Second "before" photo, moving downstream.
Third "before" photo.
Fourth "before" photo.
Fifth "before" photo.
Sixth and last "before" photo.
Later in the morning, a view from the Young's yard, looking downstream.
Paul White came over and gave us this photo of Andrea he had found, taken in his back yard many years ago.
Looking downstream, Saturday morning, October 3.
I'm over 100 pages into Lady Chatterly's Lover by D. H. Lawrence. The 1928 book is known for being pornographic and it was
banned in many countries, but the pornography is a small part of the book. I think it's one of the great books of the 20th
century, written in the great tradition of the psychological novel, begun by Dostoyevsky. I am learning things.
In the middle of a valley at the heart of a bay lies a stream, the last natural stream in East Honolulu. Wailupe stream. Historical records show a stream that danced its way down Wailupe valley to Maunalua Bay. As humans moved into the valley, the stream was altered to suit their interests. The first Hawaiians would have hardened banks and created channels to feed small farms, although lo‛i were not as plentiful as elsewhere given the relative dryness of the valley. Hence, the ‛ili lele of Wailupe—taro lands in Palolo. Still, the Hawaiians’ actions would likely have followed the natural bends of the stream rather than altering its shape. That came much later.In the 1920s, the Hind-Clarke dairy was started, introducing cows into the valley and again changing its natural character. That big change came in the late 1940s and early 1950s when the subdivision of Wailupe valley, took place, creating what is now known as Aina Haina. To develop the valley most efficiently, the natural curves of the stream were smoothed by the insertion of boulders and rock wall stream banks reminiscent of the Hawaiians’ stacked stone works. Neat house lots were created along the stream and across the valley, from upper to lower valley. Residents moved in.
For years, residents complained, cajoled, and pled with the city to maintain the rock walls along the stream. Those stacked wall embankments in the Hawaiian style lacked Hawaiian maintenance. Without regular maintenance, stacked rocks collapse—particularly under the force of water. When the city did send crews into the stream to bulldoze, machete, and spray herbicides, vegetation that might slow and filter flowing water was repeatedly removed, allowing invasive plants to take hold. The streambed was lowered by bulldozers scraping the bottom of the stream to collect boulders to place on the sides, loosely stacking them against the banks. Stream banks were undercut and steepened, increasing the likelihood of collapse.
In 1969, one storm swept ten feet off the backs of properties. That led to the invitation of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to address the problem with a massive proposal to create a concrete lined channel from the top of the valley to the bay that would have been approximately 48 feet wide and (we were told at the time) would take twenty feet off the backs of people’s properties. When asked whether that was in addition to the ten feet some had already lost, the Corps expressed ignorance of that loss. Erosion has continued in the 51 years since that 1969 storm as our natural stream seeks its old shape. Unfortunately, people now live where the stream wants to go so something must be done.
In 2018, a brief but major storm instigated a more serious attempt to protect upper valley properties from further erosion. In early 2019, work started to reinforce streambanks between Hind Drive bridge and the upper valley debris basin by the simple stacking of stones against the banks to a height of six feet (the stream is 12-18 feet high in places). After community and contract concerns about the loose stacking of stones, approval was given to apply grout and cement to secure the banks. The crew working on the project has done a beautiful job of stacking stones and grouting them. Residents are cautiously hopeful that this new effort will hold longer than the old loosely stacked walls. Time will tell.
Looking downstream.
My Vote flag, in a Grateful Dead motif, came in the mail today, Monday.
Andrea joined in the sign waving for Joe Biden on Kalanianaole Highway in the afternoon on Monday. Photo by Andrea.
Tuesday afternoon I took this photo of a blooming orchid on our rock wall.
Utah covid deaths are going up right now.
Second boulder placed with a sling.
A nice pair of stone sculptures in front of the cancer center.
The sculpture is called Makawalu Vortex by Jerry Vasconcellos. Photo by Andrea.
Photographing at Point Panic. Photo by Andrea.
Surfers at Panic Point. The waves were small but nice.
Boogie boarder in a wave. We walked some more, returned to Lex Brodies, waited some more, had lunch at a barbecue place. The
car was ready at 12:30 PM, taking much longer than we expected. They had to order out wiper blades for the safety check.
A view of Kakaako and Waikiki from Point Panic. Photo by Andrea.
At the upstairs deli/barbecue lunch place. Photo by Andrea.
"Vote" caligraphy by Beach Cities Robotics (FRC 294) alumnus George Chen (2004), downloaded today on Facebook.
My sister Christina sent an X-ray image of the repair in her wrist. She fell while walking a dog.
Coincidentally, my granddaughter Calyn Wagner fell walking her dog on October 13. X-ray image via Facebook.
Andrea wrote 100 letters to Floridians as part of the get out the vote effort for the Democratic Party.
Amazing Andrea then went to work for seven hours at the food pantry for Angel Network. Photo by Danny Tengan.
Andrea went sign waving for Hawaii for Biden on Friday evening on Kalanianaole Highway.
From a friend on Facebook on the Trumpie-concocted Biden "scandal."
😑 The information was published in a tabloid/gossip magazine, the New York Post. The Post learned of the purported emails from the (recently indicted) former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon and obtained them from Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.🙄 US intelligence was aware of plans to release hacked and forged material through Giuliani via Russian intel assets in Ukraine since 2019, and US intelligence EXPLICITLY briefed the White House that Giuliani was being fed information by Russian intelligence.
🥱 The story cited an unidentified computer-repair-shop owner as originally obtaining the emails last year after an "unidentified person" dropped off a water-damaged laptop with a Beau Biden Foundation sticker on it but never picked it up.
😯 The shop owner is said to have made a copy of the hard drive and given it to Giuliani's lawyer in December before turning the material over to federal authorities, the article said.
😦 Business Insider identified the owner as John Paul Mac Isaac, an avid Trump supporter and conspiracy theorist who could not recall the timeline of events laid out in the Post's story, for which he was a primary source.
😧 The Post story recycled numerous false claims about the Bidens' connection to Burisma that have been amplified by Trump and those around him, despite their being debunked.
😅 The FBI/CIA are looking into it.
Tuesday morning Facebook memory from 2013 at the Golden Duck restaurant, posted October 20.
Tuesday morning I photographed the white dendrobium orchid which is still blooming nicely.
Wednesday morning I noticed my poinciana bonsai started blooming.
Thursday afternoon we got our Biden Harris cookies just in time for the final debate.
Friday morning I photographed our blooming michiko hibiscus.
Friday afternoon sign waving, photo by Andrea.
The stream work is not yet visible from the bridge.
I just finished up potting the plumeria in a large concrete pot. Photo by Andrea.
Drenching the plumeria with a shower of water from the hose. Photo by Andrea.
Andrea went to visit Lenore before lunch. Photo by Andrea.
Laurel and Randy joined us for sign waving.
The weather was overcast but not wet.
Chess cheesecake image from a Russian contributor on Facebook, downloaded Tuesday, October 27.
The white orchid in the crotch of the macadamia tree is blooming Tuesday.
Andrea went sign waving again on Wednesday, and shown here, Friday evenings.
Andrea went to visit Lenore on Saturday morning, Oct. 31.
We set up the little table with help-yourself treat bags.
Spooky decorations.
Email Richard dot J dot Wagner at gmail dot com
index.html: this hand crafted, human readable HTML file was created October 1, 2020.
Last updated November 2, 2020 by
Dr. Rick Wagner. Text and images Copyright © 2020, all rights reserved.