lot of lizards and geckos on the beach. 🏖 I imagine the grounds maintenance workers dispose of the lizards and 🦎 . This was the one adjustment that took a while to become accustomed to when we bought a house on the island of Hawai'i. I've stopped shrieking, so that's a good thing. You can see a ton more photographs and read more in my personal blog today at this link: Photos of Hawaii Lizards and Geckos From Kailua-Kona. 04/02/2018

We have certainly no shortage of photographic opportunities on Hawai'i Island. You never know what you might see when you are alert and holding a camera. In future blogs, you will see more photos. I'm trying to group them into categories, as I see recurring themes in my photos. Like boats, including a submarine. Or birds. Let's not forget geckos and lizards.So on Easter Sunday it seems appropriate to post religious looking sunsets. As I don't have any sunrises. That would entail getting dressed, not to mention getting up when it's still dark and driving up Mauna Loa.You can see more photographs in my personal blog today at this link: Easter Week Sunset Photos from Hawai'i Island. 04/01/2018

In my circle of friends are a couple of missionaries from Canada who volunteer at the University of Nations here in Kona. Two of the nicest, sweetest and most caring individuals I have ever known, but then again, I can't say I know any other missionaries. Also, just because I am not a spirtual nor religious person myself, does not mean I do not enjoy learning about other religions. People from different faiths make the world go around.So I was excited when my friends showed up yesterday to take me to lunch. Because it was a surprise location. An experience, they said. And they were right. This is an enormous campus in Kailua-Kona. Students come from all over the world to study there. I even got to shake hands with some of them. You can read more about this and see more photographs in my... 03/31/2018

Even my hairdresser installed a Ring doorbell. She was very excited to show me videos of UPS guys dropping off packages on her cellphone. This seemed like an odd reason to fork out two hundred bucks for a video doorbell. But then, when you think about it, it's not the UPS guys you're worried about. It's the guys walking by your house who spot a package on your front porch and decide they should swipe it.But I don't worry about that at my house in Sacramento because we have a spot on our porch where passersby cannot view from the street. Now, in Hawaii, though, you could have all sorts of things going on long distance when your home is vacant. Even that was not the reason why I changed my mind about the Ring doorbell. My next door neighbor finally blew a gasket that must have been simmer... 03/26/2018

While an iPhone will work in a pinch to snap photos of flowers, people and other stationary things, wildlife is a whole 'nother story. I mean, I can sit on my lanai for hours and watch the geckos but try taking a picture of one. They won't wait for you to get close enough. Zooming doesn't really work well on an iPhone, nor does cropping in Photoshop, especially when the photo isn't clear enough to start with. This trip I brought my Canon Sureshot. It's got the most fantastic zoom lens I've ever seen. You can read more in my personal blog today and see a bunch more photographs I shot at this link: Why Shooting Photos of Geckos in Hawaii Presents Challenges. 03/25/2018

When you buy a new car, most people would test drive the vehicle prior to purchase, right? So, I think it only makes sense to try out a new paddle board before buying. All paddle boards are not the same. When you don't really know anything about a paddle board, you might not realize you should demo. I surely did not.Further, when you notice paddle boards on the water, most of them are a certain length, and rounded at the front, a typical width, and those would be the types of boards available at many rental places and resorts. My distant goals, ever since I first climbed aboard a paddle board, was to buy an SUV to transport the board and to buy my very own paddle board. Little did I realize at the time I formed that vision this would happen in Hawaii.It's an experience, however, I plann... 01/20/2018

It seems that everything we have at our house in Hawaii is so much nicer than the stuff at our house in Sacramento. But that's probably because it's newer. My husband keeps telling me that I live in Hawaii now, but I really don't. Just part of the year and a few weeks here and there. OK, maybe a couple of months at a time, but I still live and work in Sacramento.Although I do list homes in Sacramento while I am in Hawaii. I sell and close them from our house in Hawaii. So maybe I do live here part-time. Which is why I decided we needed to buy a gas grill. Hey, if I have to cook for myself. I dragged my husband off to Lowe's. You can read more in my personal blog today at this link: The Charcoal vs Gas Grill Debate Comes Home to Roost.  01/16/2018

One of my team members shared the theory that when people get older (much older than me, for example), they are prepared to die. We engaged in this discussion because a client had told me his mother, who passed away last November at age 99, constantly complained every time she saw him, "Why am I not dead yet?" My grandmother was like that. She was totally ready to go and wished for it every day.I, on the other hand, am not prepared to die. If it happens, OK, I'll go with it, but I am not prepared. I have way too much living left to do. I'm just getting started, at my age, which is 65. But what would you do if you woke up to your cellphone sending you a government emergency alert that you're about to die?You can read more in my personal blog today at this link: Ballistic Missile Threat I... 01/14/2018

When I first began discussions with my husband about buying a house in Hawaii, I bought a few books from Amazon about moving to Hawaii. There were a few horror tales. I'll never forget the story about the woman who could not deal with flying B52 bombers smacking her in the face. And the fact trees can grow 10 feet almost overnight, coupled with the need for constant pest control.One book made it sound like a nightmare with the humidity, limited water, overpopulation of Oahu and sewer problems. It made me decide that Oahu is a fun island to visit, but I leaned more toward living in a city on a quieter island. Big Island has such diverse geography and climate zones, from 80 degrees on the beach to snow on Maunakea. Not to mention, the people are extremely friendly and trusting. It reminds... 01/12/2018